Minneapolis, MN – Children’s Theatre Company (CTC) will present the world premiere stage adaptation of The Snowy Day and other stories by Ezra Jack Keats directed by Peter C. Brosius. Adapted by Jerome Hairston (CTC credits include Iqbal; winner of the Heideman Award, a Joyce award, and an AATE Distinguished Play Award) and starring Mikell Sapp (2015 Ivey Award for Emerging Artist; Twin Cities theatre credits include Pillsbury House Theatre, Mixed Blood, and Penumbra Theatre; Mikell was an understudy in CTC’s 2014 production of Huck Finn) playing Peter, Joy Dolo (CTC debut; Twin Cities theatre credits include Pillsbury House, Illusion Theater, Nimbus Theatre and Park Square Theater) as Female Player, and CTC Company Member Dean Holt as Male Player. This world premiere adaptation includes the Caldecott Medal-winning story The Snow Day, as well as Whistle for Willie, the Caldecott Medal Honor Book Goggles!, and A Letter to Amy. The work also premieres during the 100th anniversary of the birth of Ezra Jack Keats.

"What a wonderful way to kick off Ezra's 100th birthday year!" says Deborah Pope, Executive Director of the Ezra Jack Keats Foundation. "Peter Brosius has mounted an inspired adaptation of The Snowy Day at Children's Theatre Company, reflecting the joy of a child at play in a way that will enchant adults as well as children. This is a rare treat and not to be missed. Ezra would have been thrilled."

Teatro Gioco Vita’s Artistic Director and globally celebrated Italian puppet master Fabrizio Montecchi (CTC credits include Cat’s Journey, Circoluna, and the 2008 shadow puppet version of Peter Pan) will bring his wholly unique form of shadow puppetry to the production. He has created shadow art for opera, ballet and theatre stages in almost every country in Europe, in the United States (Chicago, San Diego, San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, Washington D.C.), and also in Brazil, Canada, China, Israel, Japan, Morocco, Mexico, Taiwan, Tunisia, and Turkey.

CTC Artistic Director, Peter Brosius states, “It is such a joy to bring the imaginative vision of Fabrizio Montecchi once again to Twin Cities’ audiences. His altogether unique form of puppetry immediately came to mind to bring this book to life and captures the beauty of Keats’ work in vivid color, light, and shadow.”

The wonder of a fresh snowfall, the delight of whistling for the first time, the awe in finding a special treasure: Ezra Jack Keats had a gift for capturing the rapturous joy in a child’s day-to-day life. This new staging of Keats’ beloved works brings the little boy in the red snowsuit to enthralling life. Revisit Keats’ treasured stories in this wholly original theatrical adaptation.

Snowy Day and Other Stories by Ezra Jack Keats runs February 9 – March 20, 2016 on the UnitedHealth Group Stage. Recommended for grades K+. For more information, visit childrenstheatre.org or call the Ticket Office at 612.874.0400. Proudly sponsored by Target and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Children’s Theatre Company (CTC) celebrates 50 years of creating extraordinary theatre experiences that educate, challenge, and inspire young people and their communities. CTC is the first theatre for young people to win the coveted Tony Award® for Outstanding Regional Theater (2003) and has welcomed more than 11 million people to performances and education programs over the last five decades. As one of the 20 largest theatre companies in the nation, CTC has created over 200 new works, dramatically changing the canon of work for young audiences.

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