Imagination Stage™, the metro DC region’s largest professional theatre for young audiences and leader in positive youth development through the arts, starts its ‘Greatest Hits’ season with the return of The Very Hungry Caterpillar Show, running September 22-October 22.

Beloved by children for generations, Eric Carle’s children’s books come off the page and onto the stage in this unforgettable theatrical experience, created by Jonathan Rockefeller and directed by Imagination Stage’s Associate Artistic Director, Kathryn Chase Bryer. The global sensation The Very Hungry Caterpillar Show has been performed over 2,000 times worldwide including sold out shows in Australia, New York, the United Kingdom, Dubai, New Zealand, Canada, Belgium, Luxemburg, and the Netherlands. It returns to Imagination Stage after a sold-out run in 2019. With seventy-five larger-than-life puppets and original music, this Drama Desk and Off-Broadway Alliance Award nominated production follows all your favorite characters  from Brown Bear, Brown Bear, The Very Busy Spider, 10 Little Rubber Ducks, and – of course – The Very Hungry Caterpillar.

From a lumbering brown bear, to a curious caterpillar, to a fleet of rubber ducks, and countless other critters, Carle’s beautiful illustrations come to life through puppetry and theatre magic. “I am so thrilled to bring The Very Hungry Caterpillar Show back to the Imagination Stage audience,” says Kathryn Chase Bryer. “I have loved this story for many years, having read it to my own children (who are now adults!) and brought it to life in countless drama classrooms over the years. The artistry of this production is thrilling, from the masterful puppet design to the sophistication of the music composition. I am looking forward to hearing audiences young and old chime in with our professional actors as they say ‘and he was still hungry!'”

For the first time, Imagination Stage will present four Spanish-language performances of the show, called La Oruga Muy Hambrienta Espectáculo. Managing Director Jason Najjoum sees this as an opportunity to deliver on Imagination Stage’s mission of empowering all young people to discover their voice and identity through performance arts education and professional theatre. “We are thrilled to give children and families whose primary language is Spanish a chance to experience a show at Imagination Stage. And we hope they will come back for next spring’s bilingual production of Cinderella: a Salsa Fairy Tale as well as some of our bilingual class offerings.” To read this press release in Spanish, go here and press the translate button.