Script by Mickle Maher

Live drumming score by Michael Zerang and Hamid Drake

 

This is a fable of a magician who, being rejected by his village as a failure, attempts to overcome his despair by performing the ultimate magic trick and in doing so embarks on a journey of enlightenment. Based on the traditionally Zen Buddhist parable, this production features a human size bunraku puppet, a stilt dancer as the bull, shadow puppetry and rolling screens and a live drumming score throughout.

 

Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Illinois – November 2008

Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center University of Maryland – September 2006

Zen Buddhist Temple Chicago, Illinois – August 2006

 

 

 

 

This show is collection of chamber puppet theater pieces based on the writings of the Spanish poet and playwright Federico Garcia Lorca. Featuring his short plays “Chimera”, “The Maiden, the Sailor & the Student” and “Buster Keaton’s Stroll”; it also includes some poems and letters. A company of 4 puppeteers and musicians render these works with a cast of doll size puppets performing in a host of miniature theaters.

 

Storefront Theater City of Chicago – October & November 2008

Puppeteers of America Southwest Regional Festival – June 2008

Creative Alliance at the Patterson Baltimore, Maryland – June 2008

Pegasus Players Theater Chicago – October & November 2002

Blacksheep Puppet Festival Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania - October 2002

 

 

 

 

High art meets low when the words of early 20^th Century Poets are given voice in this cabaret of wooden puppets, rolling paper scrolls and bass drums. This solo performance includes a traditional hand puppet show performed with drum kit, a rod marionette dance of mourning and a shadow puppet show on a series of hand painted paper scrolls.   This performance includes the following three shows. “St.James Infirmary” (Traditional) Faced with the death of his lover, we watch a man dance away his grief. “The Puppet Show of Don Cristobal” (by Federico Garcia Lorca) based on the rough folk humor of the traditional trickster Don Cristobal, this play is a bawdy telling of Cristobal's wooing and marriage to the delectable Dona Rosita. “The Blackbird” (“Thirteen Ways of Looking At A Blackbird” by Wallace Stevens) Doubt inexplicitly finds its way in-between the love of a man and a woman.

 

 

“the technique and commitment on display is nothing short of staggering.”

"A one man tour de force by an extraordinary designer and performer…A virtuoso and powerful performer."

 

 

Festival Internacional Titerias Mexico City, Mexico – June 2005

School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Illinois – June 2005

University of West Virginia Morgantown, West Virginia – 2005

Puppeteers of America Southeast Regional Festival Ashville, North Carolina – July 2004

Puppeteers of America Southwest Regional Festival Phoenix, Arizona – June 2004

Titirimundi Festival Segovia, Spain May 2004

Titirimundi Festival Valladolid, Spain May 2004

Columbia College Chicago – May 2004

Colibra Chicago, Illinois – April 2004

Actors Gymnasium Evanston, Illinois September-October 2003

Great Arizona Puppet Theater Phoenix, Arizona – July 2003

Center for Puppetry Arts          Atlanta, Georgia – May 2003

Puppetry Show Place Boston, Massachusetts – February 2003

Puppeteers of America Regional Festival Bryn Mar, Pennsylvania – July 2002

Beyond the Pale Productions Bloomingfield, Indiana – February 2002

Puppeteers of America National Festival Tampa, Florida July 2001

Alfred University Alfred, New York – April 2001

Blacksheep Puppet Festival Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania – October 2000

Rhino Festival Chicago, Illinois – August 2000

Dank Puppet Theater Festival Chicago, Illinois – January 2000

 

“The Blackbird” – received an UNIMA award in 2004

“The Puppet Show of Don Cristobal” - received an UNIMA award in 2002

 

 

             

 

Performed in collaboration with

the chamber music group eighth blackbird www.blackbird.com

 

 

Featuring Soprano - Lucy Shelton & eighth blackbird

Design and Staging - Blair Thomas

 

Arnold Schoenberg’s 1912 seminal song cycle based on the poems of symbolist poet Albert Giraud’s is set to an evocative staging employing puppetry, shadows, the costumed members of eighth blackbird and soprano Lucy Shelton. The traditional character Pierrot is resurrected through the dark world of the late 19^th European cabaret. The theme of the artist tortured by the inevitable conflicts involved in baring their soul for their art is rendered through a series of moving tableau images, progressively accompanying this cycle of 21 songs.

