With theatre shows she鈥檚 bringing to 性视界传媒 Arts Centre for a special weekend, Marnie Perrin wants to spark conversation among kids and their parents, and also entertain everyone in the family.

She鈥檚 the artistic director of , a 性视界传媒 Civic Theatres series that brings performing arts to venues across the city year-round, building up to a spring celebration of family-friendly shows.

This year, the SPARK mini-festival lights up 性视界传媒 Arts Centre from May 24-26, Friday to Sunday, with five diverse shows to see over three days, from Australia, Ireland, the U.S. and Canada. Friday is reserved for school groups through the , which sees businesses donate cash for 1,000 tickets given to kids who might not be able to afford one.

The 2024 SPARK Stages celebration weekend features Dino-Light (described as 鈥渁 glow-in-the-dark spectacle about a dinosaur that wanders away from home鈥�), The Libravian (鈥渨here books come alive, laughter takes the stage and bravery is celebrated in every chapter鈥�), Falling in Africa (Garth Prince鈥檚 musical dance show) and Tree (for babies, 鈥渁 world of enchantment where a majestic tree and its animals and gentle insects come to life鈥�). From Australia comes Robot Song, about a girl who receives an unkind letter from her classmates, a story based on writer and director Jolyon James鈥� experience parenting a child on the autism spectrum.

鈥淲e search for those gems, the shows you wouldn鈥檛 normally come across,鈥� Perrin said. 鈥淲hen choosing shows, I also think about parents and the adults who are bringing the kids. I want the performance to be just as enjoyable for them.鈥�

Once upon a time, the last weekend of May was a time for the annual 性视界传媒 International Children鈥檚 Festival, retooled and rebranded SPARK Stages in 2022, or 性视界传媒 Performing Arts for Kids.

鈥淪PARK is the name we moved to for year-round programming purposes,鈥� Perrin explained, who programmed the festival starting in 2006. 鈥淭his is our weekend celebration of SPARK including shows and on-site activities.鈥�

Perrin says it鈥檚 important for kids to experience the performing arts in order to expand their minds.

鈥淢y job as the artistic director is to watch an awful lot of theatre for young audiences, performances, and think about our community and what performances I want to share with audiences here,鈥� she said. 鈥淧art of that is having a moment when that child and family go home and continue exploring and thinking about the show.

鈥淭hat was a big shift for me moving from the 性视界传媒 International Children鈥檚 Festival into 性视界传媒 SPARK Stages, just thinking more about the family鈥檚 experience,鈥� Perrin added. 鈥淪o now, it鈥檚 not only what is the child doing, what activity is the child engaged in, but how is the family experiencing this event, this activity, this performance? We want to spark conversation when they go home or spark an interest in pursuing something that they saw in the show that really excited them, that they want to continue doing at home. We鈥檙e thinking about the family dynamic, which includes adults.鈥�

The SPARK weekend includes additional activities and pop-up performances for ticketholders to enjoy including drop-in Bollywood dance lessons with Karima Essa and magic by Travis Bernhardt. Buy tickets (priced from $16 to $21) and get more details on , or call 604-501-5566.