Family-friendly shows at Ives Concert Park
WestConn presents Puppets, Shakespeare and Shalamazoo
For a listing of other shows in the Ives Summer Concert Series, visit www.ivesconcertpark.com
Puppetpalooza
At 1 p.m. on Sunday, July 13, the interactive puppet show “Puppetpalooza” will take the Ives Concert Park stage. The show will feature music, dancing and a message about a group of student puppets who decide to fight for equal rights. After the show, children in the audience will be invited to make their own sock puppet creations. The puppets were a hit with local youngsters when “Puppetpalooza” debuted at Ives Concert Park last summer. Tickets will be $20 for adults, $15 for WCSU alumni and students with valid I.D., and $10 for seniors and children under 12.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
At 7:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, July 18 & 19, WestConn theatre arts students and alumni, as well as local actors, will stage William Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream, perhaps Shakespeare’s most popular and widely performed comedy. This 90-minute adaptation is filled with the humor of knotted love triangles, the pranks of mischievous fairies and the farcical ineptitudes of a band of tradesmen turned actors in an effort to win a prize at the wedding of the great Theseus, Duke of Athens. Families are encouraged to come at 6:30 p.m. for children to participate in creative dramatics crafts and games and then to become part of the production. Tickets will be $20 for adults, $15 for WCSU alumni and students with valid I.D., and $10 for seniors and children under 12.
Shalamazoo
At 1 p.m. on Sunday, July 20, WestConn theatre arts students will stage “Shalamazoo,” a musical-theatre event based on the children’s book by the same name. WestConn alumnus Joe Shaboo, a Danbury resident and author of “Shalamazoo,” describes it as “the story of a king, a castle and the miraculous world of laughter.” The play premiered at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland in 2001. A Scottish reviewer wrote, “… Bearing comparison with Dr. Seuss, ‘Shalamazoo’ is the tale of how the Ulbs of Ulbania lost their happiness, and then found it again (through the admirable virtues of laughter and tickling). The play provides plenty of opportunities for the children to climb on stage and march and dance with the Ulbs, or sit enraptured as the cast leave the stage to run, play and hide amongst the audience. It is a delight to watch.” Tickets will be $20 for adults, $15 for WCSU alumni and students with valid I.D., and $10 for seniors and children under 12.
