The REACH Opening Festival at the Kennedy Center

The Kennedy Center’s first-ever Education Artist-in-Residence, Mo Willems, will host “MO-a-PALOOZA LIVE!,” a rockin' concert featuring songs from Mo's popular stage adaptations, “Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Musical,” “Naked Mole Rat Gets Dressed: The Rock Experience,” “Elephant & Piggie’s We Are in a Play!,” and the Kennedy Center's upcoming production of “Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! (The Musical).”

Author and illustrator Mo Willems has been awarded the American Library Association’s Caldecott Honor three times for his picture book illustration. Additionally, he is the recipient of two Theodor Geisel Medals and five Geisel Honors for his Elephant & Piggie early readers. Willems began his career as a writer and animator on Sesame Street, where he garnered six Emmy Awards. Other television work includes four seasons as head writer for Cartoon Network’s Codename: Kids Next Door. His art has been exhibited around the world, including solo retrospectives at the High Museum in Atlanta and the New-York Historical Society. Over the last decade, Willems has written three musical theater works based on his books, two of which were commissioned and toured by the Kennedy Center. His papers reside at Yale University’s Beinecke Library.