Diversity festival celebrates MLK Day

A desire to learn about different people and cultures and an open mind were the only requirements for the Bloomington Playwrights Project's third annual Diversity Festival. The BPP honored the dream of Martin Luther King Jr. Monday through its noon-to-midnight festival. \n"The BPP has a mission to bring diversity to the stage, so it makes sense for the BPP to have a diversity festival," said Rachael Himsel, BPP public relations director.\nChildren and adults gathered at the BPP for a full day of free events including belly dancing and the IU Korean percussion. Children enjoyed face painting, a puppet show and stories from Pakistan, the Amazon rainforest and Iraq. \n"Because of IU you have so many kinds of people," said Breshaun Joyner, education director at the BPP. "There are people of different race, religion and color. So it's important for children to see people of different cultures but also to learn more about them." \nThe day started off with face painting. Then the children were brought to a stage where they saw a show put on by puppets from around the world. Terri Klingelhoefer, puppet designer and constructor, brought paper into the audience and distributed a different color to each row. The rows represented a rainbow that also represented the children in the audience.\n"You are all a rainbow," Klingelhoefer said to the children. \nThe rainbow was then torn into different colors every time the children saw someone who looked different. Afterward they threw the pieces in the air to make a kaleidoscope. \n"It's a lot more interesting when the colors get together," Klingelhoefer said.\nAfter this exercise, children watched a puppet show titled "Rainbow Kaleidoscope." Klingelhoefer said the show was a presentation of Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream of diversity. The show included colorful puppets from Turkey and a belly dancing marionette from the Soviet Union. Then the puppeteers brought the children back to America with a puppet of Howdy Doody's grandson dancing to "Music" by Madonna. \n"Theater is one art form that can bring people together," Himsel said. "It's like an explosion of the arts bringing people together and learning about culture."\nRichard Perez, BPP artistic director, said the group puts on the Diversity Festival because it sends an important message to the community, especially the children. \n"As a person of color, to celebrate the life of a great man through the arts is something I want to bring to the community," Perez said. "The message should never stop. We want to perpetuate the message of diversity." \nThe staff at the BPP tries to make the events as diverse as possible, which motivated them to invite the IU Korean Percussion Ensemble to perform at the festival also. \n"We try to change it up every year, but it's nice to have folks that keep coming," Perez said. "It is set up for people of all ages because the message of diversity doesn't stop with the kids. Sometimes the older people need to be reminded more than the children."\n-- Contact Asst. Arts \nEditor Patrice Worthy at pworthy@indiana.edu.