Puppet Block Announces Special March & April Events

THE *NEW* DIXON PLACE PROUDLY PRESENTS

After 24 years in a downtown living room (as well as many other spaces along the way), Dixon Place is settling into its brand spankin' new state-of-the-art-laboratory theater on Chrystie Street. Amenities include a private rehearsal studio, gallery space, dressing room as well as an intimate "conversation" bar and lounge. We are proud to host the winter edition of our beloved series, Puppet BloK!, sponsored with generous funds courtesy of the Jim Henson Foundation. Join us for some very special events!

Puppet BloK! features new works of puppetry, animation, music, and other innovative styles of performance by emerging and established artists from the NYC area. Branching out of Dixon Place's own mission statement to focus on experimental works in progress, Puppet BloK! provides an all-encompassing venue for alternative modes of storytelling.

The New Dixon Place is located at

161A Chrystie Street (b/w Rivington & Delancey)

New York, NY 10002

Door opens a half hour before show time. Cash, check and cards accepted. For tickets and more info call 212-219-0736 or visit our website at www.dixonplace.org.

Friday & Saturday, March 5 & 6 at 8pm, $12

PUPPET BLOK returns with innovative storytelling, featuring new works by LONE WOLF TRIBE, DAVID MICHAEL FRIEND, ORA FRUCHTER, AVI FOX-ROSEN & DRAMA OF WORKS.
~DAVID MICHAEL FRIEND & ORA FRUCHTER premiere The Adventures of Hugh Cobalt: Private Eye in which "The Little Men in the radio" bring you a detective melodrama gone awry, filled with intrigue, surprise endings and bad puns.
DAVID MICHAEL FRIEND FRIEND has been a part of the puppet community since the mid 90s, helping to bring forth Drama of Works' into the community. After working on such shows as Doctor Faustus, The Ballad of Phineas P. Gage, and The Carnival of Samhain, he went on to puppeteer for Kevin Augustine and the Czech-American Marionette Theater. He directed and designed The Typist (for Puppet Blok), Lunatic, The Bident of Angels and his latest piece EGO (HERE Arts Center's Dream Music Puppetry). He is wrapping up his newest film, Moonfishing; part of Heather Henson's Hand Made Puppet Dreams series. www.dmfriend.com

ORA FRUCHTER is a puppeteer, director, educator, and performer living in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn. She recently conceived and directed The Famous Violinist (for Puppet BloK). She performed as a puppeteer in both David Michael Friend's EGO, and the KNF Co's Bird House. Ora and her giant dinosaur have appeared at the Bowery Poetry Club and Theater Lab.
~AVI-FOX ROSEN & ORA FRUCHTER bring us The Church of Babel: A Fundamentalist Cabaret, an opera fusing puppetry and live actors. In this debut performance, we find religious imagery usurped by greed, presenting a delightful parody of power, desire, and religious charisma.
AVI FOX-ROSEN is trailblazing in the field of Absurdist Rock Cabaret, and was recently described as: "Donald Fagen's equally gifted, more ill-at-ease bastard stepchild." His most recent album, Welcome to the Show, was nominated for Independent Music Award's Eclectic Album of 2009.
[ avifoxrosen.com] Ora Fruchter directs.
~ LONE WOLF TRIBE develops (right before our eyes!) its 6th full-length production, The Hobo Grunt Cycle, written and performed by Kevin Augustine. Using magic, life-sized puppetry and the circus arts, this provocative new work explores parallels between the military and entertainment industries as well as the dark history of pit bulls in America.

LONE WOLF TRIBE, a Brooklyn based puppet theatre company, has been pushing artistic boundaries since 1997. Exquisitely carved out of ordinary couch cushion foam, Artistic Director Kevin Augustine's puppet creations are at once curious and haunting, provoking visceral reactions and challenging audience's aesthetic perceptions of beauty. Previous shows include, Animal, Big Top Machine, 10, Once Vaudeville and BRIDE.
~Award-winning puppet company DRAMA OF WORKS premiere scenes from their newest piece in progress, Leakey's Ladies. A collaboration with playwrights Crystal Skillman, Rachel Hoeffel and Erin Courtney, Leakey's Ladies explores the work of female primatology pioneers.

DRAMA OF WORKS, spearheaded by Artistic Director, Gretchen Van Lente, aspires to be the leading theater company of cutting-edge stage performance in Brooklyn, NY. DOW has received grants from the Henson Foundation , the EST/Sloan Project and Rhode Island Foundation. Previous works; Doubting Dorothy, Doctor Faustus, Sid & Nancy Punch & Judy Show, puppet KafKa, The Ballad of Phineas P. Gage, TITUS!, WARRIOR, WARHOL, Sleepy Hollow, curiouser & curiouser. [ http://www.dramaofworks.com]

AND INTRODUCING...

FIRESIDE PUPPET CHATS

Friday and Saturdays, March 5 & 6, April 9 & 10, 2010, FREE

Following performances of Puppet Blok, Puppet Provocateur, Kate Brehm, hosts and curates Fireside Puppet Chats, an impromptu , informal and intimate series of conversations with NYC's most prominent puppet artists. Nestled in the new lounge at Dixon Place, Fireside Puppet Chats offer a unique opportunity to infiltrate the minds of proponents of an underrepresented and misunderstood art form. Each night features a new guest. Stayed Tuned for an extraordinary lineup.

KATE BREHM is a performer based in NYC. She is trained in the Margolis Method of physical acting and has worked as a puppeteer for over ten years. As a puppeteer she has performed with bunraku-style puppets, costume puppets, hand puppets, rod puppets, shadow puppets, marionettes, wind puppets, abstract puppets, and giant puppets. As a physical performer she is known for her work as the MC of Slutty Puppets and her many original variety acts. Her performance skills include stage flying, mezzo soprano voice, tap dance, and stilt walking. She directs and devises full-length theater as imnotlost. [http://www.katebrehm.com]

~The Next Puppet Blok drops April 9 & 10 at 8pm with appearances by Jessica Scott, Maggie Robinson, Jenny Campbell and more. John Bell chats with Kate April 10.
Puppet Blok is funded in part by The Jim Henson Foundation Presenters Grant.
Puppet BloK logo by David Michael Friend.