Playful People Productions Announces 2021-22 Season

San Jose's Playful People Productions is announcing an exciting slate of in-person musicals for adults, teens, and kids stretching into 2022, and structured with keeping the health and safety of participants paramount. Registration for programs, as they become available, will be online at https://www.playfulpeople.org/registration.. For more information, families can visit www.PlayfulPeople.org or call (408) 878-5362.

The fun begins with Disney's The Aristocats KIDS, based on the 1970 musical film. In the heart of Paris, a kind and eccentric millionairess wills her entire estate to Duchess (her high-society cat) and her three little kittens - but her greedy, bumbling butler has other plans. Now it's up to the rough-and-tumble alley cat, Thomas O'Malley, and his band of swingin' jazz cats to save the day. "The Aristocats" is based on a story by Tom McGowan and Tom Rowe, which centers around the true story of a family of cats that inherited a fortune in 1910. Registration for Disney's The Aristocats KIDS opens August 15 and is suitable for budding performers, ages 4-10.

November will feature MTI's All Together Now - A Global Event Celebrating Local Theatre! Musical Theatre International is offering this unique opportunity for schools and theatres around the world to locally produce and perform an exclusive musical revue featuring songs from MTI's beloved shows: including Mamma Mia, Come From Away, My Fair Lady, Fiddler on the Roof, Into the Woods, and more. Registration for All Together Now opens August 15 and welcomes performers ages 11 and up.

Following the enthusiastic response to July's one-day Taiko Drum workshop, Playful People and San Jose Beat Institute are introducing a six-session class beginning October 2 and meeting on 1st and 3rd Saturdays. South Bay Beat Institute instructor Rome Hamner will lead a minimum of 6 and a maximum of 12 students. Along with the basics of the art itself, learning the Japanese and Japanese-American percussion art of taiko improves teamwork, self control, communication, and self esteem. Playful People Productions will provide masks as needed, hand sanitizer, water, and clean, socially distanced drum stations for the workshop. Taiko Drum is suitable for ages 10 and up (age exceptions considered individually).

The new year kicks off with performances of The Pirates of Penzance, one of Gilbert and Sullivan's most popular comic operas. Featuring songs such as "I Am the Very Model," "Pour, oh Pour the Pirate Sherry," and "When the Foreman Bares His Steel," The Pirates of Penzance is a classic musical adventure chock-full of swashbuckling buccaneers, maidens in distress, cowardly cops, conflicted orphans, the very model of a modern major general, and more. Registration for The Pirates of Penzance opens August 15 and welcomes performers ages 13 and up.

Playful People celebrates mid-winter with Disney's Frozen KIDS and Disney's Frozen JR. Based on the 2018 Broadway musical, both children's shows bring Elsa, Anna, and the magical land of Arendelle to life onstage. Featuring all of the memorable songs from the animated film, with music and lyrics by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez, these shows also include five new songs written for the Broadway production. A story of true love and acceptance between sisters, Frozen JR., a slightly longer version than Frozen KIDS, expands upon the emotional relationship and journey between Princesses Anna and Elsa, the discovery of hidden potential and the powerful bond of sisterhood. Frozen KIDS, performing February 18-20, is recommended for ages 4-9; Frozen JR, performing February 25-27, for ages 10-14.

In April, the nonprofit presents a special event production that was put on hold because of Covid - AXOLORIS, an interactive original musical by Sean Mendelson. Coinciding with Earth Day 2022, Axoloris is a show about a group of tweens that discover not only the importance of protecting their community from an energy crisis, but a journey to self-discovery. AXOLORIS is recommended for ages 10 and up.

Rodgers and Hammerstein's The Sound of Music takes the stage next, in late April and early May. The Sound of Music is the heartwarming true story of a woman who moves from convent novitiate to governess to wife, and one family's astounding journey to escape Nazi Germany. Beloved songs from the musical include "My Favorite Things," "Sixteen Going on Seventeen," "Climb Ev'ry Mountain," and the titular song "The Sound of Music." This production will be for ages 13 and up, with special auditions for younger performers who wish to audition for the Von Trapp children.

Any and all performances, workshops, and projects will be structured to adhere to the most current Covid guidelines, and to keep the safety of participants and staff paramount.

Playful People Productions was first founded in 2010 as a positive, inclusive, family-focused theatre company, and has operated as a 501(c)3 nonprofit since 2017. While initially providing classes, camps, and shows for kids, the company has grown to offer similar classes for adults, and stages multi-generational performances where family members can perform together. Most recently the organization has returned to its customary spaces at the Historic Hoover Theatre in San Jose, but is continuing some of its pandemic-responsive online programming (POP, Playful Online People) as well as On Demand video classes.

Mother and daughter team Barbara Galiotto and Katie D' Arcey are Positive Discipline trained; both have worked as early Childhood Educators; and as professional directors with children's theater. The pair have approximately 50 years experience between them in the musical theater world and, together with a small team of permanent staff and an array of talented directors, teachers, and support personnel, offer beginner through advanced theatre experiences for the whole family.

To register, visit https://www.playfulpeople.org/registration.

For more information, visit www.playfulpeople.org or call (408) 878-5362.

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