SIX CHARACTERS (a family album)
La MaMa in association with Skysaver Productions presents
SIX CHARACTERS (a family album)
Directed, Designed, and Adapted by Theodora Skipitares
Music Composed by Sxip Shirey and Jordan Morton
Set Design by Donald Eastman
Technical Design by Jane Catherine Shaw
Dramaturgy by Andrea Balis
Featuring: Jan Leslie Harding, Chris Ignacio, Jordan Morton,
Jane Catherine Shaw, Thomas Walker, Molly Ballerstein,
Brandon Fisette, Maiko Kikuchi, Britt Moseley, Atticus Stevenson.
and Estelle Parsons as the voice of Margaret Mead
With a nod to Pirandello, SIX CHARACTERS explores the idea of family, reality versus illusion, and displacement. Featuring giant puppet figures,video and live music by Sxip Shirey and Jordan Morton, the evening is highlighted by guest appearances with Margaret Mead and Pirandello himself.
Theodora Skipitares is an award-winning multi-media artist and theater director based in New York. Trained as a sculptor and theater designer, she began creating personal solo performances in the late 1970’s which revolved around the use of handmade objects that were worn on her body. Gradually, she moved away from autobiography, and began to examine social and historical themes. She introduced small 3-dimensional representations of herself into these performances, which she understood (later) to be puppets, She has created 25 works featuring as many as 300 puppet figures, original music, video and documentary texts. She is a resident director at La MaMa. Her work has been exhibited widely in the U.S., Europe and Asia, most recently at the Whitney Museum. Ms. Skipitares has worked frequently in India as a Fulbright Fellow, as well as in Vietnam, Cambodia and Korea. She is Associate Professor at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York. Visit the website: http://theodoraskipitares.com/
Watch Theodora Skipitares on News 4 New York discussing SIX CHARACTERS.
“These different dreams — animated by Skipitares and her team’s remarkable ability to turn puppets into picks mining poetic gold — allow us all to discover the six characters within each of us.”
– Daniel Larkin, Hyperallergic