Tues., May 22, 2018 – 7:00pm
$10 Adults $5 Students
Dawson-Boyd Arts Association presents a public performance of the Minneapolis-based Children’s Theatre Company, Seedfolks, on Tuesday, May 22 at 7pm at Memorial Auditorium in Dawson as part of the Company’s three-month tour to eight cities across Greater Minnesota, Nebraska and New York. The organization received tour support from the Minnesota State Arts Board’s Arts Tour Minnesota grant to bring Seedfolks to eight theatres across Minnesota in Worthington, Grand Rapids, Fairmont, Detroit Lakes, Red Wing, International Falls, Brainerd and Dawson in the spring of 2018.
CTC recently brought this production of Seedfolks to the prestigious ASSITEJ International (International Association of Theatre for Children and Young People) 2017 World Conference in Cape Town, South Africa.
The CTC commissioned play was developed and premiered at CTC in 2014 and is based on the book by Newbery Award-winning author Paul Fleischman. Seedfolks begins when nine-year-old Kim plants the first seeds in the rat-infested, vacant lot next to her apartment building. They are six lima bean seeds, planted in honor of the father she never knew. Slowly, each member of the community finds a reason to plant their own seeds, resurrecting a derelict lot and uniting a fractured neighborhood. Actress Sonja Parks embodies the 11 distinct voices of Gibb Street in this enthralling, one-woman production.
“This is a beautifully written, funny and poignant book and production about the power we all have to be catalysts for change,” states CTC Artistic Director and Seedfolks Director, Peter C. Brosius. “We came to the decision to use one single actor to portray 11, diverse voices in this production as a demonstration that we are all part of a whole, and together, we can create something beautiful.”
The New York Times’ review of the production claims that “its themes could not be more topical in today’s fractured, and fractious, America” and “how people so disparate, distant and divided can find, in every sense, common ground.”
Children’s Theatre Company (CTC) is the nation’s largest and most acclaimed theatre for multigenerational audiences. It creates theatre experiences that educate, challenge and inspire for nearly 275,000 people annually. CTC is the only theatre focused on young audiences to win the coveted Tony Award® for Outstanding Regional Theatre and is the only theatre in Minnesota to receive three Tony® nominations (for its production of A Year with Frog and Toad). CTC is committed to producing world class productions at the highest level and to developing new works, more than 200 to date, dramatically changing the canon of work for young audiences.
Dawson-Boyd Arts Association is also presenting this production to area students on Wednesday, May 23.
Event sponsors for the Dawson production are Minnwest Bank and the Dawson Community Foundation, a component fund of the Southwest Initiative Foundation.
Tickets are available online or the box office at 320-312-2311.
Dawson-Boyd Arts Association regrets to announce that this weekend’s concert and workshop with Carrie Newcomer and Gary Walters are cancelled because of the forecast of snow and more snow and then, wind!
