During April, the UNC Charlotte Department of Theatre will present multiple free performances of “Mamá Goose,” a bilingual play for children (ages 3 to 7) and their families. Incorporating songs, rhymes, games and riddles in Spanish and English, “Mamá Goose” is based on the popular book “Mamá Goose: A Latino Nursery Rhyme Treasury/Un Tesoro De Rimas Infantile,” by Alma Flor Ada and F. Isabel Campoy.
Beth Murray, assistant professor of theatre education, and Irania Macias, a bilingual program specialist for Charlotte Mecklenburg Library, adapted “Mamá Goose” for the stage. The work weaves nursery rhymes into a story about sharing. Four cousins find a large and mysterious egg – surely a treasure – and each in turn tries to hide it and claim it for his own. But Abuela, the children’s grandmother, helps them to see that selfishness is like a monster: in the end, “ours” is better than “mine.”
The 30-minute production includes original music by Criss Cross Mangosauce (http://ccmangosauce.com/blog/) and choreography by Donna Dragon, assistant professor of dance education at UNC Charlotte, in collaboration with local teaching artists Brenda Giraldo and Niché Faulkner.
Performances of “Mamá Goose” are funded by the College of Arts + Architecture and the Department of Theatre, and t hey are presented in partnership with the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library. Additional partners include: the UNC Charlotte College of Education, the Office of International Programs, the Chancellor’s Diversity Challenge Fund, the Latin American Student Organization and the Latin American Coalition. In addition to performances in local pre-schools and elementary schools, there will be free public performances throughout Charlotte:
10:30 a.m., Saturday, April 13, at Mint Museum, Randolph Road Location
Noon, April 13, at the Independence Boulevard Regional Library
2 p.m., April 13, at the Beatties Ford Road Branch Library
11 a.m., Saturday, April 27, at ImaginOn
2 p.m., April 27, Black Box Theater, Robinson Hall, UNC Charlotte
2 p.m., Sunday, April 28, Black Box Theater, Robinson Hall, UNC Charlotte
In conjunction with the “Mamá Goose” project, book authors Alma Flor Ada and F. Isabel Campoy will visit Charlotte onThursday, April 18, for appearances at a local school and at the Latin American Coalition, a presentation in the College of Education and a colloquium in Robinson Hall.