La MaMa Presents LA MAMA KIDS March 23-June 9

LA MAMA KIDS -- a series of creative workshops and performances for youngsters ages 4 to 12 and their families, presented annually by the Tony Award-winning La MaMa theater - returns for its sixth year this spring with special events set for select weekends from March 23 to June 9, it has been announced by Mia Yoo, La MaMa's Artistic Director.

Curated by Denise Greber, La MaMa Kids will conduct the workshops and performances at La MaMa's The Downstairs Theatre (66 East 4th Street) in Manhattan.

This low-cost and wildly popular family series, features a line-up of creative and interactive productions to teach theatre crafts through workshops that encourage imaginative play and hands-on learning.

Held monthly, La MaMa Kids is fun for the whole family, and a complete list of details on the season can be found below:

While You Are Out

Saturday, March 23 at 2pm and Sunday, March 24 at Noon

By Sova Theater
Rod and shadow puppets by Justin Perlman & Adelka Polak

While You Are Out lands audiences in the heart of Shakespeare's imagination as woven into Midsummer Night's Dream where the fairies and sprites along with their king & queen play tricks on each other or anyone else who may find themselves wandering through the forest past dark.

This performance invites audiences to come both ready to dance and dressed as fairies, sprites and woodland creatures. Crystal Cymbalogy will create magical rhythms for our feet and wings. Come help to bring the forest to life at La MaMa as we dive into our dreams here among the trees, winged creatures and tricksters.

Sova Dance and Puppet Theater celebrate humanity and the environment by engaging audiences through live performance combining the moving body, puppetry, mask, video, dance, and artistic installations. The combined ingredients communicate that which cannot be described in words, and therefore are accessible to communities around the globe."

The Three Dolls

A modern American musical folktale
Sunday, March 31 at 2pm
Saturday, April 6 at Noon and Sunday, April 7 at 2pm

By Jane Catherine Shaw
Music by Clayton Daniel Briggs
Lyrics by Molly Reisman

Performers: Clayton Daniel Briggs, Jennie Egerdie, and Jane Catherine Shaw

Ziv, Hermione and Pippa are three dolls living in the dark. The sun should be up by now, but for some reason, it's still pitch black. Through friendship, puppetry, songs and musical riddles, join us in an adventure to help the three dolls on their quest to turn darkness into light, and to make the world a brighter place for all of us to live.

Jane Catherine Shaw (Creator/Director/Performer) is a member of the Lincoln Center Directors Lab, and graduated on the Dean's List with an MFA in Directing from Brooklyn College. She is curator of La MaMa's Puppet Slam. Ms. Shaw was puppetry co-director and master puppeteer for Mabou Mines' Peter And Wendy and built and directed the puppetry sequence for Lee Breuers' Dollhouse. Ms. Shaw was nominated for a 2014 New York Innovative Theatre Award for her work with Theodora Skipitares on The Chairs. She creates and directs her own work for puppet theatre, among them, Calpurnia Coyote Comes To The Big City, The Blue Marble, Following The Wind, Folktales Of Asia And Africa, Pelandok The Mousedeer, as well as adult works: Thirst: Memory Of Water, The Lone Runner, Bed Of Light, and Universe Expanding, all of which premiered at La MaMa. She is a member of the La MaMa Kids Committee, helping to grow sophisticated, age appropriate theatrical work, and workshops for young audiences.

La MaMa Kids: La MaMa Moves! Dance Workshop

Saturday, May 18 at Noon
Directed by: Dan Safer

In this workshop, participants will explore the basics of contact improvisation and dancing with a partner: moving up and down from the floor, rolling around, and even choreographed lifts. Sharing weight, balancing, connecting to other people, connecting to the floor. Making sure what we do is focused, fun, and surprising.

Dan Safer is a director, choreographer, performer, and teacher. He is the Artistic Director of Witness Relocation, an internationally recognized dance/theater company known in NYC as one of the "ensembles who now lead the city's progressive theater scene" (Village Voice), and the recipients of three New York Innovative Theater Awards.

Family Play Date

Sunday, June 9, at Noon

Hosted by Richard Ebihara & Perry Yung, of Slant Performance Group, Family Play Date is a fun-filled magical and humorous cabaret performance embracing dance, music, and theatre, that is a unique event for the whole family.

Richard Ebihara & Perry Yung, founders of Slant Performance Group, ingeniously fuses puppetry, guitars, percussion, voice, and bamboo flutes into dynamic, engaging storytelling. Performances are an exciting tapestry of original live music interwoven with social satire.

BOX OFFICE:

Workshops: $10 per child (Free tickets for adult chaperones); Performances: $10 to $15 per person.

To purchase tickets, please call OvationTix at: 212-352-3101; or to buy online visit: http://lamama.org/buy-tickets/

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