9th Annual SYRUP: One Sweet Performing Arts Festival “Pancakes and a Show!”

Piti Theatre Company’s 9th annual SYRUP: On Sweet Performing Arts Festival celebrates spring, sap, syrup and art with a pancake brunch & CD release party from 11 – 2:30 featuring a choice of local syrups followed by Piti Theatre’s musical To Bee or Not to Bee, Sandglass Theater’s internationally acclaimed puppet piece Punschi, a Sandglass puppet-making workshop, more syrup-tasting . . . and free Real Pickles.
Award-winning Sandglass Theater will perform their hand-puppet show Punschi at 3:45 pm. Punschi comes out of a European tradition of imaginative puppetry and entertainment and features international touring artist Jana Zeller. Ms. Zeller will offer a puppet-making workshop after the show for ages 6 and up.
Piti’s critically and child-acclaimed To Bee or Not to Bee musical theater performance at 2:30 pm inspires audiences to act on behalf of pollinators while telling the comic, tragic and ultimately hopeful story of farmer and beekeeper James Van Happen with puppets and audience participation. To Bee returns to Shelburne for the SYRUP Festival, kicking off a series of regional and national tour dates this spring and summer. The show’s French version has been seen since 2012 in Switzerland and a growing number of New England towns have leveraged the performance to create a “Bee Week” full of pollinator-supportive activities. More at beeweek.org. 
To Bee features music by Piti musician-in-residence Carrie Ferguson and SYRUP will also be Piti and Ms. Ferguson’s release party for their debut album, Greatest HBits, Vol. 1. In the making since 2012, the new CD collects favorite songs from full productions and mini-musicals like To Bee, Innocenzo, Olde Coleraine and The Time Capsule. Free performances by Ms. Ferguson and Piti’s Youth Troupe will happen at noon and 1 pm during the pancake brunch. 
This year SYRUP moves to a new venue – Shelburne-Buckland Community Center – allowing the  flexibility of two stages and table service in Shelburne Falls. 
SCHEDULE: 
11 am – 2:30 pm: Pancake Party with blueberry and straight-up pancakes served by Piti Youth Troupe performers. Magic tricks and skits spice up their service! 
2:30 pm: Piti Theatre’s To Bee or Not to Bee – an interactive theater production with live music, puppetry and dance for family audiences featuring local children. The play raises awareness of the plight of pollinators while giving children and adults tools for helping bees thrive in their communities. 
3:45 pm: Sandglass Theater’s Punschi - Sandglass puppeteer Jana Zeller presents a collection of delightful and compelling short puppet pieces under an umbrella for adults and children featuring hand puppets, ukulele and lots of laughs! 
4:45: Puppet-Making Workshop - Each participant will invent a character and create a tape guy puppet. These little puppets are made from recycled materials and are easy to recreate at home for anyone who would like to make a whole cast. Each puppet is attached to a chopstick and can be performed in a shoe box theater. Tape Guys is for ages 6 and up.