Zeum: San Francisco's Children's Museum
Celebrates Halloween with WICKED,
The Untold Story of the Witches of Oz

Oz-Some Festivities, Hands-on Activities, and Special Appearances by Patty Duke and WICKED Cast Members

San Francisco, CA (October 8, 2009) - Zeum: San Francisco's Children's Museum and WICKED, the Tony and Grammy Award-winning Broadway musical, currently playing an open-ended engagement at The Orpheum Theatre, today announced a partnership to bring kids and families an Oz-some Halloween celebration on October 31, 2009. The collaboration builds on their joint commitment to connect youth and families through live performance and visual art.

The Halloween event will kick off in front of the Zeum Carousel at 11:00am with a "Go Green" Emerald City Citizen's Costume Contest, featuring special appearances by Academy Award winner Patty Duke, who stars as Madame Morrible, and other members of the cast of WICKED. Contest participants of all ages wearing green — from head to toe — will qualify to win a free pair of tickets to see Wicked at the Orpheum Theatre. The lucky winner will also get a behind-the-scenes sneak peek at the costume area that brings the Emerald City to life with every show. Every Emerald City Citizen costume participant will receive fun WICKED giveaways.

Throughout the day, all kids and families can explore hands-on WICKED-themed workshops and exhibits that bring performance art and technology together. In Zeum's Animators Studio, visitors can create clay figures of their favorite WICKED characters, such as Glinda, Elphaba, or The Wizard of Oz, and bring them to life with stop-motion animation. In the Music Production Lab, visitors can perform to the lyrics of "Popular," "Defying Gravity," and take home their own original music video.

"WICKED's themes of self-expression and empowerment dovetail with Zeum's mission to nurture creativity, collaboration, and communication in all youth and their families," said Audrey Yamamoto, Zeum's Executive Director. "We are excited to partner with WICKED this year to provide an array of fun, hands-on, Halloween activities that allow every family member to express themselves."

The all-day festivities will take place at Zeum: San Francisco's Children's Museum, located at 221 Fourth Street, San Francisco, CA, from 11:00 am - 5:00 pm. Contest participation at the Zeum Carousel is free with one complimentary ride on the Zeum Carousel for children 12 and under from 11:00 am -12:00 pm. General admission to Zeum is $8 for youth/seniors and $10 for adults.

  

About Zeum: San Francisco's Children's Museum
Zeum is San Francisco's hands-on multimedia arts and technology museum for kids. Zeum — located in the Yerba Buena Gardens — is a community-based, non-profit organization that nurtures the 3Cs of 21st-century literacy — Creativity, Collaboration, and Communication — among youth and families. By combining clay animation, music video production, live performance and digital art with imagination, Zeum's visitors become creators, animators, directors, performers, and designers. For more information, visit www.zeum.org.

Zeum: San Francisco's Children's Museum opened its doors in October 1998 on the rooftop of Yerba Buena Gardens as part of a major 87-acre urban renewal project by the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency in the South of Market area. Zeum's unique facility includes premier technology studios, interactive activity stations, exhibit galleries, community exhibit space, a 200-seat theater and the Zeum Carousel.

About WICKED
Winner of 26 major awards including the Grammy Award and three Tony Awards, WICKED is the untold story of the witches of Oz. Long before Dorothy drops in, two other girls meet in the land of Oz. One, born with emerald-green skin, is smart, fiery and misunderstood. The other is beautiful, ambitious and very popular. WICKED tells the story of their remarkable odyssey, how these two unlikely friends grow to become the Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda the Good. The show, now in its sixth year on Broadway and with two national tours, returned to San Francisco, where it had its world premiere in 2003, to play its current ongoing run at the Orpheum Theatre.