Jump Start – Oct 24-27

ABOUT

Puppet artists get a chance to showcase their works in progress in the La MaMa Puppet Series. Featuring works-in-progress from Loco7 Dance Puppet Theatre, Double Image Theater Lab, Foreshadow, and Monica Lerch.

Hide and Seek (Taiwan/NYC)
Created by Double Image Theater Lab

HIDE AND SEEK is a wordless exploration of our emotional response to current events and social phenomenon, evoking emotions that prompt us to either hide or seek. The three vignettes are connected through the expressive use of “hands” as a symbol of creativity and storytelling. These pieces are short visual poems, utilizing shadows and objects to play with scale, prompting empathy and a deeper understanding of our shared human experience.  

Conceived by Spica Wobbe, with auditory landscapes by Yukio Tsuji, choreography by Margaret Yuen, and consulted by Damiet van Dalsum, it’s a performance that transcends language, connecting us all in the universal quest for understanding.

Photo by Walls Trimble
‍The Spinner (NYC)
By Foreshadow

The Spinner reimagines the Fates from Greek mythology as ungodly factory wardens who’ve outsourced their cruel work to mortal garment workers in a 19th-century textile mill. Told through a mixture of overhead projector shadow puppetry and shadow mask and featuring an original folk music score by Jared Engel, The Spinner unstitches the lengths we will go to make our fates our own. 

Cause and Effect (USA/COLOMBIA)
Created and Directed by Federico Restrepo and Denise Greber
Choreography and Puppet Design by Federico Restrepo
Original Music Composed by Juan Sebastian Monsalve
Performed by Federico Restrepo with Katherine De La Cruz, Ursula Tinoco, Juan Pablo Toro

Cause and Effect, is a dance puppet experience that blends rod puppets, marionettes, dance, acrobatics, and video. This project explores themes linked to the natural environment, aiming to shed light on the interconnectedness between humans and animals while showcasing the beauty and fragility of our shared world. The aim is to evoke conceptual images that investigate human displacement and the conservation of endangered animal species. Through our work, we seek to highlight the intricate relationship between the natural environment and its impact on the animal kingdom and human condition.

HUMAN (NYC)
Created by Monica Lerch
Written by Monica Lerch, Jeshua Bratman and Aki Nikolaidis
Designed and Fabricated by Aaron Haskells and Monica Lerch

Set in the far future in New York City, “HUMAN” is a science fiction puppet piece that follows a protagonist’s journey of self-discovery through a series of self-driven transformations. The piece examines how advancements in medicine and human-computer interaction shape our evolving definitions of gender and identity, offering a thoughtful look at what it means to be human in a high-tech future.‍

Press Representative: Sam Rudy Media Relations

CREDITS

Spica Wobbe (puppeteer, puppet designer) 
Margaret Yuen (puppeteer, movement designer)  
Damiet van Dalsum (puppetry consultant)  
Yukio Tsuji (composer)

Established in 2011, Double Image Theater Lab is a cross-cultural production company that explores the world through light, shadow, and objects with an experimental attitude. Their innovative approach delves into human emotions, offering fresh perspectives on storytelling, transforming it into an evocative journey. Believing puppetry is a universal visual language, they aim to bring people together. They perform for diverse audiences nationwide and at international festivals, connecting with the world through their art. Their nine productions, including “So Close & Yet SoFar,” “I Laid an Egg,” “A Chance Shadow,” and “Hand in Hand,” have captivated global audiences.

Double Image Theater Lab is a three-time recipient of Jim Henson Foundation funding.

Gaby FeBland – Co-Creator, Puppeteer
Rosalind Lilly – Co-Creator,Puppeteer 
Jared Engel – Composer 

Foreshadow is an experimental shadow puppetry company whose macabre original plays evoke the timeless mystery of a story told around a campfire. Co-founded by Gaby FeBland and Rosalind Lilly, two lifelong Brooklynites who have been making theatre together since middle school, Foreshadow has performed at the Carnegie Hall Weimar Festival, Green-Wood Cemetery, Dixon Place, Puppet Showplace Theater, Duane Park, and the Coney Island Mermaid Parade. The Spinner is a proud recipient of a 2024 Workshop Grant from the Jim Henson Foundation and was developed through a Puppetry at the Carriage House (PATCH) Residency.

Loco7 Dance Puppet Theatre, founded by Colombian born artist, Federico Restrepo in 1985, develops and promotes creative productions of Dance, Theatre, Puppets, Visual Arts, Music and other forms of artistic expression. We aim to be a public association where artistic expression and cultural community meet. Puppetry is one of the most inventive and innovative mediums to create and present new work. By promoting puppet artists, we are continuing Loco7’s tradition of creative risk-taking and innovative storytelling, through dance, design, and by providing opportunities for artists to interface with each other and find intersections between art, community, and educational programming.

Monica Lerch is a puppet artist, director and performer from Chicago based in Brooklyn. Recent projects include Packrat by Concrete Temple Theater, Song of the North by Hamid Rahmanian, and puppeteering the head of a 17 foot reindeer named Tiptoe in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Her puppetry has received support from The Jim Henson Foundation and she has performed internationally at Pesta Boneka in Indonesia and Cervantino Festival in Mexico, and in NYC at the Lincoln Center, La MaMa ETC, St. Ann’s Warehouse, Dixon Place, The Tank, HERE Arts, as well as filmed on season two of Random Acts of Flyness on HBO. More of her work can be found on ig @monica_lark_

The 11th La MaMa Puppet Festival Fall 2024 is made possible by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature, the Acción Cultural Española (AC/E), the Cultural Office of the Spanish Embassy in Washington DC and the Cultural Office of the Consulate General of Spain in New York, the Howard Gilman Foundation, The Jim Henson Foundation, the Québec Government Office in New York, Puppet Slam Network, Radio Drama Network, The Shubert Foundation. Additional support from Cheryl Henson is gratefully acknowledged.