The Astoria Performing Arts Center in Long Island City/Astoria recently wrapped up “Viva Stage,” a two-part Bilingual Children’s Theater program.
More than 200 children and parents attended and enjoyed the two 60-minute musical shows that mixed Spanish and English together in each line of dialogue. This innovative concept of mixing the two languages in one show, instead of having two separate shows with the differing languages, was created by producer / writer / director Susana Crisan.
“If Only I Could Be/Los Suenos Del Coquí” was presented Feb. 1 and 2, “Where’s Teeny? /¿Dondé Está Teeny?” was presented March 5 and 6.
Executive Producer Susan Scannell discovered Crisan’s work through an article in a newspaper. “I called Susan and was really intrigued by what she was doing,” Scannell said. “We spoke for over a year before I was able to get the funding to present them from a grant given to us through the Queens Council on the Arts.”
“I started APAC with the dream of using the arts to serve youth,” Scannell said. “To date we have done so by involving teen interns and creating an English-speaking kids’ theater troupe. I was so very excited when (Crisan’s) group came to my attention and hope to further develop a relationship with them.”
Scannell said that the need for this type of theater was exemplified by the parents who traveled from all five boroughs to APAC’s Astoria location to bring their children to the performances. “One group was visiting from Ecuador and saw an ad for the show and brought their kids,” Scannell said. “Local schools, newspapers, community boards, the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and Peter Vallone, Jr.’s office were all helpful in getting the word out. It was a real community effort to serve a wonderful group of kids.”
For information about the Astoria Performing Arts Center and its upcoming shows, call Scannell at 718-278-5925.
