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Created and Directed by Matt Bassett and Tia Shearer Bassett

Imagine a theatrical world designed especially for babies and young toddlers to explore - a world inspired by the wonders of the rainforest! That's what's in store when the innovative style of Arts on the Horizon targets our very youngest fans and their caregivers. Using colorful objects and playful sounds, our performers will discover and build a rainforest setting around, within and above the audience. Whistling flowers, a clacking caterpillar, and brightly-colored umbrella birds await! After each performance, children are invited to explore the different props and objects used to create the playscape.

Under the Canopy is a 20-minute, interactive, nonverbal show geared for children ages 0-2 (and their 3-4-year-old pals).
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We would like to extend a special thank you to Think Outside the Store for their kind donation of fabric for the objects & puppets seen in the show.
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Development of this show was made possible through support
from the Alexandria Commission for the Arts.

The Athenaeum
February 12 - 25, 2014

Atlas Performing Arts Center
February 28 - March 8, 2014
Presented as part of Theatre for the Very Young
@ The Atlas INTERSECTIONS Festival

The Athenaeum
September 25 - October 5, 2014

Local Tour
October 6 - 10, 2014

Artistic Team

Matt Bassett (Co-Creator and Co-Director) is  thrilled to be back with Arts on the Horizon for Under the Canopy! Matt’s previous work with Arts on the Horizon was as a co-creator (with Tia Shearer Bassett) and director of Out of the Box, which has enjoyed runs in Alexandria, at the Atlas Performing Arts Center (Spring and Fall 2012) and in a school tour of the Alexandria area. He also played guitar for Arts on the Horizon’s Drumming with Dishes: The Holiday Edition last year. Matt is the Associate Artistic Director of The Hub Theatre (Failure: A Love Story), Compass Rose Theater (Eleemosynary), Montgomery College Summer Dinner Theatre (Seussical) and Imagination Stage’s Education Department (Honk!, Sweet Charity, The Wizard of Oz, Bye Bye Birdie) in addition to assistant-directing at The Hub Theatre (Big Love - 2013 Helen Hayes Award nomination for Best Direction) and Roundhouse Theatre (A Wrinkle in Time). Regional directing credits include a dream once lost, a world premiere collaboration with Tia Shearer Bassett that opened at the 2007 Philly Fringe; Matt and Ben, with People’s Branch Theatre; and Equus at Tennessee Tech University. Matt has appeared onstage with Ford’s Theatre, The Bay Theatre, The Hub Theatre, Washington Stage Guild, and The Kennedy Center’s Theatre for Young Audiences on Tour. Matt holds a BA in English from Tennessee Tech University and an MFA in Acting from the University of Tennessee and teaches with Montgomery College, Metropolitan School of the Arts, The National Conservatory of Dramatic Arts, and Imagination Stage. He lives in Takoma Park, MD, with his beautiful and talented collaborator (and wife), their amazing son Charlie and their cat, feline jazz legend Charlie Parker. Upcoming projects: Honk! with Montgomery College and Secrets with Kaiser Permanente's Educational Theatre.
Tia Shearer Bassett (Co-Creator and Co-Director)  is a proud "family member” of Arts on the Horizon, having collaborated with her husband, Matt (and even their baby son!), on the development of two Arts on the Horizon shows that have seen four separate productions! It is safe to say she loves this work. Tia has performed locally for the likes of Imagination Stage (Bunnicula, Wind in the Willows, Helen Hayes winner Anime Momotaro) and the Kennedy Center TYA (Trixie in two national tours of Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Musical) and served as Audience Designer for Flying V Theatre, crafting interactive experiences for grownups not unlike those Arts on the Horizon gives the littles. She holds a B.A. from NYU and teaches at the National Conservatory of Dramatic Arts. When she was a kid, she was constantly trying to make canopies.
Wit’s End Puppets (Object/Puppet Design) is devoted to telling stories through puppetry and bringing the art form to the DC community through performances, collaboration and educational workshops. Wit's End has presented shows at street fairs, outdoor festivals, TEDx conferences and public libraries in the DC area. Their first original full-length show, The Amazing and Marvelous Cabinets of Kismet premiered in May of 2013 at the Mead Theatre Lab at Flashpoint, through the support of CulturalDC. After premiering in fall 2013, they brought a bilingual children's play called Fabulas Mayas (co-produced with GALA Hispanic Theatre) to the 2014 Atlas INTERSECTIONS Festival.
Mary Alicia Sells (Resident Stage Manager) is a proud company member of Arts on the Horizon.  A local freelance stage manager, she has had the privilege to work on over 30 productions with such companies as Adventure Theatre, Arena Stage, Folger Theatre, The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Olney Theatre Center, Signature Theatre, The Source Festival, Spooky Action Theater, Studio Theatre, and Woolly Mammoth Theatre.  She is a graduate of Vanderbilt University with a BA in English, History, and Theatre.
Sound Design consulting and mixing services provided by Nicole Martin.

