Tales of the Ashanti kicks off the Children’s Series
February 20, 2005

In Tales of the Ashanti, two puppeteers dressed head to toe in black completely captured the attention of lively elementary grade students and their teachers. In full view of the audience, they expertly manipulated child-sized puppets while telling the humorous and enlightening Ashanti tribal folktales, “Talk” and “Elephant and Rhinoceros”. The well-loved African tale, “Talk,” underlines the necessity of thoughtful communication, while the moral of “Elephant and Rhinoceros” upholds the value of cooperation and understanding. The actors were so accomplished and the show was so finely scripted that the actors never talked down to the children, always involved them before they could even think of becoming restless, and had them laughing gleefully, and shouting answers to intelligent questions. An excellent production all around.

Photographs by Maggie Eesley