Taste Of Emerald City

Kids can meet Snow White, Nutcracker, Cat and the Hat and other Emerald City characters at Taste of Emerald City, a free event celebrating the launch of Emerald City Theatre Company's 11th season, Saturday, September 9 from 9:30 am-2:30 pm at the Apollo Theatre, 2540 N. Lincoln Ave., Chicago. The event includes live performances, interactive workshops, theater games, ice cream, meet-the-actor events and more. The whole family should enjoy this free day of Fairy Tale Workshops, King Tut Puppetshops, performances of Emerald City's new touring musical OZapolooza, fun craftmaking and snacks in the OZ Café.

Highlights of the first-ever Taste of Emerald City season sampler include:  

Fairy Tale Workshops with Snow White
Take a free Emerald City Theatre School class, popular with outgoing and shy kids alike.  Exercises like "The Fairy Godmother Says" incorporate fairy tale themes into movement and imagination games.   Storybuilding efforts give kids a chance to act out classic tales and make up their own!

King Tut Puppetshop
This interactive workshop uses masks and puppetry to relay the ancient story of the mysterious boy king, King Tutankhamen.  Theme music is by Ralph Covert (creator of Ralph's World, and co-author of Emerald City's smash hit A Nutcracker Christmas.)   Kids get to operate puppets and masks as Emerald City education professionals lead an interactive retelling of the original
story.

OZapalooza 
Emerald City's new touring musical revue OZapalooza, a fun, energetic and engaging trip back through 10 years of Emerald City's favorite original songs, will blow you right back to Kansas.   It features musical excerpts from past Emerald City hits including The Wizard of Oz, Where the Wild Things Are and Other Bedtime Adventures, The Jungle Book and Green Eggs and Ham.

Kids can also meet favorite characters including Snow White, Cat in the Hat and Nutcracker in the Apollo lobby.  Down in the Apollo Studio, families can enjoy a snack at the OZ café while their child makes a Tin Man heart necklace or Flying Monkey puppet.

"Taste of Emerald City guarantees to be an exciting and memorable day in Oz filled with performances, theater workshops for kids, games, prizes, and ice cream," said Karen Cardarelli, Executive/Artistic Director, Emerald City Theatre Company.   "Stop by, or make a day of it.   Either way, Taste of Emerald City is a great way for families to enjoy the weekend together and experience the magic of live theater.  We hope to see you there!"

The Taste of Emerald City Schedule of Events:
9:30 am - Taste of Emerald City Begins
10:00 am - Fairy Tales Workshop with Snow White
10:30 am - King Tut Workshop
11:00 am - Ozapalooza Performance
12:30 pm - Fairy Tales Workshop with Snow White
1:00 pm - King Tut Workshop
1:30 pm - Ozapalooza Performance
2:30 pm - Event Ends

Emerald City Theatre Company is Chicago's largest professional theater devoted entirely to families, playing to an audience of 80,000 annually. For more information about its first-ever Taste of Emerald City, call (773) 935-6100 or go to http://www.emeraldcitytheatre.com