Interactive Show THE WHEELS ON THE BUS to Roll into San Francisco This Fall

The Wheels on the Bus, an interactive, theatrical experience created for children from six months to four years old by the Bay Area Children's Theatre (BACT) and Children's Fairyland, opens Friday, November 11, at the Children's Creativity Museum, 221 4th Street, San Francisco, CA 94103.

The Wheels on the Bus is the newest production in the Theatre for the Very Young series designed by BACT Executive Director Nina Meehan and Doyle Ott, director, Children's Theatre Program at Children's Fairyland.

The Wheels on the Bus invites babies and toddlers to use their eyes, ears, hands, feet, and imagination to explore things that go round and round. With actors leading the way, the audience will climb aboard an imaginary bus, explore the gears that make the bus go, visit a carnival Ferris wheel, explore an airplane, and bike home to enjoy . . . a pizza.

"The show will be very hands-on, in an intimate, child-friendly space," Meehan said. "Our actors understand that children this young will want to move around, and they will gently encourage them participate, if they wish, as they follow the action."

The Wheels on the Bus plays Fridays at 10 a.m. and weekends at 10 a.m. and 11:15 a.m. through December 18. After its San Francisco run, the show will move to BACT's Performance Hall at 2162 Mountain Blvd, Oakland, CA 94611, where it will run Fridays and weekends, January 22 - April 9. Tickets: $15 ($13 for groups of 15 or more). Box Office: www.bactheatre.org or call (510)296-4433 The Children's Creativity Museum is easily accessible by BART, a community partner of the Bay Area Children's Theatre.

Director Nina Meehan is executive director of BACT and has directed numerous productions for the company, including, most recently, A Year With Frog and Toad; Good Night, Good Night, Construction Site-The Musical; The Day the Crayons Quit, the Musical, and James and the Giant Peach. She champions new works for young audiences and has produced original adaptations of BACT's award-winning Where the Mountain Meets the Moon; Ivy+Bean, the Musical; Ladybug Girl and Bumblebee Boy, the Musical, and many others. An award-winning youth theatre director, she has worked throughout the Bay Area as an actress, educator, storyteller, and director. Meehan serves on the Theatre Services Committee for Theatre Bay Area and the Board of Directors for TYA/USA. She received her BS in Theatre from Northwestern University and her Masters in Nonprofit Administration from the University of San Francisco.

Established in 2004, the Bay Area Children's Theatre, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, serves more than 90,000 children and adults throughout the Bay Area, with main stage performances in Berkeley, Oakland, San Francisco and San Ramon; selected productions in local schools; and classes and summer camps in more than 10 East Bay communities. www.bactheatre.org

Our Mission: To inspire young audiences with imaginative productions, introduce children of all backgrounds to the excitement of Live Theatre, and create an engaging, entertaining, and educational environment in which children and their families can explore and enjoy the arts.

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