The Paper Bag Players Theater to Host Workshop & Performances at Jewish Museum, 3/13

The Paper Bag Players, celebrating their 57th year of bringing original, contemporary musical theater to kids, return to the Jewish Museum on Sunday, March 13 with two performances of Pop-Pop-Popcorn, at 11:30 am and 2pm; and Become a Paper Bag Player, a special behind-the-scenes workshop at 10:30am.

Pop-Pop-Popcorn, a fast-paced, interactive performance for children ages 3 through 8, mixes new work and classic Paper Bag Player sketches sure to entertain and delight kids and adults alike. The Paper Bags once again bring their traditional blend of paper and cardboard costumes and sets, whimsical sing-along songs, and hilarious stories to the stage. The show begins with the Sun chasing the Moon out of a sleepy bedroom and into a cheerful song and dance. In the title sketch, madcap drill sergeant Colonel Kernel leads his troops and the entire audience through the popping dance in order to become jumbo-sized popcorn. Next, two buddies go fishing in "Day on the Lake," where a day on a peaceful lake turns into much more than they bargained. The hour wraps up with a fast-paced and colorful group painting made not with brushes but handprints. The Players dance as they paint, transforming a wild, wet landscape into a beautiful rainbow. Pop-Pop-Popcorn was created and written by The Paper Bag Players, directed by Ted Brackett, with musical direction by John Stone and scenic design by Jonathan Peck. It is performed by The Paper Bag Players: Ted Brackett, Kevin Richard Woodall, Kathy D. Harrison, Caroline Carden, and John Stone.

In the workshop Become a Paper Bag Player, children ages 5 to 10 will meet members of The Paper Bag Players and discover how to make theater from everyday life with the help of creative ideas and a little bit of paper. Participants will learn theater games, design props and costumes, and develop a mini-performance.

Tickets for the 11:30am and 2pm performances are $20 per adult; $15 per child; $17 adult Jewish Museum family level member; and $13 child Jewish Museum family level member. Tickets for the 10:30am workshop are $12 per adult; $10 per child; $10 adult member; and $8 child member. Special combination tickets for the theater workshop and the performance are $28 per adult; $20 per child; $22 adult member; and $18 child member. Adults are asked to accompany their children.

Tickets to these concerts can be purchased at TheJewishMuseum.org/calendar. For further information regarding family programs at the Jewish Museum, the public may call 212.423.3337.The Jewish Museum is located at Fifth Avenue and 92nd Street, Manhattan.

The Paper Bag Players, called "the leading U.S. theater company for kids" by People Magazine, and founded in 1958 by Judith Martin, is a non-profit theater company of adults who create and perform musical theater for children ages 3 through 8. Their shows, based on a child's everyday experiences, combine short plays, rousing songs, freewheeling dances, audience participation, mime, and painting and drawing on stage. Common household objects, cardboard boxes and brown craft paper brightened with splashes of poster paint and crayon transform into their sets, props and costumes. The Paper Bag Players have received numerous awards including an OBIE (the only children's theater to be so honored) and two American Theater Wing Awards, and were the first children's theater to receive a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. Based in New York, The Paper Bag Players have performed in 37 states and toured internationally, and have been seen by over five million children.

The Edgar M. Bronfman Center for Education's school and family programs are supported by endowed funds established by the Bronfman Family, the Muriel and William Rand Fund, the William Randolph Hearst Foundation, the Helena Rubinstein Foundation, Rosalie Klein Adolf, the Kekst Family, and Mrs. Ida C. Schwartz in memory of Mr. Bernard S. Schwartz. Family programming is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council and Councilmember Daniel R. Garodnick.