Margarita Blush is a puppet and devised theatre artist who has worked throughout Europe and the U.S. She holds an MFA degree in Directing for Puppet and Alternative Theatre from the National Academy for Theatre and Film Arts in Sofia, Bulgaria where she studied with Prof. Nikolina Georgieva, a world-renowned puppet theatre director. Unfolding has just returned from an international tour to Bulgaria, where the show was performed at two international puppet theatre festivals in Plovdiv and Sofia. Margarita’s previous show The Crane Wife (2011) was performed nationally and won the Boulder International Fringe Festival Encore Award (2013).

Betsy Tobin, Artistic Director of the Now Or Never Theatre, began her career with playwriting at Dartmouth College. Her multi-layered work integrates puppetry with acting, masks, shadow theatre, and video. She has performed her original theatre performances extensively in 14 states, Canada, and throughout Europe where she won numerous awards at prominent festivals and earned an international reputation as a solo puppeteer. Recent large, multi-media productions include SHADOWS & JOURNEYS, performed in canyons across the Southwest, and METAPHOR, performed in traditional venues. She just returned from Africa where she presented work in Guinea through the Art in Embassies program.

Jesse Manno, Music Director of the University of Colorado Dance Department, is a composer, producer, improviser, vocalist and multi-instrumentalist based in Boulder.  He has received over 150 commissions for original scores from Theatre and Dance companies. He has presented his work across the U.S. and in Europe and Asia, with support from Meet the Composer, PBS, and the National Endowment for the Arts. Recent collaborators include choreographers Michael Foley, David Dorfman, Nancy Smith and Peter Davison. He explores many musical styles, especially Musique Concrete and Balkan and Middle Eastern Music, which he performs with SHEREFE and the Kailin Yong Peace Project.

Puppet BloK! is made possible in part with funds from The Jim Henson Foundation.