Redmoon Theater part of White House Halloween
The cast and crew of Redmoon Theater won’t soon forget Halloween 2009. The iconic Chicago troupe, famous for its hugely imaginative human/machine/puppet spectacle theater, was in Washington D.C. – make that the White House – at the invitation of president and Mrs. Obama for the official White House Halloween festivities.
“It was absolutely a Halloween I will never forget,” said Frank Maugeri, artistic director of Redmoon Theater. “When the official [White house] photographer shot the picture of all of us from Redmoon with the president and Mrs. Obama I just said out loud, ‘This is the best day of my life!. It was just a very powerful, emotional day for me, for all of us. To be able to represent Chicago was just the most wonderful [aspect] of the whole thing.”
(AP)
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White House Halloween
For nearly a week, the staff of Redmoon did their best to keep much of the D.C. events under wraps per the request of White House officials, Maugeri explained. It was not until early Saturday evening that specific details of the celebrations were revealed.
The president wore casual slacks, a checked shirt and black sweater. Mrs. Obama wore a Cat Woman costume.
The north front of the White House was tinted orange and decked out in all things Halloween as children from local Washington, D.C., schools began filing in around 5 p.m. Saturday. Among the sights and sounds that greeted the pack were three giant pumpkins, each weighing about 1,000 pounds (grown in Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Wisconsin). Redmoon's "skeleton" band" and signature kettle drummers provided brass and rhythm for the parade of trick-or-treaters, while the troupe's red and yellow "butterflies" floated about inside giant bubbles. Redmoon "tree" stiltwalkers paraded about the grounds. Two giant orange and black eyes peered out at guests from the first-floor windows of the White House. Actor Johnny Depp and director Tim Burton were among the attendees.
“Redmoon had three performance elements outside the White House on the lawn and two elements inside,” Maugeri said. “And on the first floor there were just a few rooms active with some set design objects. Our Table Lady and Wine Bike were roaming throughout the rooms, while our drum cart and skeleton band were outside on the lawn.”
A pair of new Redmoon characters also made their debut at the White House.
“Our Bubble Lovers, two people in love who live under water were out for the first time here,” Maugeri said. “They consist of battery-driven bubble machines that live on the back of a performer disguised as an old-fashioned nautical diver. When the machines get going, thousands and thousand of bubbles appear and the kids just went wild when they saw it for the first time. The Lovers will be part of our upcoming “Winter Pageant” in Chicago beginning Nov. 20.”
As for what Maugeri and company thought of the White House, “It is smaller than you think,” Maugeri said. It’s a beautiful, quaint home.”