FREEPORT — "The puppets are coming! The puppets are coming!”

So begins the release announcing Figure of Speech Theatre’s 30th season. Rather than stringing you along further, here’s the rest of the release:

Emperors and gods from around the globe are preparing to descend on Portland during the first two weekends in April. Figures of Speech Theatre is celebrating its 30th season by presenting three productions from its repertoire — “Cupid & Psyche,” “Nightingale” and “Jester Kings of Java” — today, Saturday and Sunday, then again April 13, 14 and 15 at Lucid Stage in Portland’s Back Cove.

Founded in 1982 to explore the interplay of puppets, actors, shadows, movement and masks, Figures of Speech Theatre creates theater rooted in the expressive power of the puppet. The company has toured the world and has performed in the United States at venues such as the Kennedy Center and the Smithsonian Institution.

In addition to creating and touring its own performances, Figures of Speech Theatre regularly performs and teaches at schools throughout Maine and collaborates on productions with other organizations, including the Portland Symphony Orchestra, Bates College and Heartwood Theater.

The shows

“Cupid & Psyche” is a romantic, humorous retelling of the classic Greek myth of love and trust, featuring large, beautifully carved puppets in the title roles and outrageously costumed actors as Zeus, Venus, Persephone and the Oracle of Apollo.

The show has toured from California to Peru, including two extended runs at the Smithsonian Institution, and is a winner of the UNIMA Citation of Excellence, the highest award in American puppet theater.

“Nightingale” is Figures of Speech Theatre’s exotic, musical adaptation of the Hans Christian Andersen story of an emperor who is moved by the song of a plain gray bird, until he receives the gift of a jeweled mechanical bird with which he becomes obsessed.

The production gently stresses the importance of connection with nature, and with the true essences of life.

“Cupid & Psyche” will be performed at 7:30 p.m. April 13 and 14.

“Nightingale” enjoyed a successful Broadway run at the New Victory Theatre, and is also an UNIMA Citation of Excellence winner (1996).

“Nightingale” will be staged at 7:30 p.m. Saturday.

“Jester Kings of Java” is a comical tale of King Rama’s quest to win his true love’s hand in marriage. To defeat his nemesis, the evil demon king Rahwana, he enlists the help of his overly chatty servant Gareng, Hanuman the White Monkey, the heavenly god Bathara Guru and a whole cast of wild characters adapted from traditional Javanese Wayang Kulit shadow puppetry.

Gorgeously hand-crafted from gilded water buffalo hide, the heroes and villains of “The Ramayana” dance across the shadow screen to the mesmerizing sound of Indonesian gamelan music.

Show times for “Jester Kings of Java” will be 7:30 p.m. today, 1 p.m. Sunday and 1 p.m. April 15.

All performances will be at Lucid Stage, 29 Baxter Blvd. Tickets cost $10 apiece or $24 for three. Children younger than 13 years old will be admitted to “Jester Kings of Java” for $5.

For more information about the shows, visit www.figures.org or call Figures of Speech Theatre at 865- 6355. To purchase tickets, visit www.lucidstage.com or call 899-3993.

ticket@timesrecord.com

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