LA MAMA PUPPET FESTIVAL to Present Four World Premieres & More in November

La MaMa will present its biannual celebrated LA MAMA PUPPET FESTIVAL as part of its 62nnd season from November 2-18, it has been announced by PUPPET FESTIVAL director and curator Denise Greber and producing director Federico Restrepo.  The 16-day FESTIVAL will take place in LA MAMA’S numerous venues:  Ellen Stewart and Downstairs theatres (66 E. 4 St.), The Club and Community Arts Space (74 E. 4 St.)

Highlights of LA MAMA PUPPET FESTIVAL include four World, two U.S. from Canadian based companies, and one New York premieres along with four works-in-progress representing artists and cultures with various perspectives. As well, the Festival will feature an installation exhibition of work by the puppet artist Dan Hurlin.

LA MAMA PUPPET FESTIVAL will present four world premieres, including: Tom Lee’s world premiere, Sounding the Resonant Pathwith Japanese Kuruma Ningyo puppetry depicting the connection between humans and nature; The Healing Shipment by Maria Camia; and The Pact by Aaron Haskell about the Mother Goddess who returns to earth to guide the world. La MaMa will also present the US premiere of Tricyckle by Canadian Company, Les Sages Fous, about a scrap-metal collector who travels through a fantastical world on his tricycle; Jump Start: puppet works in progress by four resident artists: Charlotte Lily Gaspard, Evolve Puppets, Tristan Allen and Marcella Murray. Other events include: Motel by Dan Hurlin at the La MaMa Galleria; La MaMa Kids family programming with The Gottabees and Puzzle Theatre; and La MaMa Puppet Slam curated by Jane Catherine Shaw.

QUOTE FROM Denise Greber, FESTIVAL DIRECTOR:

“La MaMa has once again proven its commitment to nurturing emerging artists and pushing the boundaries of theatrical expression. This year’s Puppet Festival showcases the incredible results of La MaMa's Artists Residence Program. It is with immense joy that we get to present the world premieres of four exceptional shows, all of which took shape during La MaMa's 58th, 59th and 60th seasons. We are pleased to continue nurturing and giving room for growth to emerging creatives, ensuring that puppetry remains a vital force in the ever-evolving landscape of the performing arts, and shows our commitment to fostering the development of groundbreaking puppetry.”

 

Ms. Greber and Mr. Restrepo recently returned from France, having been invited to attend the world-renowned PUPPET FESTIVAL in Charleville-Mézières as part of the Institut Français’ FOCUS program. 

Following is a list of productions in the 2023 LA MAMA PUPPET SERIES:
 

SOUNDING THE RESONANT PATH

NOV. 2-5 in the Ellen Stewart Theatre.  Is a performance installation that draws on the spiritual connection between the human world and the natural environment. We witness an artist, seeking the unknowable, encounter the growing bamboo and tree, whose harvested material is crafted into the artistry of the flute and the puppet. Japanese kuruma ningyō style puppetry, shadows and scrolls play out in this cosmic, wordless tale to the accompaniment of shakuhachi, taiko & electronica. Music by Ralph Samuelson & Perry Yung. Tom Lee is a director, designer, and puppet artist based in Chicago and New York. He appeared on Broadway in War Horse and in Madama Butterfly at the Metropolitan Opera. WORLD PREMIERE.

 

THE HEALING SHIPMENT

NOV. 3-5 in the Downstairs Theatre.  Is a spiritual/sci-fi gestalt puppet musical about an extraterrestrial named Maricama from Aricama, the land of practice, play and healing. When Maricama gets stuck on earth after her potato spaceship crashes into a bickering family’s backyard, she calls upon her future granddaughter, Marikata, to save her from this sunless planet. As Marikata embarks on this time-traveling mission, Maricama guides the phone-addicted humans back to their inner light, all while learning how to face her NOW. Maria Camia is a Filipino American Artist, Director, Playwright, Fashion Designer, and Introspective Hypnosis Practitioner who creates Spiritual/Sci-Fi Theater with the intention to globally inspire healing and play. WORLD PREMIERE.

 

DAYDREAM TUTORIAL

NOV. 9-12 in the Downstairs Theatre.  How do you pretend you are not home when your persistent neighbor is at your door? Do you own a clone, or would you rather be alone? Still wide awake after counting 100 sheep? These vital questions are asked…and answered…in the surreal, live performance of Daydream Tutorial from Japanese visual artist and theater maker, Maiko Kikuchi. The show is told through a mix of puppetry, mask performance, object manipulation, and projected animation. Maiko Kikuchi was born and raised in Tokyo, Japan. Influenced by her psychoanalyst father, she became interested in the boundary between dreams and reality. She received her B.A. from Musashino Art University in 2008 and received an M.F.A. from Pratt Institute. WORLD PREMIERE.

 

TRICYCKLE

NOV. 10-12 in the Ellen Stewart Theatre.  The tricycle guides the man through his life journey as if it were an uncanny ride at a fairground. Through the house of mirrors, the carousels, and the games of chance, leading him through the dark shadows of his past, towards his quest for freedom and into the light, Tricyckle is a spectacle of metamorphosis and transformation using objects and puppetry. As visual theatre without words, the show’s intriguing musical score is composed solely of invented instruments created with found objects. Les Sages Fous (QUEBEC) proposes a theatre of paradoxes: grotesque and poetic, ritual and mundane, domestic, and marvelous. The company recreates a lost world where the mask, the puppet, the object, and the human coexist. US PREMIERE.

