Concord area children and families are in for a treat. Following a successful month-long run with rave reviews at Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland in August, award-winning clown Gemma Soldati returns home to New Hampshire on Sept. 17 at 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. with her one-woman comedy show for families, “The Adventures of Sleepyhead” at the Capitol Center for the Arts, Bank of NH stage.
This otherworldly hour explores the source of imagination and the tick-tock of our internal clock. This engaging family comedy show takes the audience on a journey to discover where dreams come from and where they go. A show full of puppetry, physical comedy and audience interaction, “The Adventures of Sleepyhead” promises better dreams and a good night’s sleep or your money back.
It’s all centered around Soldati’s character, Sleepyhead, who she created in 2015 at standup comedy shows in Los Angeles, Calif. Soldati explains, “Sleepyhead is the dreamer of dreams. The walking-talking nap. A snoozer and a muser. Children and adults alike will delight in this adventure to the heart of dreamland as Sleepyhead fends off the urge to Zzzz…”
Soldati is delighted to finally bring “The Adventures of Sleepyhead” to a live audience in New Hampshire after she devised it during the pandemic in the fall of 2020 at the New Hampshire Theatre Project, in Portsmouth. Since then, Soldati adapted the show into a short video series currently airing on New Hampshire Public Television (NHPBS.)
Soldati has received a grant from the NH State Council on the Arts and National Endowment for the Arts through the CARES act to develop a book of the Sleepyhead character and to hold a reading series in collaboration with the Somersworth Public Library.
Soldati isn’t new to the Concord area. Her parents, Lincoln and Kathleen, both worked in the capitol, Lincoln in private law practice, and Kathleen at the League of NH Craftsmen. Gemma’s brother Emmett recently opened his second restaurant, Teatotaller Cafe, on Main Street.
This fall, Gemma will be the artist in residence at Kimball Jenkins.
The one-hour live show has two matinees on Saturday. Following the performances there will be an afterparty at Teatotaller Concord at 4 p.m.