January 2, 2024

The People vs. Nature – Nov 07-17

By Lone Wolf Tribe
Created by Kevin Augustine

With only hours to live, a death-row inmate fights to free a chimpanzee from medical captivity. In solitary confinement he reenacts a court trial based on true events, litigating the value of some lives over others. For writer/director/performer Kevin Augustine, his own death & life story becomes part of the show as audience members are invited into community onstage, helping bring his primate puppets to life.

CREDITS

Lone Wolf Tribe is an award-winning international touring puppet company. As writer & director, Kevin Augustine is the eponymous lone wolf– performing alongside his tribe of foam-rubber puppets he makes. With a mission to Investigate, Challenge & Spellbind, LWT uses low-tech magic and poetic brutality to create gutsy live theatre about our collective human story. Embracing art as a life-line to possibility, LWT tells stories that elevate voices deserving to be heard: be they veterans, animals or the vaccine injured.

Kevin Augustine: script, direction, puppets, solo actor
Kate Marvin – Sound Design
Chris Carcione – Video Design
Daisy Long – Lighting Design
Jaime Moore – Special guest
Original Music – Mark Bruckner
Leigh Selting – Technical assistance
Manu Edema- Animations
Dramaturgical/directorial associate: Rachel Schroeder
Gloria Sun – General Manager
Set and costume consultant: Andreea Mincic
Technical puppet consultant: Ilya Vett
Set builder: Aaron Treat

Thank you to: the theatre students at the University of Iowa & University of Maryland, Flushing Town Hall in Queens, North American Cultural Laboratory, Artist residency programs Djerassi & Yaddo and La MaMa’s artist residency program for assistance in developing this production. Thanks to Denise Greber for inviting LWT back for its last NYC premiere! Funding: thank you to all of our individual donors (including Christie Van Kehrberg) who supported our fundraisers and to New York State Council on the Arts, Culture and Animals Foundation, The Jim Henson Foundation (seed grant) and the Brooklyn Arts Council. Special thanks to: Rachel Schroeder, Rich Grunn, Islah Abdul-Rahiim, Gloria Sun, Jamie Moore, Leigh Smiley, Mark Bruckner and Mary Beth Easley, dialect coach Susanne Sulby, Ilya Vett, Eva Lansberry, Ellen Kodadek, Andreea Mincic’s Pratt Theatre students, Aaron Treat & my dear Meilin Mehri.

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.