Sat 10/8-Sun 10/23
Like most area performing arts group, Talespinner Children’s Theatre, based in the Detroit-Shoreway neighborhood, was dormant throughout 2019 and 2020, as well as most of 2021.
The theater was founded in 2011 by local actress/director/costumers Alison Garrigan as the fulfillment of a long-time dream to have a professional children’s theater in Cleveland. It established itself with its multi-media, multi-disciplinary, interactive performances, with original scripts (many by northeast Ohio writers) based on myths and folk tales from around the world. Movement, dance, music, sound effects, lighting, sets, costumes, masks and puppets — the latter a specialty of Garrigan’s — made the productions exciting events even for adults.
Garrigan stepped down as the theater’s Executive Artistic Director at the end of 2019 due to personal life situations requiring her attention. And then came the pandemic. The theater, like many others, tried to piece together virtual events. Bt as most found out, it wasn’t the same. And it certainly didn’t exercise the same creative muscles in kids that live theater does.
Luckily, the theater is back on the boards live and in August, it announced its new season, which launches this week. Its opening production continues its tradition of offering folklore-based scripts. It’s presenting the world premiere of Elana Hunter and Les Hunter’s Aponibolinayen in the Sky, a reimagined Filipino folktale about a girl who’s carried into the sky on a vine and falls in love with the Sun.
“After Aponibolinayen (also known as Apo) leaves her village, she finds herself not only exploring a new world but also who she is,” says the synopsis.
The production, directed by Carrie Williams, with choreography by Rachel Mulholland, costume design by Melanie Boeman and lighting design by Josh Heidinger, features five local actors: Katie Atkinson, Ben Gregg, Karl Kimpo, Kate Smith and Abegail Zee.
The production runs Fridays @ 7pm, Saturdays and Sundays @ 3pm, through October 23. The October 23 performance will be ASL-interpreted.
More changes are in store for Talespinner: they share that this will be their final season at Detroit Shoreway’s Reinberger Auditorium. They’ll be moving into a new space for their next season. And its upcoming productions move away from folklore-based scripts: its December production is The Snowy Day and Other Stories by Ezra Jack Keats, followed in early spring by the revival of an older show that takes off on the Peter Pan story, focusing on Captain Hook and his sidekick Smee.
All tickets are pay what you choose. Go here to get them.
talespinnercle.org/performances