Playhouse Square is drumming up excitement for its line-up of shows that are featured at this year’s Family Theater Day presented by University Hospitals Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital. Guests can relish in rocking out with BAM Percussion, dive into a world of imagination with POLI POP or experience the moving story of love, history and resilience with Show Way, The Musical. The fun is all taking place on Saturday, May 4.
In addition to these ticketed theater performances, which are generously supported by Kathy & Jim Pender and The Michael Pender Fund, Playhouse Square offers crafts and other experiences free of charge, including face painting, balloon and caricature artists and an appearance by Dino-ROAR.
Tickets for Family Theater Day performances can be purchased online for $15 at playhousesquare.org/familytheaterday or by phone at 216-241-6000. Free activities do not require a ticket.
2024 Family Theater Day Performances
POLI POP
Produced by BRUSH Theatre
Performance times: 11 a.m. & 2 p.m., Westfield Studio Theatre
Poli and Pola don’t want to go to sleep. The siblings start off playing with toys in their bedroom, competing against each other to be the leader of the room, but then their imagination takes them on a surreal dreamlike journey full of surprise and joy. BRUSH Theatre uses incredible technology and special effects to transform the set from an empty room to far away islands, roaring seas, the Egyptian desert, busy cities, dance parties and more! But the duo don’t know there’s something else lurking in the shadows... a ferocious alien monster! What will they do?
A wonderful follow up to BRUSH’s recent show Doodle POP, this colorful and playful new theater production uses live musicians who perform the accompanying score and sound effects, stunning interactive animations and painted projection mapping, and an abundance of theatrical imagination.
Show Way, the Musical
Produced by The Kennedy Center Theater for Young Audiences
Performance times: 11 a.m. & 2 p.m., Mimi Ohio Theatre
Soonie’s great-grandma was just seven years old when she was sold to a big plantation without her ma and pa, with only some fabric and needles to call her own. She began to stitch a Show Way, a quilt with secret meanings to show enslaved people the way to freedom. As each generation passes, the Show Way shines a light on the past and paves a road to the future, stitching together possibility and promise.
The Kennedy Center Education Artist-in-Residence Jacqueline Woodson’s award-winning story of history, love, and resilience becomes a world premiere stage adaptation directed by Schele Williams with new music by Tyrone L. Robinson. This moving, lyrical account pays tribute to women in Woodson’s own family whose strength and knowledge illuminate their daughters’ lives over seven generations.
The 11 a.m. performance will have a sign language interpreter. Guests who need assistance of the interpreter should request seats on the right side of the auditorium.
BAM Percussion
Performance time: 3:30 p.m., KeyBank State Theatre
The art of comedy-percussion! From beginning to end, The Blue Barrel Show electrifies the crowd with its powerful rhythms and its deliriously funny sketches. The pulsating energy of BAM is contagious.
The BAM characters, who look like they walked straight out of a mad cartoon, speak a unique language: BAMspeech, spoken only by them, but understood by everyone from 3 to 83 years old. This performance will leave the audience with only one wish… MORE!
Family Theater Day at Playhouse Square is supported in part by the residents of Cuyahoga County through a public grant from Cuyahoga Arts & Culture.
The Ohio Arts Council helped fund Family Theater Day at Playhouse Square with state tax dollars to encourage economic growth, educational excellence and cultural enrichment for all Ohioans.