We are delighted to announce the 2024-25 Saturday Morning Live! season! This season’s theme is Beyond Borders: What Brings Us Together? This celebration of diversity will spark imagination with performances that range from ballet, puppets, and dance to Funkadelic music and storytelling, and topics that explore courage, connection, and acceptance. You’ll understand why parents are calling our longest-running program “a gift to the community!”
Saturday Morning Live! takes places at 9:30am and 11am on select Saturdays from September through June. Tickets are always free but donations are also welcome. Visit Saturday Morning Live! page learn more and follow us on AllEvents to be alerted every time registration opens. We can’t wait to welcome you and your little ones to The National Theatre!
2024-25 Season
Want to learn more about the fabulous artists in our lineup? Click on their names and explore their website!
Don Quixote
Performed by the Virginia Ballet Company
September 14th at 9:30am and 11am on the Mainstage
Embark on dreamy adventures across Spain in ballet’s most famous romantic comedy, all in a kid-friendly format designed to introduce your child to the world of ballet.
Shake Your Bones!
Performed by Cantaré
October 12th at 9:30am and 11am in the Helen Hayes Gallery
In this playful and highly interactive presentation, Cantaré introduces preschool and Kindergarten audiences to songs, rhythms and instruments from Latin America.
Grandma’s Stories from the Animal People
Performed by Dovie Thomason
November 9th at 9:30am and 11am in the Helen Hayes Gallery
Dovie Thomason, an award-winning storyteller of Native and Scot Traveller descent, shares a delightful intertribal sampling of the animal stories which often explain the “what” and “why” questions about the Earth and her animal children.
Happy Birthday, Mon Ami
Performed by Alex and Olmsted
December 14th at 9:30am and 11am in the Helen Hayes Gallery
In this winner of a 2024 Jim Henson Foundation grant, class, cultures, and expectations clash when Jacques’ American cousin Sam visits him in Paris for a birthday celebration.
Bixby the Cat
Presented by The Puppet Co.
January 11th at 9:30am and 11am in the Helen Hayes Gallery
Bixby the Cat is a “My First Theater Experience,” geared toward toddlers. Bixby goes on a series of adventures in which he learns lessons developmentally appropriate for our young audiences.
Wawa Aba: Toughness & Perseverance
Presented by Taratibu Youth Association
February 8th at 9:30am and 11am in the Helen Hayes Gallery
Taratibu Youth Association, a non-profit, young people’s performing arts program, creates transformative experiences that teach African American youth and young adults their history and culture.
GROOVY NATE®
March 8th at 9:30am and 11am in the Helen Hayes Gallery
Groovy Nate is a Grammy nominated children’s entertainer, and Teaching Artist, who creates fun and educational shows using exotic musical instruments, comedy, and puppet skits— a la Sesame Street meets Parliament/Funkadelic.
Paper Dreams
Presented by Imagination Stage
April 5th at 9:30am and 11am on the Mainstage
This charming and dreamy dance-based performance imagines two friends who live inside a wastepaper basket! Together they discover what imaginative ideas might unfold from a crumpled piece of paper.
Silly Smarts
Presented by InterAct Story Theatre
May 10th at 9:30am and 11am in the Helen Hayes Gallery
Ali Oliver-Krueger weaves stories from her Japanese-American childhood with traditional Japanese mukashibanashi (Long-Ago Stories) in this funny and heart-warming east-meets-west storytelling series.
A New Work by Visionaries of the Creative Arts
June 14th at 9:30am and 11am in the Helen Hayes Gallery
Experience a brand-new children’s play created by returning favorites VOCA, which showcases culturally distinctive works by Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing (HoH) Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BlPOC) artists.
Saturday Morning Live! is made possible thanks to The Jacqueline Badger Mars Next Generation Fund.