Bright Eyes

This month, the New York International Fringe Festival has a few treats for the playschool set alongside their usual offering of emerging theater. PossEble Theater Lab will explore female role models with the help of Winifred, a frustrated, enthusiastic, outspoken, hopeful, tech-savvy 10-year-old on a mission to find her role models. Written and performed by 5th and 6th grade New York girls, Keep Your Eyes Open, will play the Cherry Lane Theatre August 20-23, and performances are also planned for P.S. 111, P.S. 41, and P.S. 187.

Also part of the Fringe, Burgerboy Productions tells the tale of a lonely little boy in Gargoyle Garden, August 9-20, at the Bleecker Street Theatre. When Edgar Allen Densmore has trouble fitting in at a Piedmont Private School, he spends a lot of his free time among the broken statues on his dormitory roof, and one day he receives a mysterious invitation to attend a moonlit party there. Me, You & Eli will present Lucila: a play for Gabriela Mistral at the Connelly Theater, August 9-22, based on a childhood story from Mistral, the Noble Prize Laureate. In the story, Lucila leaves her mountain town at age 10 to work at the Superior School for Girls.

For Shel Silverstein loving children, One Little Did Players will present A Silly Silverstein Show (August 8-24), a brand new puppet musical that incorporates stories, poems, and songs by Silverstein at The Deluxe at Speigelworld. Thumbelina, August 12-23, will round out the Fringe Festival’s kids offerings with the classic story of a brave little girl who must find her way home after being separated from her mother.

Pinkalicious, The Musical will return to New World Stages this month (August 2-September 12) with the wacky tale of a girl can’t stop eating pink cupcakes despite warnings from her parents. Out in Brooklyn, Joel Jeske will bring his knack for clowning to Brower Park this month with The All Ages Vaudeville Show, August 8. Jeske will take a break from visiting children in area hospitals as Dr. Ya-don’t-say to give an outdoor audience a taste of his award winning talents.

The outdoor events continue at Pier 1 at 70th Street where the Swedish Cottage Marionette Theatre will present Cinderella Samba, August 14, a lush Brazilian take on the classic story, in which Cinderella and her Prince are set to compete in a samba contest at the Carnival Ball. Also at Pier 1, Billy B., August 7, will bring a little song and dance to a few natural science lessons in kinetic energy. Perfect for kids who like to make noise, Billy B. will have kids mimic the slide of tectonic plates, and pretend to be leaves photosynthesizing.

Finally, in Long Island, Broad Hollow Theatre Company hopes to brighten up some faces with Smile at BayWay Arts Center, August 1-5, a musical send up to beauty pageants and teenage angst when 16 contenders battle it out for the title of Young American Miss, featuring music by Marvin Hamlish and book/lyrics by Howard Ashman.