Participants will learn fundamental performance skills of voice, physicality and joke structure, and put their learning into practice as they generate and record laughter from attendees, and capture funny faces for the Laughter Museum. The multidisciplinary, interactive Laughter Labs will be performed by all members of the artist team.
KID CITY @ Maplewood Parks' & Recreation Community Night @ Gladstone Savanna
Come join Z Puppets' Bird Puppet Fly!
Watch KID CITY artists perform giant bird puppets. Then, join the flock by making your own mini bird with the KID CITY artists. Recommended for ages 4+. FREE!
This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Metropolitan Regional Arts Council thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund, and by support from St. Paul Foundation and F.R. Bigelow Foundation.
KID CITY @ Maplewood Parks' & Recreation Touch A Truck. Recommended for ages 4+. FREE!
Create a fantastical creature on a stick in our Puppet Lab with the KID CITY artists from 6-6:45 pm.
Then at 7 pm watch Z Puppets' performance of A LA CARTE, a comic battle between a clown French Chef and a wily lobster set to live accordion music. Like a live Looney Tunes cartoon, A LA CARTE is a playfully interactive comedy featuring clowning, puppetry, music and a few unruly vegetables.
*In case of rain, join us inside of the Maplewood Community Center
This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Metropolitan Regional Arts Council thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund, and by support from St. Paul Foundation and F.R. Bigelow Foundation.
Bird Puppet Lab will teach participants the skill of patterned puppetry design. Participants will add color and detail to a pattern of a bird puppet, and then cut out and fasten their puppets together. Once their birds are complete, teaching artists will lead participants to activate the puppets, both as individuals and as a flock. During the Boada’s bird dance, the audience will see puppetry performance that does not use spoken language but choreography as a form of expression.
Z Puppets presents Ifrah Mansour in a short performance of "Somalia's Balloon" followed by a fun art-making activity with the KID CITY artists. Recommended for ages 5+. FREE!
This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through grants from the Minnesota State Arts Board and the Metropolitan Regional Arts Council, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund.
Join Z Puppets artists and our community advisors as we launch KID CITY, a multi-disciplinary series of youth task forces in Maplewood, MN.
5th graders in Maplewood will help bring the community together through laughter: first recording the laughter in Maplewood's diverse neighborhoods, then creating public kiosks for people to receive the laughter throughout the City.
Junior High students will create a Kid Council, based on the Legislative Theater ideas of Brazilian artist Augusto Boal. Maplewood Mayor Nora Slawik will identify issues for youth to address, and the youth will use theatrical play to research, discuss and propose possible solutions to City Council members.
High School students will create a regular community television series that documents the events of Kid City, to be broadcast on local community tv.
