Circus opportunity for Trike Families!

Trike teaching artists had a chance to work with some of these Circus performers last summer. They are great, very inspiring, with a unique approach to circus arts and story telling. I plan on seeing the performance and bringing back ideas to Trike. Click here to watch a video of a Sweet Can Circus performance.
http://tickets.waltonartscenter.org/production/view.asp?id=4121&x=12&y=1

Join Sweet Can Circus for a FREE workshop at Gymnastics Joe's!
Wednesday, July 29
9am – noon
FREE and open to the public
Tell your friends! Participants will explore circus arts with the Sweet Can Circus cast and test their mettle with apparatus including aerial silk, trapeze, rolla bollas and juggling equipment. No gymnastics or tumbling experience required. Best for ages 10 & up.
For more information, please call the Walton Arts Center Box Office at 479-443-5600.

Come see Sweet Can Circus LIVE - $5 off! *All tickets $15.50 with this discount!*
Thursday, July 30, 7pm
Friday, July 31, 7pm
Saturday, Aug. 1, 2pm & 7pm
in Walton Arts Center's Starr Theater
Experience the thrill of circus arts - up close and personal in our small, black box Starr Theater. Walking as easily on their hands as on their feet, the Sweet Can Circus intertwines trapeze, aerial silks, slackrope, juggling, acrobatics, humor and live music in their production Yes Sweet Can. Best for ages 7 and up.
To order tickets, go to
www. waltonartscenter.org
SIGN IN using promo code *GYMNASTICS*, then click on "Tickets and Box Office" to browse to the show.
Or, call the Box office at 479.443.5600.

Can't get enough Sweet Can? Bring the whole family!
Open Circus Studio for Families
Three chances to participate: July 27, 28 & 29
6-7:30pm in Walton Arts Center's Starr Theater
$5 per kid, parents free!
To purchase tickets call 479.443.5600 for more information.
Discover circus arts! Join Sweet Can Circus to observe an aerial rehearsal, ask questions and test your skills with circus apparatus including aerial silk, rolla bollas, and juggling equipment.
*Best for young people ages 7 and up and their adults.*

Catching up!

Friends, please forgive my absence. I didn't realize that it was in January when I last blogged. Since then, Christa and I have been busy planning for our 2009/10 season, recruiting new board members, hiring summer teaching artist staff and interns and dreaming up performance opportunities. I'm happy to report that a lot has been accomplished.

• Virginia just finished a successful 1-week comedy Spring Break camp with 11 academy students! The students learned the ancient art form of comedia dell arte and peformed a play For the Love of Three Oranges.
• This summer, we will 3 new Teaching Artists joining us for the summer Drama Academy Camps: Jenny Guy (MFA - Acting from UA and currently acting professionally in Ohio - she played Chester in TheatreSquared's production of Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse and Sher Kahn in Jungalbook), Kris Stoker (MFA - Acting from UA and currently acting professionally at Ohio Shakespeare - acted in T2's productions: Jungalbook & My Father's War) and Jason Suel (MA-Acting - recently moved from England where he was teaching & acting for art centers)
• We will have summer college interns! I'll introduce these lovely folks in my next blog.
• We're producing A Lion, A Witch and a Wardrobe in June - a 2 person show acted by Jenny, Kris, Jason and one other actress. We will run the show at the Trike and then take it out into the schools in 09/10.
• We are an AIE Rostered Artist with the state of Arkansas - which means that schools, non-profit organizations can write grants to have us teach workshops with their students.
• We will be developing a new touring play for students 3rd-5th grade based on Arkansas History. Commissioned by Walton Arts Center, the piece will tour into a couple of schools next year and be available for public school tours in 2010/11.
• We're planning an end-of-the-year celebration with all of our Trikesters - honoring our Founding Families (donated over $1000 this year) and corporate/small business sponsors as well as giving folks a peek at the Lion/Witch/Wardrobe performance.
• Christa and I just got back from a national Theatre for Youth symposium in Indianapolis where we saw a bunch of new plays for youth and I lead a workshop in creating theatre for the very young (under 5). I'll write more about this path for Trike in the future. Needless to say - there will be a few "playdates" with our national friends where we will gather educators, child development specialists and artists and figure out a performance that sparks the interest of 3-5 yr olds.
• Learning, learning, learning.

I'm teaching at the University of Notre Dame this week and will be back in full force on Monday. I hope your week is going well. Make sure to come out and see our reading of A Laura Ingals Wilder Christmas - this Friday, April 3 7pm. Pay-what-you-can. It's written by a professional playwright and good friend of mine Laurie Brooks. I think it will be a moving production for December '09 - more info about that soon.

Munchkin Radio Interview on NPR

Click on the title above to get to Ozarks at Large webpage and listen to our interview. We had so much fun in rehearsals and performances for Wizard of Oz. The kids gave 110% as did their parents. All 8 shows at Walton Arts Center were sold out. Each ticket holder recieved a program that contained a half-page insert with this photo and blurb:

Tricycle Theatre for Youth (The Trike) is a regionally focused theater for youth offering professional productions, creative learning activities for our youngest actors, teacher and business trainings, and a Theatre Conservatory for 3rd through 12th graders. The company is located in historic Downtown Bentonville, AR. Learn more about school year acting classes and performance-based camps (Spring, Summer, Intersession) at www.triketheatre.org.

Great press!!! The last time I directed kids in a professional production was Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse for TheatreSquared. I loved working with them and already am dreaming of our first fully produced production in the Trike space. It will be set in one location (a bedroom, a back yard, etc.), the entire black box will look like the space so when the audience enters, they will be inhabiting the environment with the characters. I've got three plays I'm thinking of right now (2 of which have roles for both adult and young actors), so the next step is to create a budget, raise money to support the production and the produce the show. We all want to move into this next phase of Trike programming, so let me know if you're intersted in helping make it happen.

Munchkin Cast

Munchkins!!