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THEATRE MUSIC ®
The Music Center’s Study Guide to the Performing Arts
TRANSFORMATION
ENDURING VALUES
CLASSICAL
1. CREATING (Cr)
CONTEMPORARY
2. PERFORMING, PRESENTING, PRODUCING (Pr)
EXPERIMENTAL
3. RESPONDING (Re)
MULTI-MEDIA
4. CONNECTING (Cn)
FREEDOM & OPPRESSION
Title of Work: May Day Parade and Festival
ARTISTIC PROCESSES
TRADITIONAL
THE POWER OF NATURE
THE HUMAN FAMILY
manipulating imaginative floats, wearing colorful masks and headdresses, and showcasing skills such as stilt-walking and juggling. The parade and festival are
Creators:
designed to honor the red and green roots of May Day
Producer: In the Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theatre Artistic Director: Sandy Spieler b. 1953
- the red symbolizes the blood of people and the work
Background Information:
of their hands and the green symbolizes the change of seasons, the passing from winter to spring.
In the Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theatre of
Creative Process of the Artist or Culture:
Minneapolis, Minnesota is a unique, professional theatre
Each year the parade is built around a theme chosen
company which has received international recognition
to embody different aspects of May Day’s red and
for its visually spectacular events. Using the ancient
green roots. In a community meeting at the theatre,
tradition of puppet and mask theatre, their work is
suggestions are offered and a particular theme is
strongly grounded in exploring the events and values of
selected. The May Day staff and artists then meet and
contemporary society. Founded in 1974, and under the
propose a story board. In the theatre lobby, the parade
artistic leadership of Sandy Spieler since 1976, In the
and ceremony storyboards are presented and divided
Heart of the Beast produces original and imaginative
into sections from which participants choose a specific
works, built by hand with recycled materials. The theatre’s
part to build and present. For one month prior to the
performance style combines sculpture and painting with
grand event, free workshops are open to volunteers of
poetry, music and dance to create striking and evocative
all races, ages and cultures who gather to construct the
puppets which they magically bring to life. By providing
parade’s masks and puppet creations out of wheat
opportunities for hands-on participation, the theatre
paste, cardboard, paper and paint. The theater space
empowers its audience by involving them in building a
itself is transformed into a giant
vital and healthy culture through art, festivity and play.
workshop, a-buzz with creative
The company’s productions include full-length puppet
activity which culminates on May
plays, touring shows, circuses and street parades.
Day with the joyous parade and festival in Powderhorn Park.
About the Artwork: The May Day Parade is a glorious pageant and ceremony celebrated annually on the first Sunday in May. The hallmarks of the parade are giant rod puppets over twenty feet tall which symbolize Prairie, Sky, River, Woods and the Tree of Life. Since its inception in 1975, hundreds of participants walk the parade route
Minnesota Photo courtesy of Sandy Spieler
“We must acknowledge and honor the incredible power of our hands, hearts and minds, and the creativity of people working together.” Sandy Spieler