Dear Educators and Group Leaders,

Theater is an extraordinary and unique experience for a young person.  Attending a performance engages them with different cultures and perspectives, as well as different mediums for expressing ideas and stories, such as puppetry, soundscapes, music, movement, and dance. At the Pittsburgh International Children’s Theater, we are dedicated to continuing this tradition for your children and students. Please join us this year as we celebrate the 26th Pittsburgh International Children’s Festival and give your children and students a chance to experience the gift of theater.

This year, the Festival is pleased to welcome featured performers from the Netherlands, Bangladesh, Senegal, Spain, Germany, Surinam, Venezuela, Australia, The United Kingdom, Scotland and Japan. Each performance will be as educational as it is fun, and throughout the Festival, children are encouraged to participate in the process. Groups and individuals can look forward to free hands-on educational, cultural, and international activities, as well as performances on our free outdoor Community Stage. The Festival will once again take place in the beautiful green spaces surrounding Schenley Plaza and the University of Pittsburgh in Oakland. With the generous help of Citiparks, the University of Pittsburgh, the Parks Conservancy, and Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh we are able to bring you over 65 performances in over 5 venues and ensure that there is something for everyone to enjoy!

Please consider being our guest for a field trip your students will never forget, May 16-20, 2012!

Pamela K. Lieberman, MBA
Manager of Children’s Theater Programming, The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust
E xecutive Director of Pittsburgh International Children’s Theater and Festival

There are still two great shows left in the 2011-2012 Citizens Bank Family Series, featuring The Way Back Home and Treasured Stories by Eric Carle.

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you to everyone who participated in the festival. Each of us who came to laugh, play, share, see shows, volunteer, blow bubbles dance and have fun made it a magical event for the whole community. I had such a fabulous time meeting parents and photographing over the past week. So much creativity is a beautiful thing. Please take a moment to look at the slideshow from Sunday.
All my best, Renee Rosensteel

There are so many things to do at the festival–rain or shine! Yesterday we had beautiful sunshine! We hope you will join us today for the Festival’s 25th birthday party. We’ve been posting photos for you. See our Flickr page or our Facebook page.
Here are some of the photos from yesterday:

Pittsburgh International Children’s Festival is affordable because of the efforts of dozens of volunteers who come together to help out at the Festival.

Volunteers assist with a varieties of duties at the Festival, including taking tickets, ushering at theatrical venues and helping kids with hands-on activities.

If you’d like to get involved, we’d love to have you! You can sign up online.

Questions? Contact our volunteer manager, Eric Thomas, at 412-456-2697 or shoot him an email at ethomas [at] pgharts [dot] org.