Artistic Statement by SBT's Founder and Artistic Director, Sandra Robbins:

I have always believed in the transformative power of theatre. I see children's musical theatre and, in particular, our ancient art of musical shadow puppet theatre, as a profound medium for the development of creativity and personal growth in children. Shadow puppet theatre has traditionally, through the centuries, been used to teach as well as transmit the culture.

In 1967, when the theatre was founded, I chose shadow puppetry as our hallmark because if its integrated use of all art forms: music, song, visual art, movement and drama. Music however, as evidenced by the history for shadow puppetry's accompanying gamelan orchestra in Indonesia, has traditionally been the fabric that holds every shadow puppet performance together. Through the years, as my artistic vision expanded to include other forms of puppetry, I chose to maintain live music and song as the base of all Shadow Box Theatre productions. For the most part the music and songs are original, carefully researched to maintain the cultural integrity of our multi-cultural stories. A concomitant goal has also been to expose children to a variety of musical forms and expressions to help them develop an appreciation of musical theatre and to stimulate their creative spirit.

The vision of the Shadow Box Theatre has always been to develop and present innovative, imaginative and meaningful theatre for young audiences. To accomplish this, it is necessary to produce a theatre experience that stimulates children's imagination and enables each child to be affected on a personal level while enjoying the "magic" of being part of a larger audience. To this end, I have always built in to the essence of every production the children's active participation, often through the medium of song, to provide them with a vehicle to express their own power through active involvement in the artistic process. To this end, our hallmark puppet See-More, representing each individual child in the audience, is lovingly held in the hands of the storyteller, thus maintaining a personal connection to the hearts of the children.

Through the years it has become clearer to me that theatre can be used as the touchstone to help children expand their horizons and bring meaning and new solutions to the very complex issues that they live with daily. In today's complex and conflicted world, a particular concern for me, is teaching children how to find creative solutions so they are empowered with the knowledge of how to work for and potentially live in peace and harmony. The major portions of our audiences are inner-city children who come from varied multicultural backgrounds and often live under very difficult economic and social conditions. As viewed through the prism of theatre arts, the content of our productions often leaves a lasting impression. As an artist, dedicated to the future of our cultural heritage, this is a responsibility I take seriously. Our aim is to use the arts to take children on a journey of discovery about their world and themselves to help them grow into creative, fulfilled, responsible adults. I never forget that indeed, the children are our legacy to the future. In response to our present world's complexity, the most recent years have been dedicated to teaching children how to work for and keep harmony and peace.

-Founder and Artistic Director of The Shadow Box Theatre