 

 

Featuring eighth blackbird percussionist Mathew Duvall

 

Following the six movements of Jacob Druckman’s 1986 composition, this is an original story of an old man in the twilight years of his life and a young girl wound by the elastic energy of her childhood - two opposites who find common ground at the foot of a remote mountain waterfall. This work is performed with 3-foot tall wooden Bunraku puppets on a set that is built around the instrument of the marimba giving the theatrical illusion of a waterfall.

 

Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago - March 2006

Gettysburg College - March 2006

Nightingale Concert Series University of Reno - February 2006

Morrison’s Artist Series San Francisco State University - February 2006

Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival, Beverly Hills, Michigan - June 2005

Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center at the University of Maryland - March 2005

American Theater, Hampton, Virginia – March 2005

Modlin Center for the Arts University of Richmond, Virginia - February 2005

University of Chicago – February 2005

 

 

 

 

This original story is created for young audiences to be performed with a concert performance of Modest Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition. It can be performed with Ravel’s 1922 transcription for full orchestra or with Mussorgsky’s original 1874 composition for solo piano. In this original pantomime puppet show, the world of Mussorgsky’s music creates a magical forest in which the rivalry between a Giant and two twin Tricksters is played out. We meet a Young Boy who through his friendship with a White Rabbit enters this tumultuous world. The Young Boy helps resolve the conflict through teaching the others the power of listening.

  

Pritzker Stage Millennium Park Chicago, Illinois – July & August 2008

Preston Bradley Hall Chicago Cultural Center, Illinois – July 2007

Symphony Hall Chicago, Illinois – April 2007

Vittium Theater Chicago, Illinois – March 2006

Sherwood Conservatory of Music Chicago – November 2005

Chicago Park District Ridge Park – October 2005

Symphony Center Buntrock Hall Chicago – October 2005

Prop Theater Chicago – October 2005

Script by Mickle Maher

Live drumming score by Michael Zerang and Hamid Drake

 

This is a fable of a magician who, being rejected by his village as a failure, attempts to overcome his despair by performing the ultimate magic trick and in doing so embarks on a journey of enlightenment. Based on the traditionally Zen Buddhist parable, this production features a human size bunraku puppet, a stilt dancer as the bull, shadow puppetry and rolling screens and a live drumming score throughout.

 

Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Illinois – November 2008

Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center University of Maryland – September 2006

Zen Buddhist Temple Chicago, Illinois – August 2006

 

 

 

 

This show is collection of chamber puppet theater pieces based on the writings of the Spanish poet and playwright Federico Garcia Lorca. Featuring his short plays “Chimera”, “The Maiden, the Sailor & the Student” and “Buster Keaton’s Stroll”; it also includes some poems and letters. A company of 4 puppeteers and musicians render these works with a cast of doll size puppets performing in a host of miniature theaters.

 

Storefront Theater City of Chicago – October & November 2008

Puppeteers of America Southwest Regional Festival – June 2008

Creative Alliance at the Patterson Baltimore, Maryland – June 2008

Pegasus Players Theater Chicago – October & November 2002

Blacksheep Puppet Festival Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania - October 2002

 

 

 

 

High art meets low when the words of early 20^th Century Poets are given voice in this cabaret of wooden puppets, rolling paper scrolls and bass drums. This solo performance includes a traditional hand puppet show performed with drum kit, a rod marionette dance of mourning and a shadow puppet show on a series of hand painted paper scrolls.   This performance includes the following three shows. “St.James Infirmary” (Traditional) Faced with the death of his lover, we watch a man dance away his grief. “The Puppet Show of Don Cristobal” (by Federico Garcia Lorca) based on the rough folk humor of the traditional trickster Don Cristobal, this play is a bawdy telling of Cristobal's wooing and marriage to the delectable Dona Rosita. “The Blackbird” (“Thirteen Ways of Looking At A Blackbird” by Wallace Stevens) Doubt inexplicitly finds its way in-between the love of a man and a woman.

