By Lookout Staff

September 8, 2014 – Santa Monica’s historic Miles Memorial Playhouse will ring in the autumn season Saturday, September 20 with family friendly performances, shadow puppet workshops, Shakespeare and classical music.

The day will feature a rare open auditorium for a close-up look at the historic theater, as well as outdoor activities, food trucks, performances and a glimpse of the activities coming to the Miles Playhouse in the coming months.

The day will kick off at noon in the park area to the north of the theater with the Santa Monica-based Creating Arts Company’s “Princess, Prince and Pirate Sing-A-Long and Parade” for children.

Creating Arts actors in full costume will lead the singing of popular songs for the whole family and end with a costume parade that gives attendees the chance to go onstage, take a bow, show off their costumes and win a prize.

Immediately following the parade, the Santa Monica-based Shakespeare troupe, “The Colonials”, will perform the very funny “play within the play” from Shakespeare’s Mid Summer Night’s Dream and offer a teaser from their upcoming Julius Caesar, which will open at the Miles Playhouse on October 3.

Activities will move inside the Playhouse at 2 p.m. when Leslie Gray and her Triumvirate Pi Theatre will present a short Shadow Puppet Show that leads into a creative workshop where participants can learn to make their own shadow puppets.

At 3 p.m., the Playhouse will remain open to the general public with a performance by the Santa Monica Symphony String Quartet and occasional performances of a capella singing, poetry and more.

Small snack and beverage stations will be set up inside the Playhouse for visitors to enjoy, officials said.

The night will conclude at 8 p.m. with Shakespeare Santa Monica’s performance of “As You Like It” on Tennis Court #1.

The Performance is “Pay What You Can” with a suggested donation of $10.

The Miles Memorial Playhouse was designed in 1929 by prominent local architect John Byers for J. Euclid Miles, who was a leading citizen in the development of Santa Monica.

In his last will and testament, Miles left $25,000 to the City to erect a theater as a memorial to his daughter, Mary A. Miles, “for the children and young men and women” of Santa Monica.

In 1994, the Playhouse was nearly destroyed in the Northridge earthquake, but, with assistance from the John Ash group and the community at large, it was fully restored by the City in 1998.

Since then it has presented annual cultural programs for youth and adults as well as ongoing public performances by renting nonprofits.

For more info about the Miles Open House, visit www.milesplayhouse.org