Free Family-Friendly Theater Coming To LIC Waterfront On Saturday

LONG ISLAND CITY, QUEENS — Family-friendly theater is coming to the Long Island City waterfront this weekend.

Rising Sun Performance Company (RSPC), an NYC-based theater company, is performing "Playing Possum" by Holly Hepp-Galván at noon and 3 p.m. at Hunters Point Park this Saturday.

The 45 minute long performances are part of RSPC's summer tour, during which the company is bringing youth theater to several parks across the city during July and August.

"Playing Possum" is a story of adventure and tricks based on a Mexican folktale, according to RSPC.

Hepp-Galván, the show's playwright, said that she was inspired to write the play based on the Mexican folktales that her father-in-law's mother used to share with him.

"He always shared how he wished more people knew of the charming trickster [the] Possum," she said of her father-in-law, Dr. Roberto Galván, adding that now at age 98 he is "thrilled to hear that these stories would be coming to life in New York City.

Director Anel Carmona, who is a writer and actor originally from Guadalajara, Mexico, said that the play is a celebration of Mexican culture, which is "intertwined" with American culture.

As part of its celebration of culture, RSPC makes a point of including a land acknowledgement in its production materials in order to honor the Canarsie and Lenape peoples' who call northwest Queens home.

The theater company describes "Playing Possum" as a "playful tale filled with animals that will be sure to bring giggles to audiences of all ages."

RSPC's Founding Artistic Director, Akia Squitieri, told a theater site that the performance is the theater group's first in-person tour in over a year.

"We are excited to return to in-person theater and find it fitting for our ensemble-based company to kick off our in-person performances with this free vital programming in partnership with the New York City Parks Department," she said.

The show will include elements in English and Spanish, the site reported.

All of RSPC's youth performances this summer, including Saturday's show in Long Island City, are lawn seating, so play-goers are encouraged to bring blankets and cushions to sit on.

While performers, who are all fully vaccinated and testing on a weekly basis, will not be wearing mask, the company asks that audience members sit six feet away from the stage and at a social distance from each other, and "encourage" that people wear masks.

Saturday's performance in Queens will be followed by a show in Fort Greene Park on July 31 and a final performance in Central Park on August 15.

Find out more here.