A Live Show?!

Shocking! Unexpected! Thrilling!

I’m very fortunate to say something I really did not think I’d say this year: I’m doing a live puppet show this Winter.

I’m very fortunate to have joined the company of Derek Fordjour and Nick Lehane’s collaboration “Fly Away”. The show is a live puppet show presented in conjunction with Derek Fordjour’s gallery show “Self Must Die” at Petzel Gallery.

We just finished the first week and a half of rehearsals and it’s great to be working with such a talented group of artists on what I expect is going to be quite a powerful show.

Photo from the Petzel Gallery website

A film commission

I can finally announce that I’m a recipient of a quarantine mini-commission from Heather Henson’s Handmade Puppet Dreams.

Along with 12 other filmmakers I will be creating a short film from the confines of quarantine by the end of 2020. I think it’s going to be an exciting and challenging project and I’m so honored to have the support of this company!

Now it’s time to get to work!

A Mettawee Escape

This year was Mettawee Theater Company’s 45th anniversary! Mettawee has given so much joy to audiences all around upstate NY and employed and fostered so many amazing artists over their 45 years.

However, like most things this year, the global pandemic upset the big celebration plans.

Fortunately for me, the company figured out how to do a socially distant week of exploring old masks and puppets from their archives as a way to prepare for the celebration whenever it can happen.

It was a wonderful week away from the city full of play, rivers, friends, and ice cream.

Adapting to Virtual Learning

Well it’s been a wild couple months as a teaching artist!

I’ve continued working with Shadow Box Theatre Company while schools have been shut down to adapt our puppetry courses to a virtual world. I’ve spent the end of the school year adapting and developing two different course.

The first course was for classes of students with developmental differences. I created 18 short videos (along with my sock puppet friend, Timothy) to engage their imaginations and motor skills.

The second course was for 3rd through 5th graders where my co-teacher and created a 6-week curriculum that smashed together object puppetry work with practices from Theatre of the Oppressed.

It was a ton of work but the students, teachers, and parents seemed to appreciate a different energy to help keep this bizarre time interesting!

Joe Pescies

We once again participated in the Upright Citizens Brigade’s Sketch Cram.

It’s a whirlwind of a day where we were given script then had 8 hours to design, shoot, edit and turn in a finished film! It’s…..insane.

Enjoy…..”Joe Pescies”

Joe Pescies

Written by: Georgie Aldaco

Directed by: Joseph Lymous

Performed by: Joseph Lymous and Jon Riddleberger

Puppets built by: Rachael Balcanoff and Jon Riddleberger

Shot by: Rachael Balcanoff

Edited by: Jon Riddleberger

With music by: Cameron Orr

A film by 3A3

The Clap takes on the internet!

Wow!

There’s been such an outpouring of love for our latest film “The Clap”

We have hit 5.7 thousand views on Facebook and almost 200 shares. It’s great to know that the film is striking a chord with folks from all over.

an organization called Make Masks 2020 included us in their 8 hour thank-a-thon where we introduced the film live and shared it with their community of mask makers.

At the end of the month we’ll take part in Lab/Shul’s Revealthon, where they will screen our film.

Keep your eye out for more cardboard content coming soon from 3A3!

The Clap

We’ve had a ton of fun with this one! We just released our latest video with our cardboard friend.

This film centers around the nightly 7PM clapping session that takes place each night in NYC to thank our essential workers from our isolated homes. It’s a hopeful and moving moment and one of the few times during the day I feel connected to people outside my apartment.

We made the film as a part of the Los Angeles Guild of Puppetry’s 48 hour film festival. The festival gave us three elements that had to be included in the film: Hope, Cardboard and Jump.

We were included in the top films of the festival and were a judge favorite!

I hope you enjoy….The Clap

A film by 3A3 (Joseph Lymous, Jon Riddleberger, and Rachael Balcanoff)

with music by Cameron Orr.

Cookie Day

COOKIE DAY is the best day!

In light of the shelter-in-place ordinance, my roommates and I have taken to turning it into an artist-in-residence ordinance. We have been trying to create projects that utilize our varied and complementary skill sets.

Cookie Day is a short film created during the COVID-19 quarantine. It was born out of a desire to make something our whole apartment could work on.

In hope you enjoy our new little cardboard roommate and his exciting and tragic cookie day.

A film by 3A3 (Joseph Lymous, Jon Riddleberger, and Rachael Balcanoff)

Music composed by Nathan Koci

Upright Citizens Brigade Sketch Cram

We had a crazy day participating in Sketch Cram with the Upright Citizens Brigade. Sketch Cram is normally a live event where a night of sketches are written, rehearsed, and performed in a single day. However, due to COVID-19 this month they did a digital version. We received the script at 3PM and had to turn in the finished sketch at 10:45PM. It was a jam packed afternoon but we’re very proud of what we made! I hope you enjoy:

“SUCCULENTS”

Written by : Katie Talay

Directed by: Joseph Lymous

Voices: Joseph Lymous and Rachael Balcanoff

Puppeteers: Jon Riddleberger and Rachael Balcanoff

Music by: Cameron Orr

Edited by: Jon Riddleberger

A film by Jomiray Productions and 3A3

A Puppet Test!

With the help of my partner and roommate I was able to test my prototype silicon puppet! You’ll see the final video below. It’s definitely not polished but it’s nice to know that some of the ideas are working. I’m looking forward to continuing to work on my screenplay and keep working on ways to make the puppet even better!

Enjoy the video!

Direction, Puppet Construction, Editing: Jon Riddleberger

Puppetry: Jon Riddleberger and Rachael Balcanoff

Camera: Joseph Lymous

Music: “Ready Now” by dodie