Philadelphia International Children's Festival at the Annenberg

On Saturday, May 3, 2014, I attended the Philadelphia International Children's Festival at The Annenberg Center for Performing Arts, 3680 Walnut Street, Philadelphia PA, with my mother and sister.

This was our first time going to the Children's Festival and it was a blast! The festival activities took place outside and the plays were held in the theaters. There were lots of games for children to play with a super cool juggling show; and plenty of yummy food to eat. 

We had the opportunity to see three plays; "The Ugly Duckling and The Tortoise & the Hare", "Simple Gifts" and "Me and My Shadow". Each play was very different and amazingly cool in their own way.

The first play we saw was "The Ugly Duckling & The Tortoise and the Hare" held in the Zellerbach Theatre. Technology, sculpture, dance and theatre meet in Lightwire Theater's signature electroluminescent puppetry to present two classic stories. This play was funny, heartwarming and exciting; that glowed in the dark the entire time.

Lightwire Theatre

While waiting for the next play, "Simple Gifts" to start, I had the BEST Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich from the Butter Sandwich Truck and enjoyed a juggling show by The Give & Take Jugglers.

Butter Sandwich Truck

The Give & Take Jugglers

The Bruce Montgomery theatre was where Simple Gifts was shown. The internationally-acclaimed Cashore Marionettes redefine the art of puppetry through this series of touching portrayals and poignant scenes from everyday life set to classical music by Vivaldi, Strauss, Beethoven, Copland and more. It was intricate, genius and an uplifting showcase of the art of marionettes.

Cashore Marionettes

With one more show to see, I decided to get my face painted. Since I love super heroes, I got Wonder Woman. My sister choose not to get her face painted and did arts and crafts instead.

The last play was entitled, Me and My Shadow, and was in the Zellerbach Theatre. Me and My Shadow presented by Patch Theatre; depicts the fanciful escapades of a girl who finds a way to be friends with her shadow. Displayed in the form of a visual poem, the show uses the languages of paper, light, shadow, color, water, music, sound and words. It was fun, imaginative and cool. I loved that they used paper bags for so many things; especially the buildings.

Patch Theatre

This was an awesome day and hope to do it again next year!