Puppet BloK! Unfolding ~PLUS~ The Auspicious Adventures of an Improbable Princess New work by Margarita Blush and Betsy Tobin/Now Or Never Theatre

About This Show

Unfolding
Directed by Margarita Blush
A magical ‘‘21st century fairy tale’’ that provides a metaphor for the contemporary woman’s path to empowerment and self-discovery. Every decision in the production stems from the desire to rediscover the depth and intricacy of female wisdom and is expressed through the idea of unfolding. As the tale unfolds, so does the scenery. Small things become large, things appear unexpectedly, and shadows project on surfaces from the set. The scenery crumples, unwraps, folds and expands with the emotions, thoughts, and adventures of the heroine as she makes her way through her life’s journey.

~PLUS~

The Auspicious Adventures of an Improbable Princess
Created by Betsy Tobin/Now Or Never Theatre
In this original story, an ordinary woman enters a temple in an exotic land and exits almost unrecognizable. Her transformation continues through a series of everyday events and adventures that catapult her into previously unknown metaphysical realms. She encounters a wide array of characters including inner and outer demons, spirits and animals. This uplifting and entertaining shadow puppetry performance about what we gain from exposure to other ways of life incorporates ceremonial aspects of Balinese performances. It also draws inspiration from the fantastic characters and inventive storylines of the great Hindu epic, the Mahabharata.

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Presented as part of Puppet BloK!, a works-in-progress series dedicated to presenting ground-breaking new works of puppetry & other innovative forms of storytelling. Click for more info.

 

 

About the artists

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.

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

Wednesday, October 12 at 7:30pm

General Admission
$15 in advance
$18 at the door

Students / Seniors / ID NYC
$12

Estimated Runtime
80 minutes

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Credits

Unfolding
Directed by
Margarita Blush
Performed by
Lucia Rich, Betsy Tobin & Madison Coppola
Scenography by
Dimitar Dimitrov & Petia Dimitrova
Music composed & performed by
Amir Khosrowpour
Photo Credit 
Margarita Blush

The Auspicious Adventures of an Improbable Princess
Created by
Betsy Tobin/Now Or Never Theatre
Performed by
Betsy Tobin & Margarita Blush
Music by
Jesse Manno
Puppets & videos created by
Betsy Tobin
Photo Credit
Eric Kyvic

 

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