|  | Bilingual
                        (Spanish-English, and no text and low
                        text programs) Animalitos
                        (the little animals)- -A
                        collection of Aesop's fables woven
                        together in a magical puppet dance. A
                        rabbit starts a race with a tortoise, but
                        seeing that he has plenty of time, he
                        wanders off, and gets involved with a fox
                        who is trying to court a crane with a
                        romantic dinner for two. With some clever
                        tricks they manage to get some food to
                        serve but things go awry when the fox
                        talks the rabbit into being the waiter
                        for the meal. Meanwhile the tortoise is
                        getting closer and closer to the finish
                        line.....
 
  The Armadillo's Rancho-
                        This story from Argentina tells of a
                        wealthy Fox who tries to take advantage
                        of a poor Armadillo, making her work his
                        garden for him. He thinks he is getting
                        the best part of the deal, but the
                        Armadillo is smarter than he is at every
                        turn and in the end succeeds in setting
                        things right once and for all.
 
  The Fox and Elk Make a Trade-
                        -In this story a fox and elk decide that
                        they are not happy with the way they are
                        made, so they decide to switch arms and
                        legs with each other. The fox, now with
                        very long arms and legs, finds that she
                        can no longer hunt, and is in danger of
                        starving. The elk with the short fox arms
                        and legs can not reach the leaves on the
                        trees that he is used to eating. Both
                        finally realize that they were much
                        better off the way they were originally
                        and in the end exchange arms and legs
                        again, happy to have their old limbs
                        back. The story is humorously set to
                        music reminiscent of pop tunes of the
                        50s.
 
  
 The Fox and the Condor-
                        In this mythological story from South
                        America, there is little food on the
                        earth while in the clouds the birds have
                        much food. The Condor, the king of the
                        birds takes pity on a hungry fox and
                        carries him up to the clouds to eat, but
                        the greedy fox does not stop eating until
                        he falls from the cloud and his belly
                        bursts open, spreading seeds all over the
                        earth. It is these seeds from which the
                        plants on earth have descended (so the
                        tale tells us.)
 
  
 Coyote Sings- In the Native
                        American story, Coyote Sings, the crazy
                        buffoon, Coyote tries desperately to
                        learn a song. This combined with his
                        bungling attempts to hunt for food and
                        impress all his neighbors with his
                        personal skills make for hilarious
                        slapstick. Southwest motifs and designs
                        and Mexican folk tunes make this
                        bilingual show a very popular addition.
 
  Br'er Rabbit and the Number Nine
                        Shoes-In this African American
                        trickster tale, the clever Br'er Rabbit
                        plays a trick on Br'er Bear, and steals
                        his fish from him. Br'er Fox watches the
                        whole trick, but when he tries it himself
                        his efforts end in disaster. Once again
                        Br'er Rabbit survives by relying on his
                        wits. The story is told with large,
                        direct-manipulation puppets, live banjo
                        music and singing.
 
 The
                        Jaguar's Fountain- In the rain
                        forests of South America all living
                        things sing in harmony with each other.
                        But then the chords of disharmony sound
                        as drought descends upon the land. The
                        greedy Jaguar proceeds to force the
                        smaller and weaker animals to dig a we
                        ll. Soon there is water again in the rain
                        forest and it is controlled by the
                        Jaguar. But there is one animal in the
                        forest who will stand up to the Jaguar.
                        He is the Rabbit. Armed only with his
                        humor and wits, he alone dares to
                        challenge the Jaguar and his henchmen
                        until justice prevails and the balance of
                        nature is restored. In The Jaguar's
                        Fountain the puppets and scenery have
                        their own musical sounds created by a
                        variety of hand crafted non-traditional
                        as well as traditional instruments. 
 Smaller
                        Bilingual Shows: The
                        Devil's Mask -a performance
                        workshop where audience members help tell
                        a Mexican folktale- Little
                        Elephant Has A Ball (Spanish
                        English version available) a show
                        designed for preschool audiences |  |