05/23/2007: "Kids’ Fest At Orcas Center Memorial Day Weekend"

Orcas Center presents the 2nd annual Memorial Day Kids’ Fest, with 5 different events May 24-26. Events are enjoyable for adults as well as children of all ages, and tickets are priced very affordably ($5-10).

Opening the 2007 Kids’ Fest will be WHALE OF A SHOW, an island-wide children’s talent show, on Thursday, May 24 at 7:30 pm. Produced in partnership with the Orcas Island Recreation Program, WHALE OF A SHOW includes over 20 acts featuring Jennifer Anderson, Maya Burt-Kidwell, Emy Carter, Lisa Carter, Monica Connell, Hailey Crowe, Arianna Dean, Maleah Eddings, Darren Eddings, Jessica Gudgell, Sasha Hagen, Mikaela Hansen, Stormy Hildreth, Matthew Laslo-White, Cierra Lutz, Joanne Mietzner, Pearl Mudd, Ester Myers, Addie Newcombe, Nile Reed, Morgan Sabine, Daria Stankevich, Alicia Susol and Conrad Wrobel. All tickets are $5.

And Much More (see below):

Book-It All Over, the educational wing of Book-It Repertory Theatre, will return to Kids’ Fest again this year to present the E.B. White classic, Trumpet of the Swan. Elementary students will recall Book-It’s wonderful performance last year of My Father’s Dragon. In the unique, fast-paced and theatrical Book-It style, actors perform the literary work by speaking the narrative text as well as dialogue between the characters. Again this year, Orcas Center hosts, free of charge, all island K-6 elementary school students and their teachers. Two shows will be performed on Friday, May 25, at 10:45 am and 1:45 pm. All seats remaining at curtain time will be available to the general public for $5.

A favorite of Orcas Islanders, lyrical juggler Thomas Arthur returns with a new solo performance that premieres May 14 at the Seattle International Children’s Festival. Luminous Edge is the story is of two masters, the Wizard and the Shaman, forced to collaborate in a struggle to save their world, and explores a unity of nature, nurture, mathematics, art, science and mythology. Arthur choreographs orbiting spheres, hoops, spirals, geometric solids, roots, sticks, stones and cones into a fluid dance accompanied by music, narration and projected images. One performance of Luminous Edge will be presented on Friday, May 25 at 6 pm, and tickets are $8 for students and $10 for adults.

Orcas’ own Magical Song Stylist Hans Mayer will perform an hour of humorous, ear-tickling, child-oriented music with an irresistible sense of play, inviting the entire audience to sing along. Mayer will perform on Saturday, May 26 at 11 am, and all tickets are $7.

Kids’ Fest 2007 will close with two performances of the gravity-defying, Dream Science Circus from Lummi Island. This circus, with exotic costumes and innovative circus acts, particularly aerial acrobatics, will leave audience breathless. The Dream Science Circus will perform on Saturday, May 26 at 1 pm and 5 pm, and tickets are $8 for students and $10 for adults.

The 2007 KIDS’ Fest is made possible, in part, with generous sponsorship underwriting from Bob & Phyllis Henigson.

Full festival passes are available for $20, and a family pass, at $50, provides up to 4 tickets to each of the 5 events. For more information or to purchase tickets, please call the Orcas Center box office Thursday-Saturday, noon – 4 pm, or visit www.orcascenter.org