St. Ann's Warehouse to Present LABAPALOOZA, 5/8-6/3

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Celebrating its 14th season, The Lab is St. Ann’s Warehouse’s experimental haven for artists developing interdisciplinary projects for puppet and object theater. Under the direction of Lab Director Matthew Acheson, participating artists and their collaborators met weekly over several months to develop projects, share puppetry elements and other design and technical ideas, discuss plot structure and character development, and work on narrative.

Labapalooza!, the annual festival in which the artists present their works, embraces diverse new puppetry works ranging from a punk rock fable starring three ruthless drag queens, to an adaptation of the 1899 feminist classic The Yellow Wallpaper, to a contemplation of aging and prosthetics combining the story of Pinocchio mixed The Old Man and The Sea.

The works are presented in two programs. Program A includes The Radium Play, Event Erasers, The Yellow Wallpaper, andMental Hygiene. It will be performed Thursday, May 31 at 8:00 P.M.; Saturday, Jun¬e 2 at 8:00 P.M.; and Sunday, June 3 at 2:00 P.M.

Program B features The Illustrated Man, Pardon My Tale (A Punk Rock Fable), The Peculiar Extremities of Perseus, and Close to Decline. It will run Friday, June 1 at 8:00 P.M.; Saturday, June 2 at 2:00 P.M.; and Sunday, June 3 at 8:00 P.M.

Throughout the festival, the masterminds behind Puppet Kitchen (puppeteer Eric Wright, musician Matt Singer and director Emily DeCola) present What Are You Eating? in the St. Ann’s Warehouse lobby. This pre-show interactive installation will begin one-hour prior to curtain.

There will be a VOICES ON Artist Talk Back following the 2:00 PM matinee performance on Saturday, June 2 with Lab Director Matthew Acheson and this year’s puppet lab artists. The talk back is free and open to the public.

Tickets are $20 for one program or $30 for both and are available via the St. Ann’s Warehouse Box Office online atwww.stannswarehouse.org, by phone at 718-254-8779, or in person at 38 Water Street (Tuesday through Saturday, 1:00 PM-7:00 P.M.). Phone sales are also available at 866-811-4111 during extended hours (Monday through Friday, 9:00 AM—9:00 P.M.; Saturday and Sunday, 10:00 A.M.—6:00 P.M.). The box office is always open one hour prior to showtime for ticket pick-up and walk-up sales.

Labapalooza! is funded by the Jim Henson Foundation, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and the New York State Council on the Arts.