CTC Tours SEEDFOLKS To New York, Nebraska and Greater Minnesota

Children's Theatre Company (CTC) will bring its production of Seedfolks on a three-month tour to eight cities across Minnesota, Omaha (The Rose Theater) and Lincoln (Lied Center for Performing Arts), Nebraska and to The New Victory Theater, New York. The organization received significant tour support from the Minnesota State Arts Board's Arts Tour Minnesota grant to bring Seedfolks to nine theatres across Minnesota including the Memorial Auditorium Performing Arts Center (Worthington), Myles Reif Performing Arts Center (Grand Rapids), Fairmont Opera House (Fairmont), Historic Holmes Theatre (Detroit Lakes), Sheldon Theatre of Performing Arts (Red Wing), Backus Community Center (International Falls), Central Lakes Community Performing Arts Center (Brainerd) and Memorial Auditorium (Dawson) in the spring of 2018. The ninth supported site was Theatre L'Homme Dieu in Alexandria in summer 2017. CTC recently brought this production of Seedfolks to the prestigious ASSITEJ International (International Association of Theatre for Children and Young People) 2017 World Conference in Cape Town, South Africa.

The CTC commissioned play was developed and premiered at CTC in 2014 and is based on the book by Newbery Award-winning author Paul Fleischman. Seedfolks begins when nine-year-old Kim plants the first seeds in the rat-infested, vacant lot next to her apartment building. They are six lima bean seeds, planted in honor of the father she never knew. Slowly, each member of the community finds a reason to plant their own seeds, resurrecting a derelict lot and uniting a fractured neighborhood. Actress Sonja Parks embodies the 11 distinct voices of Gibb Street in this enthralling, one-woman production.

"This is a beautifully written, funny and poignant book and production about the power we all have to be catalysts for change," states CTC Artistic Director and Seedfolks Director, Peter C. Brosius. "We came to the decision to use one single actor to portray 11, diverse voices in this production as a demonstration that we are all part of a whole, and together, we can create something beautiful."

Children's Theatre Company (CTC) is the nation's largest and most acclaimed theatre for multigenerational audiences. It creates theatre experiences that educate, challenge and inspire for nearly 275,000 people annually. CTC is the only theatre focused on young audiences to win the coveted Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre and is the only theatre in Minnesota to receive three Tony nominations (for its production of A Year with Frog and Toad). CTC is committed to producing world class productions at the highest level and to developing new works, more than 200 to date, dramatically changing the canon of work for young audiences.

CTC's engagement and learning programs annually serve more than 85,000 students ages 2-18 through Theatre Arts Training, student matinees, Bridges, and early childhood arts education programs that bring students to the theatre and bring teaching artists into the classroom. The ACT One program is CTC's comprehensive platform for access, diversity and inclusion in our audiences, programs, staff, and board that strives to ensure the theatre is a home for all people, all families, reflective of our community. www.childrenstheatre.org