New Victory Arts Break: The Princess and the Pea

New Victory Arts Break videos and activities are designed to have your family ready and raring for showtime before you even leave home. Here’s how to use them! All set? Then let’s get creative together and prep your kid for The Princess and the Pea with the activities below.

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New Victory Arts Break videos are filmed at the New Victory Theater. We acknowledge that New Victory resides on the seized homeland of the Lenape people and the intertribal territory of many First Nations. We celebrate and pay deep respect to all Indigenous peoples, past, present and future, and we encourage you to learn more about these vibrant communities.

Did You Know?

Upswing, Unicorn Theatre and New Vic Theatre’s retelling of The Princess and the Pea flips the story from familiar to fresh with new twists, turns, laughs and acrobatics. Learn a little more about this imaginative spin on the classic tale, and check out the video trailer for a sneak peek!

• In this reimagining of The Princess and the Pea, when the princess comes home out of the rain, her servants don’t recognize her! Her mistaken identity offers a new lesson that has nothing to do with being worthy of marriage.
• The story is told through acrobatics, slapstick and physical theater, but barely any words—just “princess” and “pea!”
• The performers in The Princess and the Pea are acrobatic theater artists from a company called Upswing! They specialize in telling stories with their bodies and come all the way from the United Kingdom.

Try It Out!

Your kid’s bedtime routine doesn’t need to be a snoozefest! Inspired by the quirky acrobatic performances of The Princess and the Pea, join Siobhan from New Victory Education as she plays with new ways to leap into sleep.

Siobhan stretched and tumbled her way to bed. To avoid too much bedtime chaos, here are some simple steps for inspired bedtime movement that your family can follow together.

1. Tell your kid to imagine a straight line on the floor leading to their bed. All movement must take place along this line.
2. You go first! Use however much space there is along the line to bound into bed in creative, comfortable ways—stretch, hop, dance, flop—and invite your kid to follow!
3. Once they hit the sheets, challenge them to come up with a two-word farewell before closing their eyes. Easy peasy!

After one final somersault, six-year-old New Victory fan (and stylish pajama maven) Emilia signed off with, “Goodnight, friends!” If you’re still awake, share your family’s moves with us on Instagram.

Talk About It!

As you make your way to the theater, get your kid in the show mindset with some show-themed conversation starters! Ask them:

• What’s your bedtime routine?
• What do you do when you can’t fall asleep?
• How would you feel if your friends didn’t recognize you?
• What’s something unique about you?

The fun doesn’t have to stop here! Follow along with New Victory Teaching Artists in a few Arts Break videos and activities from the archive, highlighting more comedic and acrobatic artistry.

Hup! From safety basics to powerful poses, grab a partner and go on an acro adventure with Gyana Mella.

Achoo! Sniff an imaginary flower and “check-in chicken” like a true clown with Lauren Sharpe and family.

Hahaha! Practice the Rule of Three in a partner clowning routine with Ben Johnson and his giggly assistant.