Flint Youth Theatre Presents Hilarious and Heart-Warming BALLOONACY

Flint Youth Theatre - Michigan's Professional Theatre for Young Audiences presents "Balloonacy" by Barry Kornhauser. Performances begin Friday January 26 and runs through Sunday January 28. Tickets are now on sale.

"Balloonacy" is a wordless play starring one actor and a balloon. A tender, uplifting show for the little ones (and the big ones too). Sweet, inventive and packed with physical comedy, this play explores the power of friendship and shows how, with a little imagination and acceptance, companionship is everywhere. "Balloonacy's mix of puppetry, wordless situational comedy, and Chaplinesque physical humor is a winning combination." -Twin Cities Daily Planet

"Balloonacy" stars Paul Manganello and is directed by Kathryn Walsh.

FYT Producing Artistic Director Michael Lluberes calls the show "Hilarious and heart-warming. This sweet show is a gem - like a great silent film comedy on stage. It's perfect for ages two to one hundred and two."

The show features original music by Conor Keelan performed live by musician Aaron Weeks. The production team includes Scenic and Lighting Design by Gene Oliver, Costume Design by Kendra Babcock, Assistant Scenic Designer/Balloon Puppeteer: Jewel Brown. The stage manager is Dominique Hinde.

Public Performances are: Friday January 26 at 7:00pm, Saturday January 27 at 2:00pm and 7:00pm and Sunday January 28 at 2:00pm. Tickets are $10 and can be purchased by calling 810-237-7333 or online at www.TheFYT.org.

"Balloonacy" is sponsored by Bob and Ginny Myers and is produced by special arrangement with Plays for Young Audiences. Flint Youth Theatre is located at 1220 E. Kearsley St., Flint, MI 48503.

PAUL MANGANELLO (Actor) is a Detroit-based actor, writer and director. As a co-founder and co-director of Fratellanza, he's created and performed in The Mute Quire (Best Original Production 2012, The Rogue Critic; Best International Production 2014, Galway International Fringe), String Up the Moon (co-production, Detroit Design Festival and PuppetART), and Five After Five (for Detroit Dance Race). He performed his original one-man show, Zealous Whig, in Ann Arbor and Chicago (produced by Pursuit Chicago). As actor: Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind (UnTheatre at Matrix Theatre); The Jabberwocky (Great Lakes Theater, Cleveland); The Bodies (FringeNYC). As teacher: movement and clown workshops at Planet Ant, the Professional Performing Arts School in NYC, and the Detroit School of Arts. Training: 2012 Fulbright Arts Scholarship to Scuola Teatro Dimitri; École LASSAAD; Malcolm Tulip (University of Michigan). Paul continues to explore the possibilities of movement onstage and the boundaries between comic and tragic.

KATHRYN WALSH (Director) is a Chicago-based freelance theatre director and text coach. Directing credits include: Thomas Middleton's Women Beware Women, Shakespeare's Richard II, As You Like It (Two Pence Theatre Co). Also in Chicago: Balloonacy (Imagine U at Northwestern University) James and the Giant Peach (Filament Theatre); Night Lights (Living Room Playmakers); breaks & bikes (Pavement Group); A Very Merry (Un)Authorized Children's Scientology Pageant (Next Theatre); Kill the Old Torture Their Young (Steep Theatre). She has verse coached multiple productions at Chicago Shakespeare Theatre: Charles III, ShortShakes/Chicago Parks tour productions of Romeo and Juliet and Twelfth Night, as well as being assistant director on Henry VIII, Feast: An Intimate Tempest (co-production with Redmoon) and The Madness of George III. Other Chicago assisting credits: Our Town (Lookingglass), August: Osage County, Dead Man's Cell Phone, When the Messenger is Hot (Steppenwolf). Additional directing credits include: The Woods Hole Plays (Cotuit Center for the Arts), The Make-Out Queen (The Common Tongue at Ars Nova, New York), Island of Slaves (Orfeo Group, Boston), 4.48 Psychosis (Boston Directors' Lab). Kathryn received her MFA in Directing from Northwestern University, where she studied with Anna D. Shapiro, Jessica Thebus, Mary Zimmerman, and Michael Rohd.

Since 1957, Flint Youth Theatre's nationally acclaimed, award-winning intergenerational programming has provided Flint area residents with opportunities to experience the unique joys of discovery and self-expression through the performing arts. A program of the Flint Institute of Music, FYT is the resident theatre company at the Flint Cultural Center. A nonprofit organization, FYT receives support from the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs, a partner agency of the National Endowment for the Arts. For more information about Flint Youth Theatre please visit www.TheFYT.org.

Photo credit: David-Lorne Photographic

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