BWW Previews: Boxtales Anniversary Festival Celebrates 20 Years of Performance

This November, Boxtales Theatre Company, a troupe with a physical, sensory performance style featuring impressive acrobatics, live music, and the transformational symbolism of masks, celebrates 20 years of theatre. The 20th Anniversary Festival features a quartet of favorite productions that demonstrate the very best of the company's constantly evolving body of work. Vitality is a central element of Boxtales's storytelling choices, and these four plays are emblematic allegories that present themes of struggle, inspiration, wisdom, and overcoming hardship. Based in folklore and mythology from cultures around the world, Boxtales's plays present fundamental aspects of the human experience that have been perpetuated through these tales for hundreds, even thousands, of years. This special showcase runs from November 13-16 at the Lobero Theater and includes:

Prince Rama & the Monkey King: Based on portions of the great Hindu epic The Ramayana, Prince Rama is the story of Rama of Ayodhya's battle against a demon king to win back his abducted wife, Sita.

The Odyssey: Scripted from Homer's epic, The Odyssey is a vibrant enactment of King Odysseus's harrowing ten-year journey home from the Trojan War. Odysseus's voyage home to Ithaca is fraught with the dangers of the mythological realm, including monsters, magical temptation, and the constant meddling of members the Greek pantheon. The Odyssey is the story of a man determined to return home to his family-a legend that has endured for thousands of years.

LEYENDAS DE DUENDE - MAGICAL TALES OF LATIN AMERICA: This presentation includes fables from a variety of regions throughout Latin America (La Calavera-Mexico; Fire Taking-Venezuela; and Paco and the Witch-Puerto Rico). This production also incorporates Latin styles of movement, music, and dance, including Capoeira, Afro/Cuban ceremonial melodies, and the Argentine Tango. Performed in Spanish and English, Leyendas De Duende represents how stories cross beyond the invisible barriers of nationality and culture.

B'RER RABBIT AND OTHER TRICKSTER TALES FROM AROUND THE WORLD!: In the definitive tradition of Boxtales's theatrical renditions of classic folktales, B'Rer Rabbit is an assemblage of "Trickster Tales" from a variety of cultures. "Trickster Tales" are fables constructed to impart life lessons and wisdom by teaching how to seek and witness truth, even when it is hidden in the devious dealings of mystic creatures.

The Boxtales players (including Michael Loring Andrews, Matthew Tavianini, Bryan West, David Guerra, and Marie Ponce) seamlessly incorporate challenging physical art forms such as acrobatic yoga, stilt walking, and dance into their shows. Theatrical devices such as puppetry, prop manipulation, and the use of live music and masks further influence their unique style of storytelling. The Odyssey, for example, is a high-energy production featuring three actors, all of whom climb, jump, fight, fly, and create structures and scenic movement with their bodies. Performers create sound effects with unusual instruments to add definition to scenes, concepts, and characters. The use of masks and other transformative costuming allows the five-person cast to play the hundreds of characters in The Odyssey; for instance, a purple scarf is passed amongst performers to indicate which player currently represents King Odysseus. Each actor is a mere hanger for this legendary character; in this way, Odysseus exists through the story rather than as a permutation of one actor's theatrical choices. This performance model engenders a more collective viewing experience for the audience.

Boxtales performs their stories with clear focus and executes their productions with impressive physicality and creative imagery and sound. The performers embody true joy for the journey toward the essential comprehension of the human experience found in these folktales. In this 20th Anniversary Celebration, Boxtales hopes to impart this fascination for storytelling and theatre to a young audience. In an exhilarating blend of music, movement, and theatrical styles, these family-friendly productions are meant to inspire audiences of all ages to explore the power of sensory, symbolic storytelling.

BOXTALES 20th Anniversary Festival

Presented by BOXTALES Theatre Company
November 13-16
The Lobero Theater, Santa Barbara
http://www.lobero.com/events/boxtales-package/

boxtales.org