Imagination Stage Celebrates The (Early) Age Of AQUARIUM

Following the successful Egg and Spoon, Imagination Stage presents Aquarium, the second show this season that is part of My First Imagination Stage, a program designed for very young audiences - 12 months to five years old.

Aquarium runs January 12 through February 6 in the Christopher and Dana Reeve Studio Theatre. Tickets are $10 per person, 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. Box office hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily.

Aquarium invites the audience to be a part of a magical world created especially for the very young. With gentle music and beautiful puppets and props, the actors lead children and caregivers through an underwater world with a giant jellyfish, to a grassy patch where sheep love to graze, and to a garden where lemons create the sun in a let's pretend sky. Along the way, every child (and some of the grown ups, too) will have a chance to get in the act.

Rex Daugherty, who originated the role of Brother Bear in Imagination Stage's popular Wake Up, Brother Bear!, returns to perform in Aquarium. He is joined by Hyla Matthews Heynigher, making her Imagination Stage debut.

Imagination Stage once again collaborates with Patrick Lynch and Marcello Chiarenza, the co-founders of Lyngo Theatre and the creators of Egg and Spoon. The goal of Aquarium, as with all of the programming for My First Imagination Stage, is to integrate performances with classes and workshops for this very young audience. Play and active participation is at the core of these theatrical experiences.

Artistic Director Janet Stanford explains: "These productions teach a sense of community, even at this early stage of childhood development. The children learn that we can't do this story without them, without their involvement."

In addition to the performances of Aquarium, Imagination Stage offers 30-minute Magical Moment Workshops, which allow children to spend more time exploring their favorite moments from the show in an intimate classroom setting. Aquarium workshops will be taught by Hyla Matthews Heynigher. The schedule for the Magical Moments Workshops is below.

My First Imagination Stage
The goal of My First Imagination Stage is to create innovative programming that integrates performances with classes/workshops for its very youngest audience, ages 12 months to five years. Play and active participation are at the center of these developmentally appropriate classroom and theatre experiences.

Imagination Stage's early childhood shows are supported, in part, by a prestigious two-year New Generations grant from Theatre Communications Group (TCG). The New Generations grant, funded by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, is administered by TCG, the national organization for American theatre. Now in its second year, the grant provides $77,500 and is allowing Imagination Stage to expand programming that engages very young children.

Biographies
Rex Daugherty has appeared at The Shakespeare Theatre Company, The Kennedy Center, Rorshach Theater, Forum Theater, Imagination Stage, Journeyman Theater, Solas Nua, Washington Shakespeare Company, and at Charter Theatre as an actor and music director. Directing credits include Yours, Isabel, The Perfect Ending, Monged, Caught Red Handed, The Beauty Queen of Leenane, Fat Pig. He assistant directed Angels in America (Forum Theatre) and Stones In His Pockets (Wayside Theatre). Rex is a proud member of the musical-comedy band Silly Songs with Silly Guys.

Hyla Matthews Heyniger is an actress, comedian and teacher. From 2000 to 2009, she performed on the Los Angeles comedy and improv theater scene, as well as in films and commercials. Over the course of five years, she completed training programs with The Groundlings Theater and Second City LA, and performed for a year in the prestigious Groundlings Sunday Company sketch troupe. In 2006, she was chosen for the "New Faces" showcase at the Montreal Comedy Festival, and in 2007 she performed at the HBO Comedy Festival in Aspen. She has appeared in independent films, and played a news reporter in "This Just In," a comedy web series jointly produced by HBO and AOL built around her character. As a stand-up comic, she has performed at LA Comedy Clubs such as The Hollywood Improv, The Comedy Store, the M Bar, and others. She is a regular "round table" guest on the E! talk show Chelsea Lately and has performed on tour opening for its host, Chelsea Handler, including an April 2009 show at D.C.'s Warner Theatre. As a teacher, among other positions, she was an instructor for five years in the Comedy Playground program working with inner city and under privileged teens (affiliated with The Improv Club in LA), leading classes in stand-up and improv to students ages nine to 18. She has a BA in drama from Bennington College (1991). She moved to Washington, D.C. in summer 2009. This is her first production with Imagination Stage and she is thrilled to be a part of this magical show.

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