Garfield Announces 2018 Summer Performance Series for Children

Each year a portion of the Playmakers experience at the Garfield Center for the Arts at the Prince Theatre includes three interactive performances in addition to putting on their own production. These shows, sponsored by The Hedgelawn Foundation, feature multicultural artists who introduce Playmakers to a variety of theatrical arts. Past performers have included dancers, musicians, storytellers, and puppeteers.

This year the Playmakers are putting together Alice in Wonderland and some pieces of the Hedgelawn performances will be incorporated into their play in August. On Wednesday, July 18th at 2 pm, the Garfield Center will be hosting a presentation by Arianna Ross about “The Magic of the Sea”. Discover the many magical, mysteries of water and how the Indonesians rely on it for their existence. Explore life above and under sea level through song, story, and dance. Become a manta ray and a shark as you listen and participate in folk tales and true stories from Indonesia. Students gain a better understanding of world cultures and marine biology in this storytelling assembly!

Wednesday, July 25th at 1 pm, the Garfield is hosting a mural painting workshop with local artist Fredy Granillo. Granillo is a Salvadoran musician, painter and ceramist. He graduated from El Salvador’s Autonomous National University in 2012 with a degree in ceramics. In this workshop he will be leading the Playmakers campers (and any other participants) in a large-scale mural painting exercise. The finished product will serve as one of the main backdrops during the Playmakers performance of Alice in Wonderland.

A workshop on The History of Stage Makeup concludes the series on Wednesday, August 1st at 1 pm. Lead by Marti Gould Cummings, participants will engage in a makeup application demonstration as well as a lecture on the many different roles that makeup has played on stage over the years. Cummings grew up on a small farm in Kennedyville. At the age of 17, he moved to NYC and appeared in the Off-Broadway-Drama Desk nominated show “Twist,” which threw him into the drag comedy scene. His career as a drag artist has taken him all over the world. He has played sold out shows at 54 Below and through his talk show “Stage Fright,” he has interviewed hundreds of Broadway stars, sharing the stage at his shows with over 20 Tony Award winners and nominees. Through his drag persona Cummings has promoted awareness for many LGBT charities including The Ali Forney Center, GMHC, The Hetrick Martin Institute, and Bailey House. He is currently co-producing and starring in “Shade: Queens of NYC” on Fusion and serving as President of the Hells Kitchen Democrats.

These shows are family-friendly and open to everyone. Tickets are $5 for the Magic of the Sea performance on July 18th and $10 for the performances on July 25th and August 1st (no charge to current Playmakers). Please call the Box Office at 410-810-2060 or email Tess Hogans (thogans@garfieldcenter.org) for more information. In addition, don’t forget to mark your calendars for the “Alice in Wonderland” shows, scheduled for Friday, August 10th at 7 pm, Saturday, August 11th at 7 pm and Sunday, August 12th at 3 pm.

The Garfield Center for the Arts at the Prince Theatre is located at 210 High Street, Chestertown, MD, 21620. For more information please visit www.garfieldcenter.org.