November 5, 2015 - November 29, 2015
Denise Greber | Director and Curator of La MaMa Puppet Series
Federico Restrepo | Production Director of La MaMa Puppet Series
The La MaMa Puppet Series is a biennial festival showcasing new contemporary puppet theatre by American and international artists. Puppetry has been an integral part of La MaMa’s programming since 1962, when Ellen Stewart invited Pagoon Kang Wouk and his puppet artists from Korea to perform their production of Head Hunting. Since then, La MaMa has presented several notable puppet artists, including Theodora Skipitares, Roman Paska, Vit Horejs, Kevin Augustine, and Ralph Lee. La MaMa Puppet Series reflects La MaMa’s dedication to promoting and presenting innovative puppet theatre. BROWSE the Puppet Series Brochure!
photo | Undefined Fraction by Loco7
Performances
Crane: on earth, in sky
Ibex Puppetry / Co-created By Heather Henson & Ty Defoe
November 5-8 | in The Ellen Stewart Theatre
(World Premiere)
Journey with whooping cranes and black neck cranes along the waterways they use for maps in this spectacle of environmental theatre. Reflecting our connectedness with all of creation, this immersive story is told through rituals and puppets, projections and kites, aerial antics and life-sized maps. Tracing the tragedies befalling cranes, of disappearing forests and lakes, this story celebrates the richness of indigenous cultures....Learn More
Shank's Mare
Created By Tom Lee & Koryu Nishikawa V
November 6-15 | in The Downstairs
(World Premiere)
Shank’s Mare is the story of two wandering travelers whose paths intersect in time and space. Using traditional kuruma ningyo puppetry, live feed video projection, miniature sets and a live score by Bill Ruyle (hammer dulcimer) and Chieko Hara (shamisen and flute), the piece explores life and death and how tradition is passed on...Learn More!
2015 Puppet Slam
Curated by Jane Catherine Shaw
November 11 | in The First Floor Theatre
Puppeteer and theatre artist Jane Catherine Shaw will curate a one-night only puppet slam featuring contemporary short-form puppet and object theatre from both emerging and veteran puppet artists. This evening of short form work created for puppet theatre will challenge artists to make their best short form....Learn More!
The Child Who
Théâtre d’un Jour
November 12-15 | in The Ellen Stewart Theatre
(US Premiere)
The Child Who is inspired by the early years of the life of sculptor Jephan de Villiers. It is the vision, all sensibility and poetry, of a child who faces an earth, a humanity, endlessly scorned by man. Straddling the real world and the imagination in a game of constant appearance and disappearance, the narrative is discovered through the experience of a child, contrary to the expectations of the world. An arresting visceral poem, The Child Who articulates.....Learn More!
I Laid An Egg
Double Image Theater Lab
November 14-15 | in The First Floor Theatre
Created by Spica Wobbe & Margot Fitzsimmons
I Laid an Egg is an original piece inspired by Margot’s childhood dream. Margot goes on an adventure with her imaginary friend, Egg, in an imaginary world made of shadows and household items from her everyday life. A show filled with many unexpected surprises and discoveries....Learn More!
All We Have Left
Liz Hara & Spencer Lott
November 18 | in The Club
(Work-in-progress Presentation)
A new play created by Liz Hara & Spencer Lott
Puppet Design by Martin P. Robinson
After the suicides of their parents, 16-year-old Kyle and 14-year-old Carol are left alone in Frozen Village, their family’s run-down roadside attraction in Winnahotek, Minnesota. Their only hope of survival depends on a swarm of grasshoppers and a mysterious stranger living on the land...Learn More!
Undefined Fraction
Loco7 Dance Puppet Theatre Company
November 19-29 | in The Ellen Stewart Theatre
(World Premiere)
Inspired by Pedro Calderón de la Barca’s play, Life's a Dream
Co-Created by Federico Restrepo & Denise Greber
Undefined Fraction is a puppet dance theatre piece inspired by Pedro Calderón de la Barca’s Spanish-language play, Life's a Dream. Tracing patterns of inequality, the play reflects on justice, guilt, punishment, and the conflict between free will and fate. The underlying philosophical question is of whether the so-called real world is actually an illusion, a dream from which we will wake...Learn more!
No Need For A Night Light On A Light Night Like Tonight
Created by Maiko Kikuchi
November 19-22 | in The First Floor Theatre
(World Premiere)
Based on familiar tongue twisters, No Need For A Night Light is an experiment between text and design. Aimless idioms are tucked in and repurposed, only to be reborn as strange dreams. Although the piece employs sophisticated shadow puppets, curious animation...Learn More!
Punschi
Sandglass Theater
November 21-22 | in The First Floor Theatre
Fritzi’s Flea Circus, performed by Shoshana Bass, and Kasper and the Cow, performed by Jana Zeller, offer two family friendly shows by Sandglass Theater, an internationally known theater company specializing in combining puppets with music, actors and visual imagery. Since 1982, the company’s...Learn More!
