EL PASO TX (KVIA)–A local artist is bringing larger-than-life storytelling to the Plaza Theatre this weekend with giant puppets, music, and an immersive performance rooted in hope and community.<\/p>\n
Anthony Michael Stokes, founder of Kessto Kreatures, is debuting \u201cAn Anansi Experience\u201d Sunday at the Plaza Theatre as part of the El Paso Community Foundation Jewel Box Series.<\/p>\n
The show centers around Anansi \u2014 a six-foot spider trickster figure rooted in West African culture and folklore.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnansi himself, he\u2019s always been symbol for resistance for people that were oppressed,\u201d Stokes said. \u201cHe\u2019s always a symbol of hope throughout history.\u201d<\/p>\n
Stokes created nearly every aspect of the production himself, including the script, music, costumes, and puppets.<\/p>\n
The performance combines live puppetry, storytelling, movement, and music into what Stokes describes as an immersive theatrical experience.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe bodies of the puppeteer are hugely connected to the character,\u201d Stokes said. \u201cThe image that people are seeing on stage, that\u2019s really, really important.\u201d<\/p>\n
The family-friendly production features large-scale puppets designed to move alongside performers on stage.<\/p>\n
Stokes says the goal is for audiences to leave feeling inspired.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re packing in the lessons. We\u2019re packing in the humor. We\u2019re hopefully packing in the heart,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The show will have two performances Sunday at the Plaza Theatre.<\/p>\n
For Stokes, bringing the production home to El Paso carries personal meaning.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is where I\u2019m from. This is my community,\u201d he said. \u201cTo be able to come back as an artist who has kind of gone out and experienced the world and is able to kind of bring some of what he\u2019s learned out there back to the community.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tickets for \u201cAn Anansi Experience\u201d are $15.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"EL PASO TX (KVIA)–A local artist is bringing larger-than-life storytelling to the Plaza Theatre this weekend with giant…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":296314,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[138,140,139],"class_list":["post-296313","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-el-paso","tag-el-paso","tag-el-paso-headlines","tag-el-paso-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296313","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=296313"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296313\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/296314"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=296313"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=296313"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=296313"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}