Attic Salt presents family-friendly theater every Saturday, Dec. 5-May 21

Press release:

Attic Salt presents Saturdays On Stage
Family-Friendly Theater Every Saturday!
Produced by Attic Salt Theatre Company
at The Magnetic Theatre
375 Depot Street, Asheville, NC 28801
Saturdays, December 5 – May 21, 10:00am

Family Theater Performances

Attic Salt Theatre Company, the team who produced family favorites The Tale of the Pig and Newly Grown Tales, is pleased to announce their new partnership with Magnetic 375 for a six-month series of shows for children. The space is located at 375 Depot Street in Asheville’s River Arts District. All performances will be at 10:00am on Saturdays, December 5th through May 21st. Shows are suitable for children ages 4 and up and all tickets are only $5 per person.

Attic Salt Theatre Company is a company that formed in New York City in 1998 and spent many years creating children’s theatre and artist residencies in NYC schools. With the arrival in Asheville four years ago of the two principal officers of the company, Jeff Catanese, Artistic Director, and Marci Bernstein, Executive Director/Education Coordinator, the company has been continuing its work to those ends in Western North Carolina. After presenting Newly Grown Tales, The Tale of the Pig, Feet Water, The Sultan’s Wife and Echo, Narcissus, Icarus and Friends: Greek Myths at Asheville Community Theatre, Attic Salt is bringing it’s unique brand of original theater for children to Magnetic 375. Four shows will run in repertory from December to May:

· The Tale of the Pig
· Newly Grown Tales
· Echo, Narcissus, Icarus and Friends: Greek Myths
· and our newest show Tricky, Tricky Trickster Tales

Marci Bernstein and Jeff Catanese, the authors of three theater education books published by Scholastic, Inc, write all of Attic Salt’s family shows. Both Bernstein and Catanese have a love for classic folktales and Attic Salt’s family shows reflect that. The Tale of the Pig, excerpts of Greek Myths and Tricky, Tricky Trickster Tales are adapted from their Scholastic book Folktale Plays from Around the World That Kids Will Love. Newly Grown Tales is an improvisational look at several different types of folktales, including a fairy tale, a tall tale, a fool’s tale and an origin tale, all designed to use the suggestions of the children in the audience as plot points.

Said Mr. Catanese, “Kids grow up hearing many folktales, but know very little about how they came about. Allowing them to aid in the creation of never-before-heard tales helps the idea of oral tradition sink in that much better.” Ms. Bernstein loves exposing kids to folktales a little closer to their original versions. “So many kids only know the Disney versions with the cleaned up endings and the pretty princesses,” she says. “Girls often seemed groomed to like Fairy Tales but boys scrunch up their faces when you mention them. I love that The Tale of the Pig includes a princess, but features a pig and it doesn’t come close to having a ‘happily ever after.’ It has a wonderfully universal appeal.”

Each show features two actors portraying a dizzying array of characters. Performing in the shows are local favorites Hallee Hirsh, Christy Montesdeoca, Marci Bernstein and Jeff Catanese. While all shows are appropriate for ages 4 and up, older elementary-aged kids and their grown-ups will find themselves definitively entertained.

Tickets are available at www.atticsalt.org or at the box office at Magnetic 375. Please call 347-678-9869 for more information.