BROTHER BEAR Opens My First Imagination Stage Season, 7/7

Starting July 7, Imagination Stage brings back its popular show for the very young: Wake Up, Brother Bear!. This 40-minute show invites children into world of a young brother and sister bear as explore the seasons.

Wake Up, Brother Bear! runs weekends in Imagination Stage’s Christopher and Dana Reeve Studio Theatre July 7-29 at 10:30 a.m. and 11:45 a.m. Appropriate for ages 1-5, tickets are $10, with a $5 lap seat for children under 12 months. Tickets may be purchased online at www.imaginationstage.org, at the Imagination Stage box office, or via phone at 301-280-1660.

Sitting on the floor around a circular playing area, children interact with Brother and Sister Bear while seeing a waterfall melt, meeting a butterfly, chasing an elusive fish, and skating on an icy pond. In this home grown piece devised by Imagination Stage, children are invited to join in the action with a small bag of props that helps to create magical moments. Actors Jacob Yeh, Megan Dominy, and cellist Katie Chambers will bring this story to life.

Jacob Yeh made his Imagination Stage debut in P.Nokio: A Hip-Hop Musical earlier this year. He has also performed at Ford’s Theatre and the Shakespeare Theatre Company. Megan Dominy will be making her Imagination Stage debut. She is an Artistic Associate with Constellation Theatre and has previously performed at the Shakespeare Theatre Company and Folger Theatre.

Julia Krebs Patterson, coordinator of Early Childhood Programming and originator of the Sister Bear role at Imagination Stage, says, “I am so very excited to see Wake up, Brother Bear! return to Imagination Stage for a third time. This show is the perfect way to introduce a young child to theatre as it is extremely interactive, playful, funny, and stimulating to the senses.”

Wake Up, Brother Bear! completes the 2011-2012 Early Childhood offerings. The 2012-2013 My First Imagination Stage 4-show season kicks off with remounts of interactive Imagination Stage originals and North American premieres, all presented in the Christopher and Dana Reeve Studio Theatre.

“Watching our early childhood theatre program grow from its beginnings in storytelling to a full theatre season of interactive and innovative theatre for the very young has been an absolute delight,” Patterson enthuses. “I am proud to say that Imagination Stage has become a pioneer for Theatre for the Very Young in America.”

October 6-November 11, 2012 & July 6-28, 2013
Back by popular demand, Mouse on the Move, called “ridiculously adorable” by Our Kids, follows Nellie and Amelia, two adventurous mice who are ready to explore the world beyond their little mouse-hole. They decide to visit the moon, since it is reportedly made of delicious, mouth-watering cheese.

November 13-21, 2012
Theater der Nacht, founded by experienced puppeteers Heiko and Ruth Brockhausen, is flying to Imagination Stage from Germany to present Häwelmann. Häwelmann (Der kleine Häwelmann), based on the fairy tale by Theodor Storm, tells the story of a naughty boy named Häwelmann who won’t fall asleep. His mother, exhausted with rocking him, falls asleep herself. Bored and restless, Häwelmann makes a sail for his bed with his nightshirt and soars into the night upon the invitation of the moon. Will the little adventurer find his way home after traversing the globe? Häwelmann is presented in part by the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany.

January 3-February 3, 2013
Sister Bear needs help waking up her silly Brother Bear in Wake Up, Brother Bear!. Watch as Brother and Sister Bear experience a full year of glorious seasons. See a waterfall melt, meet a butterfly, chase an elusive fish, and skate on an icy pond. Children are invited to join the action with a small bag of props that help create magical moments.

March 6-April 14, 2013
England’s Tell Tale Hearts Company travels to Imagination Stage to present the North American premiere of From Here to There, a show that is all about bridges. Bridges that get built and knocked down, bridges you can climb over and crawl under. Magic bridges, bridges that tell stories of hungry trolls and greedy goats. Using rhythm and vocal play, shoe boxes, cards and the world of the imagination, performances are followed by a “free play” session giving the children an opportunity to explore some of the materials and build their own bridges.

All My First Imagination Stage performances are geared to ages 1-5. Tickets may be purchased online at www.imaginationstage.org, at the Imagination Stage box office, or via phone at 301-280-1660. Tickets are $10-$12, with a $5 lap seat for children under 12 months.

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