 

THE PACT

NOV. 16-18 in the Ellen Stewart Theatre.  The battle between good and evil has waged for centuries, threatening to engulf our world in darkness, but the tide is about to turn. The Ancestral Mother, Aurora in earthly wolf form, has returned to rescue us from the clutches of despair. Aurora has crafted a divine pact and within the new offspring, the ability to guide us toward a brighter future. Aaron Haskell is a puppeteer, puppet maker, director, designer, actor, dancer, and visual artist living and working in NYC since 2000. Dance: Fellowship at Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater 2000-2001. As a puppeteer in War Horse 1st National and International Tour (2012 – 2015), Cirque du Soleil’s International tour of Toruk: The First Flight (2016 – 2019). He has been a Puppet Technician at Lion King on Broadway since 2020. WORLD PREMIERE.

 

JUMP START in The Club

Nov. 3-5 and Nov. 9-11, a showcase of works-in-progress, these puppet artists have been developing their new works via La MaMa residencies.

Nov 3-5, 2023 - Mia M.I.A. (Work-in-Progress)

Written & Directed by Charlotte Lily Gaspard

Nov 9-11, 2023 - Shared Program

Featuring works from Tristan Allen, Evolve Puppets (Tanya Khordoc & Barry Weil), and Marcella Murray

 

LA MAMA PUPPET SLAM

Nov. 7-8 in The Club. Puppeteer Cathy Shaw will curate this slam that features contemporary short-form puppet and object theatre from emerging and seasoned puppet artists.

MOTEL – NOV. 2-12 in the La MaMa Galleria Thur.-Sun from 1pm to 7pm. A motel is a liminal space, situated inconclusively between a departure and an arrival where the inhabitants wait with an eager anticipation for the future, or a fearful dread of it. Motel is an installation piece, in which a woman waits. Her mysterious presence and the objects with her, along with a soundscape, act as an ambiguous time stamp where we are transported to a timeless and ominous deja vu of roadside America. Dan Hurlin’s work has been presented at multiple venues both nationally and internationally. He received a 1990 OBIE award for his adaptation of Nathanael West’s A Cool Million. His suite of puppet pieces Everyday Uses For Sight: Nos. 3 & 7 (2000) earned him a 2001 NY Dance and Performance award (a.k.a. “BESSIE”), and his piece Hiroshima Maiden, was given an OBIE award for music by Robert Een and received a UNIMA-USA Citation of Excellence.

 

Nov 4-5, 2023 | Community Arts Space | La MaMa Kids

Go Home Tiny Monster (Ages 3+) By The Gottabees | Created and Performed by Bonnie Duncan, Tony Leva and Brendan Burns. Go Home Tiny Monster is a wildly creative theatrical ode to a community’s generosity. The show, told entirely without words, features The Gottabees’ signature mix of puppetry, live music, physical theater, and joyously absurd silliness. Recommended for ages 3 & up. NYC PREMIERE.

 

Nov 11-12, 2023 | Community Arts Space | La MaMa Kids

Woods (Ages 4+) By Puzzle Theatre | Created and Performed by Csaba Raduly and Pavla Mano | Original Music by Petya Nedeva. A green leaf that grows on a dead branch, pieces of wood that come together to form strange creatures, some hostile, some comical… A curious world that surprises, amazes, and inspires. US PREMIERE.

 

The 62nd Season will also feature work from puppet artists Belova ~ Iacobelli Theatre Company a Belgium / Chillan Company February 15 and 16, 2024.

Tickets for all shows start at only $10! Memberships available.  Ticket prices include all fees. www.lamama.org

Multi-Show Puppet Packages Available
Total Puppet Package – 8 Shows! - 8 shows for $175‍
5 Show Package - 5 shows for $120
3 Show Package - 3 shows for $75
2 Show Package - 2 shows for $50

 

About La MaMa

La Mama Experimental Theatre Club is dedicated to the artist and all aspects of the theatre. La MaMa's 62nd Radical Access Season comes on the heels of our 61st season when we re-opened our newly renovated, original theater at 74 E. 4th St. The building's $24 million makeover provides the return of the fully accessible Club, a new Community Arts Space for neighboring groups in the East Village, and an expanded public lobby and galleries. As an experimental theatre, La MaMa is always adapting to the needs of its community. In this time of deep division in our society and around the world, La MaMa felt an urgency to create a way for artists to respond. The Radical Access Initiative (RAI) was born out of this need. RAI connects local artists and audiences to people and communities around the world in shared artistic experiences to spark creativity and human understanding that wasn’t possible before.

La MaMa has been honored with 30+ Obie Awards, dozens of Drama Desk, Bessie Awards, Villager Awards, the 2018 Regional Theatre Tony Award, and most recently a 2023 New York Drama Critics’ Circle Special Citation. We are a creative home to artists and resident companies from around the world, many of whom have made lasting contributions to the arts, including Blue Man Group, Bette Midler, Ed Bullins, Ping Chong, Jackie Curtis, André De Shields, Adrienne Kennedy, Harvey Fierstein, Diane Lane, Playhouse of the Ridiculous, Estelle Parsons, Tom Eyen, Sam Shepard,  Pan Asian Rep, Spiderwoman Theater, Tadeusz Kantor, Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman, Mabou Mines, Meredith Monk, Peter Brook, David and Amy Sedaris, Julie Taymor, Kazuo Ohno, Tom O'Horgan, Andrei Serban, Liz Swados, and Andy Warhol. La MaMa's vision of nurturing new artists and new work from all nations, cultures, races and identities remains as strong today as it was when Ellen Stewart first opened the doors in 1961.

 

The 10th La MaMa Puppet Festival Fall 2023 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 Howard Gilman Foundation, The Jim Henson Foundation, the Québec Government Office in New York, Puppet Slam Network, the Mellon Foundation, and The Shubert Foundation. Additional support from Cheryl Henson is gratefully acknowledged.

Photo credit: Steven Pisano

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