Z Puppets Rosenschnoz Presents Through The Narrows: A Watch It, Make It, Take It Event

Z Puppets welcomes people to take a place at the table for a uniquely intimate puppetry experience intertwining stories of the Jews Crossing the Red Sea and the Cherokee Trail of Tears. Sliding across centuries and continents with the live global music fusion of Greg Herriges, these stories travel the rich emotional landscape from struggle to triumph.

WATCH IT: Award-winning puppetry artists Shari Aronson and Chris Griffith, a Cherokee Tribal member, share stories inspired by their own ancestry. A 3500 year-old Jewish woman and a 6-yr old Cherokee boy fill in parts of history that often go missing. Directed by Laurie Witzkowski.

MAKE IT: After the 1-hour performance, Z Puppets leads the audience step by step to make "power figures" - small puppets to represent someone to call on for strength when facing hardship.

TAKE IT: People take their power figures out into the world to find the next steps through life's narrow passages!

Each event is limited to 25 seats and advance tickets are encouraged. Last year's performances sold out quickly. Tickets available at zpuppets.org.

Audience members who attended Through the Narrows in 2019 commented: "It felt like a spell was over the whole place; like it was alive with all the ancestors of that place and all of us who were there," and "Very glad that this story about how to get through narrow passages in life is being told in such a thoughtful way."

ABOUT Z PUPPETS ROSENSCHNOZ

Z Puppets Rosenschnoz is a Minneapolis company that brings people into the power of playfulness for feats of imagination, through performances, workshops and interactive environments.

Led by Shari Aronson and Chris Griffith, their performances combine hand-crafted puppetry, quirky humor and live music. Their work has won honors from the Ivey Awards, Ordway Center for Performing Arts, Jim Henson Foundation and Puppeteers of America.

Shari Aronson has written plays and developed exhibits for the MN History Center, Science Museum of MN, Mill City Museum, MN Children's Museum and the City of Maplewood. Shari's stage adaptation of Eric Kimmel's beloved children's book Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins has been produced by professional and youth theaters across the country, including the MN Jewish Theatre Company.

Chris Griffith began as a solo juggler/street performer before falling into a life of a puppetry and arts education with In the Heart of the Beast Puppet & Mask Theatre, Galumph Interactive Theatre, and Children's Theater Company. In 2009, Chris won an Ivey Award for his puppetry design. Through the Narrows is the first in a series of work Chris is developing based in the family stories, research, and personal experience of being an enrolled Cherokee tribal member.

Greg Herriges is an internationally recognized virtuoso performer and composer with musical expertise that spans international and improvisational

traditions (Middle East, Asia, India). A Bush and McKnight Foundation grantee, Greg has composed and performed music for In the Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theatre, performer Zaraawar Mistry, Twin Cities Public Television, and independent film soundtracks.

Through the Narrows is directed by Laurie Witzkowski, a theater maker and community activist whose work has been featured locally (In the Heart of the Beast Puppet & Mask Theatre, Theater Mu, Mixed Precipitation, TigerLion Arts, Bedlam) and internationally, in venues from Lincoln Center to war zones, prisons and sacred sites.

This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Metropolitan Regional Arts Council, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund.

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