By SHAWN SKAGER
sskager@auburn-reporter.com
Theater Simple brings its interactive production of “The Adventures of Owl and Pussycat” to the Mill Creek Canyon Earthworks Park in Kent at 1 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 11.
By pulling audience members into the performance and allowing them to interact with the unfolding play, the Seattle-based troupe defies perceptions of what theater is, said Llysa Holland, artistic instigator.
“Unlike most park shows, theater simple’s outdoor work is interactive – and it moves the audience around a space, whether a garden, a farmer’s market, or a recently-capped reservoir,” Holland said. “We combine theatricality with music, spectacle, visual and literary arts, mental or physical games, and this year – a scooter water ballet.”
Holland said Theater Simple’s newest production looks between the lines of Edward Lear’s famous poem, allowing audiences to imagine “the escapades that happened in-between the lines.”
“It examines the logic of nonsense, love of friends and ideas, the literal power of poems, and gives a whole family – a borrowed one works – a delightful excuse to hang out with a picnic on a lark in a park for an afternoon,” Holland said.
Theater Simple created the show, a “variety of storytelling tactics mashed up with poetry, songs, puppets and an ample serving of sass,” for all ages. For the Auburn performances, Holland said, the troupe will present a series of 10-15 pop-up performances with guitar interludes, rather than the entire, linear performance usually presented.
“These adventures are for everyone with a curious mind, a generous heart and a playful love of words,” Holland added.
The troupe has performed throughout the Puget Sound area this summer and will be part of this year’s Bumbershoot Festival in Seattle.
Performances are free, but donations to cover performance costs are encouraged.
For more information, visit www.theatersimple.org.
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