Thank You To Tacoma Creates
Puget Sound RevelsBuilding community through the arts using traditional music, dance, and drama drawn from many cultures. Revels offers theater productions, seasonal celebrations, and educational opportunities for all ages.
Connect with RevelsMany of our activities and events are only publicized through our email list. Sign up and always know what's happening with Puget Sound Revels.
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2019 Christmas Revels, Balkan
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Show Program
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Photo Gallery
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2018 Christmas Revels, mid-17th c. English
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Show Program
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Photo Gallery
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The Christmas Revels
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2019 Christmas Revels, Balkan
2018 Christmas Revels, mid-17th c. English 2017 Christmas Revels, Galician - The Camino 2016 Christmas Revels, Welsh 2015 Christmas Revels, Nordic Celebration 2013 Christmas Revels, 1930s Appalachia 2012 Christmas Revels, England - Ghosts of Haddon Hall 2011 Christmas Revels, Old Bavaria 2010 Christmas Revels, Victorian England 2009 Christmas Revels, Celestial Fools 2008 Christmas Revels, 18th c. Scotland 2007 Christmas Revels, Eastern Europe 2006 Christmas Revels, French Canadian 2005 Christmas Revels, Elizabethan |
2004 Christmas Revels, English Medieval
2003 Christmas Revels, Breton 2002 Christmas Revels, Irish 2001 Christmas Revels, Italian Renaissance 2000 Christmas Revels, Celestial Fools 1999 Christmas Revels, English Victorian - 1899 1998 Christmas Revels, English Medieval 1997 Christmas Revels, Nordic 1996 Christmas Revels, Early American 1995 Christmas Revels, Celtic 1994 Christmas Revels, English Medieval 1994 Spring Revels, Sea Revels 1993 Spring Revels, English Traditional |
Programs & Events
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Arts Month Events
Bridge Sing (Fall equinox) Bromliad (Labor Day) Celebrations Children's Workshops Community Events |
Concerts
Dances Dance Workshops House Concerts Maritime Events |
About Revels
Building Community Through Traditions of Song, Dance, and Story
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Throughout the year we offer pub sings, house concerts, salons, outdoor celebrations, workshops and more. In December at Tacoma's Rialto Theater,
we present The Christmas Revels, a fully-staged theatrical production for all ages that intentionally blends professionals and amateurs, children and adults, audience and players, high art and folk idiom. It is full of singing, dancing, and storytelling - beauty, mystery, and hilarity. The production draws large audiences from all over the Pacific Northwest and beyond. |
Christmas Revels audiences expect a similar experience from year to year. Our challenge is to create that experience while each year setting the production in a different time and place (e.g. Welsh, Italian Renaissance, Galician, Nordic, Celtic, American, Victorian, Mediaeval, etc).
Although the time, place, and story arc change annually, the theme is always the winter solstice theme of light and dark. For millennia, communities have tracked the sun to know when to plant and harvest and to know when to expect the dwindling of life and light. The need to track this cycle bound communities together and produced countless cultural traditions, many of which reassure that the solstice marks the turning point toward renewal and regeneration...
the "promise that lies in the sleeping land."
Although the time, place, and story arc change annually, the theme is always the winter solstice theme of light and dark. For millennia, communities have tracked the sun to know when to plant and harvest and to know when to expect the dwindling of life and light. The need to track this cycle bound communities together and produced countless cultural traditions, many of which reassure that the solstice marks the turning point toward renewal and regeneration...
the "promise that lies in the sleeping land."
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Some elements in the productions remain constant from year to year, whatever the setting, becoming the Revels rituals: the Abbots Bromley Horn Dance; the Shortest Day poem by Susan Cooper; the Lord of the Dance to end the first act; a hilarious mummers play (or other folk play depending on the culture and time, perhaps commedia or an English panto - always funny, often dragons are involved); and the Sussex Mummers Carol with brass and timpani and glorious descant to end the performance.
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Revels’ success is that, while it refers to ancient tradition, it has become a living tradition for our community as evidenced by the quotes below. "Revels has become a much cherished part of our winter holiday traditions.” "Once again I have come away from your offering feeling filled with joy, peace and a sense of fulfillment.” “Thank you for sharing this delightful event! As the light turns I join you in saying Welcome Yule!” “Many thanks for all the pleasure your productions give to so many.” |
Revels Across the Continent
We license the Revels name and logo from Revels, Inc. in Watertown, MA (founded in 1971). Including Puget Sound Revels, there are nine active Revels companies throughout the country. Each Revels group has its own non-profit status, and is contractually and artistically affiliated with Revels, Inc. Since the first production of The Christmas Revels, nearly two million people have enjoyed a live Revels performance. |
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Revels, Inc. was founded in 1971 by John Langstaff, concert-trained baritone and music educator, to promote public understanding and appreciation of traditional dance, music, drama and poetry through the medium of participatory theater and communal celebration. |
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Financial Gift -Underwrite JOY! A $75 gift or greater ($40 for seniors) gives you early ticket purchase privileges for The Christmas Revels; a $300 or greater gift gives you access to Patron Seating for The Christmas Revels. Gifts are tax deductible.
