1001 Nights will open March 25 and continue for a two-week engagement.
First conceived in 1998, 1001 Nights is receiving a newly re-imagined production co-directed by Koplan, artistic director of New York's Flying Carpet Theatre Company, and Jon Ludwig, artistic director of the Center for Puppetry Arts.
Lopez, whose theatre composing credits include Avenue Q and The Book of Mormon as well as the score for the hit Disney song "Frozen," which he composed with his wife, Kristen Anderson-Lopez, credits 1001 Nights as being the show where he found his voice as a composer/lyricist.
1001 Nights features Lopez's music, Flying Carpet's staging and the Center's puppetry. All the puppets were designed by the Center's resident puppet builder Jason von Hinezmeyer and built by the Center's building shop crew.
Flying Carpet has premiered multiple productions and toured the U.S. and Europe. Koplan, an Atlanta native, was first exposed to the "Arabian Nights" tales through a production of Aladdin and His Magical Lamp at the Center in the early 1980's while a student at the Hebrew Academy. Visit puppet.org for more information.