Dear Editor:
I would like to thank the 200 plus people who participated in the 1st Annual Hoboken Family Arts Fest on Sept. 11, presented by Mile Square Theatre at the Monroe Theatrespace. Our goal was to celebrate the arts and the joy of reading. We wanted to include a wide variety of interactive presentations by well-known children’s book author/illustrators and musicians, as well as theatrical events and workshops, to expose children to as many different types of the arts as possible.
The authors featured were Hoboken’s own Darren Farrell (author/illustrator of Doug Dennis and the Flyaway Fib), Ro Rao (illustrator of Herbert’s Wormhole), and Bob Shea (author/illustrator of Dinosaur vs. Bedtime). Musical guests included Hoboken’s Dave Lambert of Music Together, singer Miss Nina, and singer/songwriter Big Jeff. Finally, the MST Summer Drama Camp performed a portion of A Midsummer Night’s Dream from their recent summer production.
In addition to the events onstage, there was a full schedule of workshops, including YogiBeans Kids Yoga, creative movement and hip hop by Hudson Dance and Movement, and acting workshops by teaching artists from the Mile Square Theatre Drama School. Our neighbors, Urban Arts, generously opened its studio during the event.
Sponsorship from the Hoboken Family Alliance and Hoboken Patch helped make this unique event affordable for all members of the community. Finally, MST would like to extend its gratitude to Park & Sixth Comfort Food for donating delicious wraps for the event. MST thanks all of these organizations for their support and hopes to see more young readers and art lovers at next year’s Arts Fest!
Chris O’Connor
Mile Square Theatre Artistic Director