After a year of improvising, writing and workshopping "Rhinbecca, NY" has finally come and gone. We had a really great 3 week run at The Brick in Williamsburg. I'm really proud of this show. It felt like a realy step forward for the company. There was a distinct feeling that this show was five years in the making. Thank you to all who came out! If you missed "Rhinbecca, NY" here's some really wonderful reviews: New York Theatre Review, CultureBot, Theatre is Easy
Collaboration and bankers
I just had the privilege of collaborating with Martha Gelnaw Consulting on workshop for non theatrical workers using Bunraku puppets as a means to explore our relationship with team building and collaboration in the workplace. We had a great group of bankers dive in and challenge themselves. I'm looking forward to developing the course even further. Check out Martha's work here: http://www.presence-impact.com
Shrek the Musical at my high school!
My high school theater teacher has just returned to my alma mater high school this year and lo and behold, the spring musical is Shrek The Musical. Chatham High school has hired me to help direct the puppets in the show. There is a big dragon that has a song in Act One so I'm working with the five puppeteers who operate her bring her to life. The kids are really great and willing to work hard to make it happen. Unfortunately I won't be able to see the performances but it's been a joyful and very full-circle experience getting to do work at my old stomping grounds.
Shadow puppets in White Plains
This I've spent four days at a middle school in White Plains working with the 6th grade art classes on shadow puppets. They have been split up into groups and given a greek myth to make a shadow play of. I can in and spent a day with each classes helping them build puppets for their plays. We also had a chance to spend some time learning how to operate our shadow puppets. The kids were wild and lots of fun!
The Pact has opened!
"The Pact" is finally in performances. I've been working on the show as a part of the St Ann's Puppet lab for the past year with my friend Aaron Haskell. He conceived of the idea long ago and brought me on board to help him build in the workshop as well as associate direct the piece.
It's been a great ride and I'm so proud of all the work that has gone in to it. It's only a first draft right now and I can't wait to keep working on it.
Argus hits the beach
I travelled with Dead Puppet Society to West Palm Beach Florida this week to perform "Argus" at the Kravis Center. Somehow we escaped NYC the day after the blizzard and made it to Florida just in time for our first performance.
The shows were just great. Every performance was packed full of adorable kids. They seemed to really engage with the show. It was such a delight! Not to mention chilling on the Florida beach in January while NYC is recovering from a blizzard is a pretty good bonus.
The Wider Earth
Wow. What a joy. I got to do a super informal reading with Dead Puppet Society of their show "The Wider Earth" at Lincoln Center. The show follows Charles Darwin on his journey on the Beagle.
It's a stunning script full of magic, thought, ideas, complications, and feelings. They'll be performing it at the Queensland Theater Company this summer and I have no doubt it will be a stunningly beautiful piece of theater.
Laser Beak Man rides again!
What a blast!
Dead Puppet Society just had it's third workshop for "Laser Beak Man". This time we had prototypes of all the major characters, we had new Australian cast mates, we had Sam our composer back in town, and the top it all off we had Tim Sharp, the creator of "Laser Beak Man" with us.
We spent the two weeks essentially conceptualizing the show. We went scene by scene and if there was anything we needed to make the scene work we would throw together some cardboard and Voila! we'd have what we needed. The group was really wonderfully collaborative and game to experiment together. I also think it was really special for Tim and his mom to see Laser Beak Man come to life. By the end of the two weeks we had a really solid idea of how the show will work and presented several scenes to an invited audience.
Now, funding, Nicholas and David will be working hard securing venues and funding so that we can make this show a reality! I can't wait!
How To Hamlet?
So this has been our pre workshop workshop for our 2017 show "How To Hamlet". The presiding question being: how does one stage Hamlet when it's impossible to separate the show from all it's history and the ghosts of past Hamlets? Can you even separate them? The workshops were super fun. Some old TRE faces and some new were involved. One day we all came in dress clothes. What more could you ask for?
Puppets at NYU's ETW
I just finished teaching 4 classes at The Experimental Theatre Wing at NYU. We focused on partner puppetry and found object puppetry. It was really wonderful. The students were so engaged and exciting. What made it so special for me (besides getting to teach at my alma mater) was the fact that I could really try out some new things with them with the knowledge that they would take the exercise and run with it. I really loved it and hope I get to do it again in the future!