TOMAS AND THE LIBRARY LADY Comes to The Center For The Arts

Pat Mora's inspiring book Tomás and the Library Lady, based on the true story of educator Tomás Rivera, comes to life in a bilingual play with music at Pepperdine University's Smothers Theatre in Malibu on Sunday, September 30 at 2 p.m.

Tickets, priced starting at $10 for adults, $10 for youth 17 and under, and $10 for full-time Pepperdine students, are available now by calling (310) 506-4522 or visiting arts.pepperdine.edu. This production is recommended for ages 5 and up. More information about Childsplay is available at childsplayaz.org.

There will be a free, open to the public Family Art Day from noon to 2 p.m. in the Gregg G. Juarez Palm Courtyard before the performance, featuring hands-on art projects and Weisman Museum tours.

Tomás, the son of migrant workers, was born in Texas and loves the stories Papa Grande tells to him. One day while his family is in Iowa picking crops, Tomás meets the Library Lady and nothing is ever the same again. Soon his imagination takes off as he reads book after book, discovering a world filled with dinosaurs, tigers, and explorers!

"I believe that Tomás and the Library Lady is an empowering story for young people because it speaks about following your dreams, about using your imagination, the power of reading books, and making new friends," Playwright José Cruz González, who wrote the play in partnership with Childsplay Theatre in Tempe, Arizona, said.

While creating the play, González researched the life of Tomás Rivera, contacted his widow and brother and even visited the Tomás Rivera Library at the University of California at Riverside.

"As I dug into the story of the real Tomás Rivera, I found so much to add into the adaptation," González said.

Since Childsplay Theatre premiered the play in 2006, this show has embarked on four statewide tours throughout Arizona and three national tours.

The Lisa Smith Wengler Center for the Arts at Pepperdine University provides high-quality activities for over 50,000 people from over 1,000 zip codes annually through performances, rehearsals, museum exhibitions, and master classes. Located on Pepperdine's breathtaking Malibu campus overlooking the Pacific, the Center serves as a hub for the arts, uniquely linking professional guest artists with Pepperdine students as well as patrons from surrounding Southern California communities. Facilities include the 450-seat Smothers Theatre, the 118-seat Raitt Recital Hall, the "black box" Helen E. Lindhurst Theatre, and the Frederick R. Weisman Museum of Art.

About Childsplay: Childsplay, Inc. is a nonprofit theatre company of professional, adult artists who perform for and teach young audiences and their families. The mission of Childsplay is "to create theatre so strikingly original in form, content, or both, that it instills in young people an enduring awe, love, and respect for the medium, thus preserving imagination and wonder, the hallmarks of childhood which are keys to the future." For more information, visit childsplayaz.org.

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