'The Snow Queen' at St. Bonaventure

A special family performance of the Hudson Vagabond Puppets’ production of “The Snow Queen” will be presented at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 1, at St. Bonaventure University’s Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts.

In this presentation, Hans Christian Anderson’s classic story is set to the music of Archangelo Corelli and danced by large-scale puppets including a Snow Queen standing 12 feet tall.

Hudson Vagabond Puppets, a not for profit company, creates larger-than-life puppetry and mask programs designed to fit into the school curriculum and to entertain children and their families.

The performers are professional dancers and actors. Clad in black, the puppeteers borrow from the traditional Japanese Bunraku style of puppetry, becoming mere shadows of the enormous figures they bring to life.

The company performs more than 100 times a year, entertaining more than 50,000 students, teachers and families throughout the country. Its puppeteers have taken the stage at schools, colleges, festivals, theaters and concert halls, and at major performing arts centers, including the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Lincoln Center Institute, Orange County Performing Arts Center, The Broward Center for the Arts, The Tilles Center for the Performing Arts, and the New Jersey Performing Arts Center. Narrated ballets are a specialty of the company.

The puppets have also danced with symphony orchestras, including the Little Orchestra Society, the Phoenix Symphony Orchestra, the Wheeling (W.Va.) Symphony, the St. Louis Symphony, the Detroit Symphony, The Williamsport Symphony Orchestra, and the United States Military Concert Band at West Point.

Tickets for this specially priced family performance are $10 for adults and $2 for children and students. For tickets and performance information, call The Quick Center at (716) 375-2494.

Prior to its evening performance, the company will present two daytime shows at The Quick Center for schoolchildren from Olean and surrounding schools. Both of those performances have been sold out in advance.

This performance is supported in part by the New York State Council on the Arts.

The Quick Center will open its galleries one hour before the performance and keep them open throughout the intermission. Regular gallery hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, and noon to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

Museum admission is free and open to the public year round. For more information, visit www.sbu.edu/quickcenter.