Here are ways to give:
Here are ways to give:
- Send a check to Puget Sound Revels, 621 Tacoma Ave S, Suite 402, Tacoma, WA 98402
- Make a donation online using our secure online form
- If you want to spread your gift out through the year, we can divide your gift into monthly or quarterly payments. Call us at 253-756-1804 to set this up.
- Host a table at our lovely brunch May 16, 2020. For information, please email Mary.
- We encourage you to consider multi-year pledges. These express your on-going commitment to the flourishing of Revels AND they make for easier annual planning and budgeting . Call 253-756-1804 for more information or to arrange a pledge. You can make your first payment at that time or you can asked to be billed at another time.
2020 Events |
May 1st, 2020
May Day CelebrationWe are turning our May Day Celebration into a digital event. So sorry not to gather in the park as we have done for years, but we're all adjusting to "Events in the time of Coronavirus"! We'll post info as we have it.
Singing, dancing and flower-crown-making to welcome lovely May. |
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MAY 16: Brunch in the ballroom at Courthouse Square - Turning into a digital event.
We'll still celebrate Puget Sound Revels and our mission to spread communal celebration through song, dance, and story.
We're planning a happy event. Call us at 253-756-1804 or email psrevels@pugetsoundrevels.org for an invitation. Join us!
We'll still celebrate Puget Sound Revels and our mission to spread communal celebration through song, dance, and story.
We're planning a happy event. Call us at 253-756-1804 or email psrevels@pugetsoundrevels.org for an invitation. Join us!
JUNE 21 – Summer Solstice Party – All ages. FREE. Not this year.
Bring a Picnic. We’ll have a fire so you can cook a hot dog or a brat on a stick or something in foil. Be creative. We’ll provide s’mores ingredients. We’ll also have some beverages available.
The celebration will include a few presented songs and poems, as well as singing and dancing.
Bring a Picnic. We’ll have a fire so you can cook a hot dog or a brat on a stick or something in foil. Be creative. We’ll provide s’mores ingredients. We’ll also have some beverages available.
The celebration will include a few presented songs and poems, as well as singing and dancing.
June 28 - Ocean (an end of the month reminder of Ocean Fest, which is now coming in September - more information soon)
July 25 - A Family Reveling Day (more information soon)
SEPTEMBER 7: Abbots Bromliad (People’s Park, Tacoma – 1:30 to 2:45pm) Dancing with antlers—FREE! All ages! People who come to The Christmas Revels are fascinated (or mystified!) by the Abbots Bromley Horn Dance. So we have a Bromliad – just for fun. Come learn the dance and participate in it. Bring your own antlers (branches can make pretty good antlers – or hands). Or just bring a picnic and watch. We’ll also play some fun games and sing a few rounds.
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SEPTEMBER 24: Tacoma Sings Chihuly Bridge of Glass 6:30 – 7:45pm Singing on the Chihuly Bridge of Glass to sing-out summer and sing-in autumn. Music to listen to as you arrive (on the Glass Museum side), then we’ll distribute song sheets and encourage everyone to join in. We’ll sing fun songs various places on the bridge and wrap up with a few lovely rounds in the amphitheater beside the History Museum. Bring a lantern if you want. We’ll light them as the sun sets. Beautiful. |
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October is Tacoma Arts Month
- Join us in October for a Celebration of Trees
Date, time, location and a description of the celebration is coming....
- Join us in October for a Celebration of Trees
Date, time, location and a description of the celebration is coming....
The Christmas Revels – December 19 - 23, 2020 Rialto Theater, Tacoma
A mid-winter Celebration of the Winter Solstice.
Because it was such fun in 2006, in 2020 we'll head back to the time of les voyageurs - 18th century Québec - to the village of Trois-Rivières and the wilderness around it. It’s a delightful adventure filled with infectious music, dance, a flying canoe, and a dangerous bargain made with Old Beelzebub himself.
As always, a great celebration for all ages.
Saturday, December 19 @ 2pm & 7:30pm
Sunday, December 20 @ 1pm & 5:30pm (the 5:30 performance is ASL interpreted)
Tuesday, December 22 @ 7:30pm; Wednesday, December 23 @ 2pm
Tickets on sale to Revels Supporters ($75 +/ $45 seniors) on September 21. To everyone on October 5