Whimsical Puppetry Brings Sleeping Beauty Story to Life
Award-winning puppet theatre company Marionetas de la Esquina brings their unique
and modern adaptation, Sleeping Beauty Dreams, to Smothers Theatre at 11 a.m. on Saturday, March 
7.
There will be a free, open to the public Family Art Day from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. before and after the performance, featuring hands-on art projects and Weisman Museum tours.
This puppet theatre company from Mexico has been entertaining children and adults alike since 1975. In this contemporary take on the classic fairytale Sleeping Beauty, the famous princess is depicted as an overprotected daughter looking for a way to break free of her castle walls in order to search for true love—and her true self.
Written by award-winning playwright Amaranta Leyva, this co-commission of the Kennedy Center uses Marionetas de la Esquina's humorous storytelling and whimsical puppetry to awaken this sleeping princess as never before, in a modern interpretation for today's young audiences.
A puppet theater company from Mexico founded by Lucio Espíndola and Lourdes Pérez Gay, Marionetas de la Esquina has been entertaining children and adults alike since 1975. Performing shows in both English and Spanish, Marionetas de la Esquina has given more than 11,000 performances and 50 workshops and seminars. Since its creation, the company has helped disseminate and develop the art of puppetry in Mexico. The company keeps a repertoire of ten shows, each a testimony to its wish to experiment with all aspects of puppet theatre, from set and puppet design to dramaturgy.
Esquina has a variety of themes, stages, and puppets that have won recognition in Mexico and abroad. In 2006, the company was honored by the National Critics of Mexico, and company member and playwright Amaranta Leyva received the Mexican National Prize for Children’s Theater for her play The Dress. Two of the puppeteers received the Títeres Rosete Aranda medal in 2012 for their work as artists and promoters of puppetry in Mexico. Esquina’s history has been published in a book called Marionetas de la Esquina, Tras Bambalinas.
Tickets are $12 for adults, $10 for youth 17 and under and for full-time Pepperdine students. For tickets and more information, please call (310) 506-4522 or visit the Center for the Arts website.