Celebration Barn in South Paris, Maine has nurtured some of America's finest touring artists, actors, dancers, mimes, jugglers, storytellers and has earned an international reputation.  Mime Tony Montanaro founded Celebration Barn in 1972 and developed it into a world-renowned theater school for mime, improvisation, storytelling, and other performing arts. On Friday, August 3, the acclaimed Celebration Barn Ensemble presents their hilarious theatrical production of an original new show, “Thumbs Up!” at the Opera House in Boothbay Harbor.

“Thumbs Up!” follows 20 year-old aspiring-writer Lexi up the Maine coast as she hitchhikes her way to Canada. Along the way she falls in with a wild mix of characters as she chases down her ever elusive vision quest. This funny and poignant story playfully explores the wisdom of the adage, “You can't get there from here!”

Building on Celebration Barn's tradition of original, physically based theater, the Celebration Ensemble is a collaboration between Amanda Huotari, Ian Bannon, Kavi Montanaro and Kelly Nesbitt. With backgrounds in music, photography, puppetry and improvisation, the foursome works collaboratively, telling stories through movement, sound and visual imagery.  The four actors will play 44 roles. The show is directed by Fritz Grobe.  At its premiere in Portland earlier this year, Kara Larson of the Portland Performing Arts Festival called it “Innovative, intensely funny and uniquely Maine.”

The cast includes Amanda Huotari, Executive Director of Celebration Barn Theater. With a BFA in acting from Emerson College, she also studied physical theater at the Lecoq School in Paris, France and trained in Italian comedy with Antonio Fava in Reggio Emilia, Italy. Ian Bannon is Director of Education for Figures of Speech Theatre in Freeport. Ian has studied storytelling with Milbre Burch and Antonio Rocha, puppetry with Theodora Skipitares, improvisation with Keith Johnstone, and collaborative theater with Michael Rhodes. Actor Kavi Montanaro saw the world of this father's early ensembles first hand while growing up at Celebration Barn. Most recently he has studied with improv master Keith Johnstone, puppet-artist Theodora Skipitares and provocateur Laurie Carlos. Kelly Nesbitt Portland based performing artist. At Celebration Barn, she’s studied with Avner Eisenberg and Julie Goell, Robert Post, and Laurie Carlos.

Director Fritz Grobe left mathematics studies at Yale University to become a circus performer, going on to win five gold medals at the International Jugglers Festival. Starting in 2004, he appeared in a leading role and as featured solo clown in the original cast of the Cirque du Soleil spinoff “Birdhouse Factory.” Since 2006, he has been half of EepyBird, best known for their viral videos featuring the explosive combination of Coke and Mentos that have been viewed over 100 million times. They have appeared on Letterman, Mythbusters, Ellen, The Today Show, and more.

Tickets for this innovative evening of theater are $15 in advance and $18 on the day of the performance. Specially priced advance sale tickets for audience members under age 18 are $5.  The box office at 86 Townsend Avenue is open Tuesday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. or by calling 633-5159.  Tickets are also available online at boothbayoeprahouse.com. The curtain goes up at 8 p.m., doors for seating open at 7:30 p.m.