ONDINE: A Queer Fairy Tale Returns to NYC for Limited Performances at The Center

After a celebratory month performing at Pride festivals across Kansas, Brett Crandall Studios returns to New York City with ONDINE: A Queer Fairy Tale. This queer-inclusive puppet show made its NYC debut last Fall at New York Comic Con, and was recently presented by R Creatives, a UK-based theatre collective, as part of their monthly, online Play Readings. The show will play for two performances only at The Center.

Brett Crandall, the puppeteer and writer behind ONDINE: A Queer Fairy Tale, specializes in crafting LGBTQIA+ stories, old and new, into witty, charming puppet plays. "The puppet characters act as equalizers, lowering the defenses we all tend to project," Crandall said. "Then swapping the protagonist's gender, to male in this particular story, allows the audience a chance to relate to a queer character that's as pure and innocent as Ondine. While he learns to better understand and express his larger-than-life emotions, those watching, particularly kids, can pick up ways to both honor and move through those big feelings when they naturally meet life's challenges." Crandall, a graduate of the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, NY relocated back to his home-state of Kansas in 2018, with a goal to give LGBTQIA+ folks in rural communities a chance to see themselves onstage. His all-ages Pride arts festival, PLAYCHELLA, held in Garden City, KS last June, featured ONDINE, as well as a puppet adaptation of Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist.

BC Studios' last stint at The Center in 2021 featured The Trials of David: A Queer, Biblical, Puppet Play and Murder at the Wolf Hotel. These short-and-sweet stories make for the perfect, modern theatre-going experience while championing the timeless arts of puppetry and verse.

FRIDAY, 7/28/2023 @ 7PM

SATURDAY, 7/29/2023 @ 2PM

Tickets are only $15. Seating is limited. For tickets, visit BrettCrandallStudios.com/LiveEvents

SYNOPSIS: A New LGBTQIA+ Inclusive Puppet Play based on the myths of Water Sprites. ONDINE tells the tale of how the titular character finds love when he meets a knight errant, Hans. But Ondine must make a pact with The Old One that should his beloved deceive him, Hans will die. As the two set out to marry before the King, Ondine will have to face the harsh, cold injustices of the human realm. Can Ondine and Hans truly live happily ever after? Only with help from Ondine's puppet friends of the deep.​ With careful language crafted into hilarious yet insightful verse, ONDINE gives a lesson in emotional intelligence.

LGBTQIA+ representation in media can lead to more empathy and allyship, as well as a much-needed sense of belonging for the LGBTQIA+ Community, especially its youth.