Family-friendly picks for PIFA 2018

Are you excited about PIFA but also certain your youngsters couldn’t make it through A 24-Decade History of Popular Music? That’s okay. Here are some PIFA picks both kids and adults can enjoy.

Water on Mars, running for five performances at the Kimmel’s Perelman Theater June 1 through 3, offers a dazzling show for all ages. A trio of expert Swedish jugglers known as Plastic Boom make this show a thrilling opener for the fest. Besides the jaw-dropping juggling and acrobatics, Water on Mars promises snow, backflips, chocolate, tap dancing, “airborne geometry,” and 400 rolls of tape.

‘Cristal Palace’

If your family likes dance jams and outdoor experiences, Cristal Palace, happening by the Schuylkill River, might be for you. French performance troupe Transe Express wowed PIFA-goers in 2011 with a sensational aerial display over Broad Street, and they’re back with “a 360-degree immersive event featuring a human chandelier as the centerpiece for the best dance party Philly has ever seen.”

Cristal Palace is a world premiere commissioned for PIFA. For nine performances from June 1 through 10, audiences will gather on the east side of the Schuylkill in Fairmount Park (near Kelly Drive at Fountain Green Drive). Opening act Nobuntu, an all-female Zimbabwean a cappella quintet, offers a mix of dance and Zimbabwean songs, Afro-jazz, and gospel. They’re “a new generation of young African women singers who celebrate and preserve their culture, beauty, and heritage through art.”

Yes, there will be restrooms onsite for Cristal Palace, but the show, which happens on the grass, might be tough for folks of any age who can’t stay on their feet for the duration. You can bring a blanket to sit on if needed (no folding chairs), and the Kimmel says there’ll be “some unreserved bleacher seats” in the back, but this makes it sound like the experience will suffer if you can’t boogie your way through, so families can gauge their own stamina and abilities before getting tickets.

‘Doggie Hamlet’

Other performances billed as “all ages” also need individual judgment. Ann Carlson’s Doggie Hamlet (a Philly premiere) comes to Fairmount Park’s Belmont Plateau for three 70-minute performances June 3 and 4. The audience sits on hay bales, and the cast includes five human performers, three herding dogs, and a flock of sheep.

Yup, restrooms will be onsite; it’s rain or shine; and nope, you can’t feed or pet the dogs and sheep. This interdisciplinary performance promises a unique experience with plenty of food for thought. Performers of all species are appearing as themselves and “as living symbols” asking what it means to be a citizen of today’s world. You can judge if your kids will be down for what PIFA calls “a 3D pastoral poem” that is not (did you catch that? not!) Hamlet performed by dogs. Carlson found thematic inspiration in the engrossing and heartbreaking novel The Story of Edgar Sawtelle (an unusual retelling of Hamlet) and in sheepherding trials.

‘Tape Riot’ and the fair

Another pick for families with youngsters is Asphalt Piloten’s Tape Riot, running for eight performances June 5 through 8. This interdisciplinary movement-based experience from four performers takes the audience on a 45-minute walk around the city (leaving from a Center City location undisclosed till showtime). The show promises “electronic soundscapes, improvised dance, and graphics” interacting with the urban environment in surprising ways.

Each performance will be unique and may involve stairs and uneven ground. Be sure to hit the bathroom before showtime. It’s happening rain or shine, and it’s not recommended for parents with strollers or anyone who can’t stand and walk for the duration.

Even if you don’t do anything else for the fest, come out for the massive PIFA block party on Saturday, June 9, from 11am to 7pm. Broad Street will shut down between City Hall and South Street, and there will be rides, tons of activities and performances, food vendors, and more. Drive and park if you must, but SEPTA is your best bet for getting there.

Above: The chandelier of Cristal Palace promises to be one of the summer's top arts spectacles. (Photo courtesy of the Kimmel Center.)