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Greenbelt Artful Afternoon Featuring Synetic Theatre

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Art Fans of all ages are invited to attend a free Artful Afternoon on Sunday, October 2. Sponsored by the Greenbelt Recreation Department Arts Program, this event takes place at the historic Greenbelt Community Center located at 15 Crescent Road in Greenbelt, Maryland. Reservations are not required.

At 3pm, members of the Synetic Theater company based in northern Virginia will perform The Miraculous Magical Balloon. Synetic is well-known for their astonishing and deeply impactful mainstage productions including a wordless Macbeth for which they received five Helen Hayes awards. The company combines music, dance, clowning and pantomime techniques to create highly energetic and expressive shows that transcend differences in language, culture and hearing ability. Developed especially to include young audience members, ‘Balloon’ tells a wonderful story of a traveling actor and his magical trunk of tricks and toys. The running time for this show is approximately 45 minutes.
Prior to the performance, guests are invited to create their own mask in a workshop led by Celestine Ranney-Howes, an Artist in Residence at the Greenbelt Community Center and professional costume designer. This activity will take place from 1-3pm and all materials will be provided.

Visitors can also enjoy a studio open house and sale from 1-4pm with the Greenbelt Community Center’s Artists in Residence. Eight artists currently hold studios at the Center. The open house is a great opportunity to meet local talent and find affordable paintings, prints, collage, assemblage, funky art jewelry, tie dye, fiber arts, ceramic art tile and functional pottery.

The Greenbelt Museum’s Community Center exhibit space is currently hosting The Knowing Hands that Carve This Stone: The New Deal Art of Lenore Thomas Straus. Straus is best known locally as the creator of the iconic Mother and Child statue in Greenbelt’s Roosevelt Center and the impressive bas reliefs on the façade of the Greenbelt Community Center.

For more local history, tour the Greenbelt Museum’s historic house at 10-B Crescent Road, across the street from the Community Center. Exemplifying the residential core of this New Deal planned community, the house has been restored and furnished with objects from the period of 1936-1952. Tours provide visitors with a view of home life for ordinary Americans of modest means during the Great Depression and World War II. Docent-led tours are available on Sundays between 1pm and 5pm for a nominal fee; please plan to arrive no later than 4:30pm.

For more information about City of Greenbelt art programs, visit www.greenbeltmd.gov/arts or call 301-397-2208. See the online Fall Activity Guide for information about visual and performing arts classes for all ages along with Moonlit Movies, contra dances and other events. All Greenbelt Recreation Department programs are open to both residents and non-residents of the city. Arts programs are sponsored in part by the Maryland State Arts Council.