Blair Thomas & Company, Repertoire

The Ox-Herder’s Tale

Click on image to see more Based on the traditional Zen parable of 10 paintings and their accompanying texts, this production finds a contemporary man lost in the chaos of modern life and discovering liberation through an envisioning of the story of the Ox-Herder’s Tale. This performance mixes a variety of performance styles such as bunraku puppetry, contemporary clowning, stilt-walking and a live percussion score performed by Michael Zerang and Hamid Drake.

6 performers & 2 musicians / Running time: 90 minutes

Pierrot Lunaire: a Cabaret Opera

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This theatrical staging of Arnold Schoenberg’s seminal 1912 song cycle is a collaboration with the contemporary chamber group eighth blackbird, concert soprano Lucy Shelton and Blair Thomas & Co. This production includes an original bunraku staging of Jacob Druckman’s “Reflections on the Nature of Water” and an entirely musical performance of Derek Bermel’s “Tide Shifts” by eighth blackbird as companion pieces. Pierrot Lunaire: a Cabaret Opera played three sold-out performances at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago in Spring of 2006.

6 puppeteers & 7 musicians / Running time: 1 hour 40 minutes

Incantation Cabaret

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A collection of solo puppet shows based on early 20th Century poetry, each staged employing a different theatrical puppet tradition. The evening features original works based on Federico Garcia Lorca’s The Puppet Show of Don Cristobal (hand puppets with drum kit) and Buster Keaton’s Stroll (giant toy theater with tubas), Wallace Stevens’ Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird (multiple scroll and shadow puppet) and the New Orleans folk ballad St. James Infirmary (rod marionette and scroll puppet show with banjo and tuba).

1 performer / Running time: 90 minutes

108 Ways to Nirvana

This ongoing collaboration between percussionist/composer Michael Zerang and puppeteer/director Blair Thomas is an evening of interdisciplinary work inspired by the theme of spiritual transformation through performance. This performance includes the original works: Blockhead Quartet (doll puppets and video), Buster Keaton & the Buddha (bunraku and video projections) and Good Air (video with live musically accompaniment).

4 performers / Running time: 80 minutes