Cast

Betsy Rosen (Actor 1 in Original Production) spent the 2012-2013 season performing in eight productions at the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park.  She last appeared with Arts on the Horizon in the inaugural production of Drumming with Dishes.  Other regional acting credits include the Helen Hayes Award winning The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (Imagination Stage); Astroboy and the God of Comics, The Long Christmas Ride Home (The Studio Theatre); Pride and Prejudice, A Prayer for Owen Meany (Round House Theatre); Velvet Sky (Woolly Mammoth); Much Ado About Nothing (Taffety Punk); Rape of Lucrece (Washington Shakespeare Company); Antigone (Forum Theatre); Courage (Dog and Pony). Puppetry credits include Single Carrot Theatre, Folger Theatre, Factory 449, Dog and Pony, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, MadCap Theatre, DC Fringe, and Madeira School among others.  Betsy received degrees in Theatre and Mathematics from University of Maryland College Park.
Jessica Lefkow (Actor 1 in Remount) is a performer, director, and teaching artist currently based in the DC area. Recent appearances include: COURAGE, Beertown, A Killing Game with dog & pony dc; Bootleg Shakespeare and Riot Grrrl productions with Taffety Punk Theatre Company; A Streetcar Named Desire, (Gulfshore Playhouse); Richard III, (Brave Spirits Theatre Company). Jessica is a 2014 Master of Fine Arts Candidate at the Shakespeare Theatre Company’s Academy for Classical Acting at George Washington University and a member of SAG-AFTRA.
Nora Achrati (Actor 2 in Original Production) is a DC-based actor and teaching artist whose credits include shows with The Puppet Company, Imagination Stage, Port Discovery, Forum Theatre, Constellation Theatre, The Hub, 1st Stage, WSC Avant Bard, and the Smithsonian's Discovery Theater.  Nora works as a teaching artist for Round House Theatre (preK - 2nd grade), and tours regularly with New Moon Theater, a company specializing in theater for school-aged children.  Nora is a graduate of the Honors Conservatory at the Theatre Lab in Washington, DC.  www.norafachrati.com
Teresa Spencer (Actor 2 in Remount) is delighted to be performing with Arts on the Horizon for the first time. Credits include Taffety Punk: Charm, Bloody Poetry, Titus Andronicus; Maryland Shakespeare Festival: As You Like It, Romeo and Juliet, The Taming of the Shrew; Lean & Hungry: Romeo and Juliet; Wandering Souls: Twelfth Night, The Winter’s Tale; Teatro delle Due tour of Italy: The Taming of the Shrew, A Midsummer Night’s Dream; Synetic Family Theater: Galactika. You can see Teresa this October in Absolutely! {perhaps} with Constellation Theatre Company. She holds an MFA from the Shakespeare Theatre Company’s Academy for Classical Acting at the George Washington University.
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