 

 

“the technique and commitment on display is nothing short of staggering.”

"A one man tour de force by an extraordinary designer and performer…A virtuoso and powerful performer."

 

 

Festival Internacional Titerias Mexico City, Mexico – June 2005

School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Illinois – June 2005

University of West Virginia Morgantown, West Virginia – 2005

Puppeteers of America Southeast Regional Festival Ashville, North Carolina – July 2004

Puppeteers of America Southwest Regional Festival Phoenix, Arizona – June 2004

Titirimundi Festival Segovia, Spain May 2004

Titirimundi Festival Valladolid, Spain May 2004

Columbia College Chicago – May 2004

Colibra Chicago, Illinois – April 2004

Actors Gymnasium Evanston, Illinois September-October 2003

Great Arizona Puppet Theater Phoenix, Arizona – July 2003

Center for Puppetry Arts          Atlanta, Georgia – May 2003

Puppetry Show Place Boston, Massachusetts – February 2003

Puppeteers of America Regional Festival Bryn Mar, Pennsylvania – July 2002

Beyond the Pale Productions Bloomingfield, Indiana – February 2002

Puppeteers of America National Festival Tampa, Florida July 2001

Alfred University Alfred, New York – April 2001

Blacksheep Puppet Festival Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania – October 2000

Rhino Festival Chicago, Illinois – August 2000

Dank Puppet Theater Festival Chicago, Illinois – January 2000

 

“The Blackbird” – received an UNIMA award in 2004

“The Puppet Show of Don Cristobal” - received an UNIMA award in 2002

 

 

             

 

Performed in collaboration with

the chamber music group eighth blackbird www.blackbird.com

 

 

Featuring Soprano - Lucy Shelton & eighth blackbird

Design and Staging - Blair Thomas

 

Arnold Schoenberg’s 1912 seminal song cycle based on the poems of symbolist poet Albert Giraud’s is set to an evocative staging employing puppetry, shadows, the costumed members of eighth blackbird and soprano Lucy Shelton. The traditional character Pierrot is resurrected through the dark world of the late 19^th European cabaret. The theme of the artist tortured by the inevitable conflicts involved in baring their soul for their art is rendered through a series of moving tableau images, progressively accompanying this cycle of 21 songs.

 

 

Featuring eighth blackbird percussionist Mathew Duvall

 

Following the six movements of Jacob Druckman’s 1986 composition, this is an original story of an old man in the twilight years of his life and a young girl wound by the elastic energy of her childhood - two opposites who find common ground at the foot of a remote mountain waterfall. This work is performed with 3-foot tall wooden Bunraku puppets on a set that is built around the instrument of the marimba giving the theatrical illusion of a waterfall.

 

Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago - March 2006

Gettysburg College - March 2006

Nightingale Concert Series University of Reno - February 2006

Morrison’s Artist Series San Francisco State University - February 2006

Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival, Beverly Hills, Michigan - June 2005

Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center at the University of Maryland - March 2005

American Theater, Hampton, Virginia – March 2005

Modlin Center for the Arts University of Richmond, Virginia - February 2005

University of Chicago – February 2005

 

 

 

 

This original story is created for young audiences to be performed with a concert performance of Modest Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition. It can be performed with Ravel’s 1922 transcription for full orchestra or with Mussorgsky’s original 1874 composition for solo piano. In this original pantomime puppet show, the world of Mussorgsky’s music creates a magical forest in which the rivalry between a Giant and two twin Tricksters is played out. We meet a Young Boy who through his friendship with a White Rabbit enters this tumultuous world. The Young Boy helps resolve the conflict through teaching the others the power of listening.

  

Pritzker Stage Millennium Park Chicago, Illinois – July & August 2008

Preston Bradley Hall Chicago Cultural Center, Illinois – July 2007

Symphony Hall Chicago, Illinois – April 2007

Vittium Theater Chicago, Illinois – March 2006

Sherwood Conservatory of Music Chicago – November 2005

Chicago Park District Ridge Park – October 2005

Symphony Center Buntrock Hall Chicago – October 2005

Prop Theater Chicago – October 2005