In January, we celebrated the many languages of our community and audience with two special shows — NEST by Happy Theater, a multi-lingual story, and The Ice River: A Monkey King Tale by Galapagos Puppets & Jimmy Zhao Chinese Music Ensemble, which was paired with our Lunar New Year celebration in the lobby.
The lobby decorated for Lunar New Year.
One - Dos - Trois - Четыре!
Natasha Mirny and Anna Kusner of Happy Theater performed their show Nest: A Multi-lingual Story for Ages 1-6 on Puppet Showplace Theater’s stage for the very first time on January 11th and 12th, bringing with them an enthusiasm for language.
“When I made this show,” said Mirny, “I wanted to celebrate all the languages I know, and all the languages I’m learning. So for me, my first language was Russian, my second was English, my third is that I started learning Spanish, and my fourth is French. So, can you keep… the beat…and count to 4?”
Natasha Mirny leads the audience in counting in different languages.
Audience members patted their laps in rhythm and counted 1-2-3-4 in English, French, Spanish, and Russian — and the audience was invited to share: “What other languages do you know?”
Children excitedly raised their hands to tell the crowded theater what languages they knew! Some stood up from their seats, while others shyly raised their hands and were helped by their parents. Over the course of the weekend, audience members shared many languages, including German, Norwegian, Hindi, Mandarin, Spanish, Portuguese, Japanese, French, and Spanish!
Natasha Mirny and Anna Kusner perform “NEST”
“About 12% of Brookline Public School students are enrolled in English Learner programs and about a third of Bostonians speak a language other than English at home. It’s important to us that every family can come to Puppet Showplace and see themselves on stage in some way,” shared Veronica Barron, Executive Artistic Director of Puppet Showplace Theater.
By the end of Happy Theater’s visit, over 253 children and adults walked away having learned a few new words in a handful of languages.
Welcoming the Year of the Snake
Madeleine Beresford, Margaret Moody, and Jimmy Zhao perform “The Ice River.”
Two weekends later, on January 25th and 26th, Puppet Showplace’s multi-lingual — and multicultural — celebration continued with a special weekend in honor of the Lunar New Year! Children and families were greeted by a decorated lobby and festive coloring pages with Lunar New Year messages in Chinese, Malaysian, Vietnamese, Korean, and English.
Jimmy Zhao Chinese Music Ensemble performing “The Ice River.”
The day’s performances of The Ice River: A Monkey King Tale by Galapagos Puppets & Jimmy Zhao Chinese Music Ensemble began with an introduction to Chinese instruments, delivered in Mandarin by master musician Jimmy Zhao and translated live into English by puppeteer Margaret Moody. The action-packed story was performed with Bu Dai Xi puppets and accompanied by live music performed on erhu, flute, and percussion.
Chikae Yamatin, of the Board of Trustees, shows off a paper snake.
After the show, audience members received red envelopes with celebratory chocolate coins and mandarin oranges! And, after the Sunday performances, the festivities continued with a Year of the Snake themed arts-and-crafts activities, led by board member Chikae Yamatin. This portion of the weekend was free and open to the public, with all invited to create a paper chain snake, as seen on our Instagram.
“My family enjoyed every minute!” shared Alicia Hsu of the Brookline Asian American Family Network. “When we left (with red envelope and orange in hand), my three-year-old granddaughter said, ‘When are we coming back?’ Thank you for telling and celebrating our community's stories and traditions for all to enjoy!”
