International Children's Festival sends a party invitation to the grown-ups

By Misha Berson
Seattle Times theater critic

ATELIER IMAGES Burkina Faso's Badenya les Frères Coulibaly is known for lively displays of West African music, dance and drumming.

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Tired of being Seattle's "best kept secret" (for adult audiences, that is), the Seattle International Children's Festival is reaching out to more mature patrons this year. Mature, as in people older than 17.

"We've got this jewel we put on every year, and adults often don't make the connection that these are world-class performance groups we're bringing in," says festival producing director Brian Faker. He was explaining the reasoning behind this year's focus on some extra evening shows by sophisticated troupes from Germany, New Zealand, Mexico and Africa.

Lest there be any confusion, however, the Seattle International Children's Festival will still live up to its name and central mission: to bring dynamic dance, theater, puppetry and musical artists to Northwest schoolchildren.

In addition to new works commissioned from Seattle multi-media artist Alan Lande and local storytellers Cathy Spagnoli and Kazu Honda, most of the 2004 acts are new to the fest, and some artists will make their North American debuts there.

Starting Monday, SICF will stage weekday shows (at the Seattle Center, Monday-Friday, and at Tacoma's historic Pantages and Rialto Theaters on May 17) for about 40,000 young people, most of whom attend with school groups bussed in from as far away as Portland.

As usual, kid patrons will not just get to watch but also get to participate in such free arts activities as kite-building, mask-making, origami-folding, clay sculpting and face-painting. But performance, much of it foreign and offbeat, is the emphasis.

Festival preview Seattle International Children's Festival, through May 17 at Seattle Center, Consolidated Works and Tacoma's Pantages and Rialto theaters. To find out more information (including age appropriateness of each show), order tickets and get a complete schedule, call 206-684-7346 or go to www.seattleinternational.org. Ticket prices: For Family Day shows, a separate ticket for each performance is required (though participatory arts activities on the Seattle Center grounds are free). Family Day tickets are $14 adult (which also gives you two children's tickets to the same show for free), or $9 youth or senior per show. Seattle International Nights shows are $15 adults, $12 youth or senior. Also available: six-show packages for $60 adult or $50 youth or senior.

"I'm particularly thrilled with the world music we have this year," says Faker, who with managing director Andrea Wagner travels frequently abroad to seek out new troupes for their $1.25 million international jamboree.

"All the music groups we're bringing this time are great examples of really hot, award-winning companies doing work that's contemporary but still rooted in native traditions."

While most of the weekday festival performances are sold out in advance to school groups, SICF will again host an open-to-the public "Family Day" (at Seattle Center, on May 15, and Tacoma's Pantages Theatre on May 16). And thanks to underwriting from Target department stores, buying one $14 adult ticket to a Family Day performance will get you two free children's tickets to the same show.

Adults are also being encouraged to sample the new Seattle International Nights program, which includes adult-oriented evening shows by six troupes, at Consolidated Works arts center through Sunday, and Center House locations Wednesday through next Friday.

"Our thought is, let's up the diversity and make more of this great work available to people on different levels," says Faker.

2004 lineup

Here is the 2004 roster of major SICF acts, with times and venues listed for Family Day and Seattle International Nights public shows. For weekday, daytime shows, consult www.seattleinternational.org.

	ESTER SUNDBERG Scotland's Shona Reppe Puppets gives an offbeat take on "Cinderella."

Badenya les Frères Coulibaly. This company hails from Burkina Faso and is known for lively displays of West African music, dance and drumming. 8:30 p.m. next Friday and 2 p.m. May 15, Bagley Wright Theatre, Seattle Center.

Los de Abajo. Playing their own brand of Latin rock known as "tropi-punk," this Grammy-nominated band comes from Mexico. "They have a strong, kinetic presence on stage that kids will really respond to," advises Faker. 8:30 p.m. Thursday and 12:30 p.m. May 15 at Fisher Pavilion, Seattle Center.

Linsey Pollak and Graeme Leak. Test tubes and other laboratory equipment are transformed into musical instruments by this inventive Australian duo. 2 p.m. May 15 at Eve Alvord Theatre, Seattle Center.

Jamie Adkins & Co. A new "circus fantasia" from Quebec's Adkins, a veteran of the Pickle Family Circus and Cirque Eloize. 7 p.m. next Friday and 5 p.m. May 15 at Bagley Wright Theatre, Seattle Center and 4:30 p.m. May 16 at Pantages Theater, 901 Broadway, Tacoma.

	MANUELA SEEBER "Children of the Beast" is an Israeli-German co-production.

Nadee & Co. This Los Angeles-based, Iranian-American folk troupe performs music and dance drawn from Persian cultural traditions. 9:30 a.m. May 15 at Fisher Pavilion, Seattle Center.

Kazu/Cathy/Jaku. Seattle story-spinners Cathy Spagnoli and Kazu Honda join with music group Jaku to forge a cross-cultural, bilingual (English-Japanese) program of yarns. 12:30 p.m. May 15 at Eve Alvord Theatre, Seattle Center.

Wai. Musicians from New Zealand's Maori tribe meld hip-hop with tribal traditions, in a style Faker calls " 'Whale Rider' meets the club scene.' " 8:30 p.m. Wednesday and 3:30 p.m. May 15 at Bagley Wright Theatre.

Linsey Pollak. Music made from dental floss? Carrots? Rubber gloves? This Australian performer uses such household objects to create a unique combination of sounds. 11 a.m. May 15 at Eve Alvord Theatre, Seattle Center.

Shona Reppe Puppets. An offbeat take on "Cinderella" by a puppetry troupe from Scotland. 12:30 p.m. May 15 at Center House Theater, Seattle Center.

Teatron Theater with Figuren Theater Tübingen. This experimental puppet-live action company performs "Children of the Beast," an Israeli-German co-production based on stories of children during the Holocaust (suitable for teenagers, but not young children). 7 p.m. May 12-14 and 2 p.m. May 15 at Center House Theater, Seattle Center.

	YVES PROVENCHER Quebec's Jamie Adkins & Co. will present a new "circus fantasia." Adkins is a veteran of the Pickle Family Circus and Cirque Eloize.

Alan Lande & Co. Seattle artist Lande conjures a new multimedia show that aims to "get kids to examine what the mass media — video games, TV, movies — are really telling them," says Faker. 3:30 p.m. May 15 at Seattle Center Pavilion.

Ellis & Bheki. Two male performers from South Africa, one white and the other black, perform their show "A Boy Called Rubbish," about a child who overcomes adversity in a squatters camp. 11 a.m. May 15 at Fisher Pavilion, Seattle Center.

Flamingo Bar. An adult puppet show from German performer Frank Soehnle, which evokes a "strange, surreal and captivating world." 8 p.m. tonight through Sunday at Consolidated Works, 500 Boren Ave., N., Seattle.

Misha Berson: mberson@seattletimes.com

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company

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