INSIDE OUT Runs Now thru 4/6 at Imagination Stage

Imagination Stage will collaborate with Natasha Holmes, director and cofounder of Tell Tale Hearts Children's Touring Theatre Company (U.K.), on the world premiere of Inside Out. This is the second collaboration with Tell Tale Hearts for the My First Imagination Stage season, and it builds on the free play aspect of live performance.

As part of the My First Imagination Stage season, Inside Out runs in Imagination Stage's Christopher and Dana Reeve Studio Theatre tonight, March 1-April 6, 2014, at 10:30 and 11:45 a.m. Tuesdays-Fridays, and 10:00 and 11:15 a.m. on Saturdays and Sundays. Each performance runs approximately 45 minutes. Appropriate for ages 1-5, tickets are $10-$12, with a $5 lap seat for children under 12 months. Tickets may be purchased online at www.imaginationstage.org, at the Imagination Stage box office, or via phone at 301-280-1660.

It's bedtime in Inside Out, but instead of getting ready for bed, two children use their imaginations to turn their room into a wonderland of mess. While playing dress-up, a glove becomes a dancing fish, a shirt becomes a fantastical creature, and a sock dance rocks the closet. This interactive show includes a free play session, encouraging audience members to use their own creativity with some of the items from the show.

The development of this production for very young children began with very young children. After an initial brainstorming session, a team of Imagination Stage artists, along with Ms. Holmes, visited Petals Child Development Center in Bethesda to observe how two- and four-year-olds played with clothes. From there, Ms. Holmes and Kathryn Chase Bryer, Imagination Stage's associate artistic director, were able to create a story line and script for Inside Out that included participation for its audience members.

Tell Tale Hearts has been making theatre exclusively for children since 2003, becoming one of the most respected companies in the U.K. for creating theatre for the very young. The company presents participatory touring theatre productions, giving children the opportunity to experience a magical and multi-sensory world of theatre. Imagination Stage initially collaborated with the company on From Here to There, which had its North American premiere at Imagination Stage in March 2013.