Darklands by S Lauder

Bear witness to a world of metal and smoke turned in on itself, where anyone is liable to be consumed by the fires ravaging these darklands. A puppet elegy for those lost to persecution and their bystanders, who watched over “the multitude of stakes, at each of which a human being had been given to the flames.”

Lauder is a drag and performance artist and puppet builder based in Brooklyn. Their creative process is usually driven by what they can get their hands on and what they’re interested in learning how to make. Credits include Tristan Allen’s Osni the Flare (La Mama, Loon Puppet Builder), Tiresias and Alexander Cameltoe Present: UNDERWORLD: MYCELIUM (Ballhaus Berlin, Hades Puppet Builder), Sasha Velour’s  NightGowns (National Sawdust, as Hystee Lauder), and Bushwig (Knockdown Center, as Hystee Lauder).

She’s From Africa by Sifiso Mabena

In a Bible story, Moses marries a nameless African woman: ‘The Cushite’. Moses’ siblings gossip about their union, and his sister Miriam consequently gets punished with leprosy for a week. At first glance, Moses’ wife seems invisible, defined only by her proximity to her husband. But it could be this mysterious woman is actually impressively powerful and influential to have provoked the Almighty Himself. Sifiso uses this story as a way to question perspectives passively repeated about Africa(ns): that Africa is either grossly overly romanticized or woefully underestimated and patronized.

Sifiso is a Zimbabwean, NY based, multidisciplinary theatremaker whose work often explores diasporic identity, history, and femininity. Selected Credits: KLII (Walker Arts Center; Redcat; Under the Radar ’23); Mud/Drowning (Mabou Mines), Riddle of the Trilobites (Flint Rep; New Victory Theatre); Shoot Don’t Talk (Labapalooza, St Ann’s Warehouse). Original work at: Harare International Festival of the Arts, Intwasa Festival, Chimanimani Festival and Dixon Place NYC. Sifiso was a New Victory Labworks 2022/23 artist. 

‘Untitled’  by Jon Riddlebeger

This is a story of monsters. The good, the bad, the in between. The ones that are purely in our imaginations and the ones that become real.

Riddleberger is a puppeteer, filmmaker, director, and teacher. Notable credits include: War Horse, Il Ritorno D’Ulisse (Handspring Puppet Company); Bill’s 44th (Dixon Place), Laser Beak Man (Dead Puppet Society), Fly Away, Clifford the Big Red Dog feature film, Moon and Me (BBC), Hello Tomorrow! (Apple TV+), creator of The Memory Trade (Heather Henson’s Handmade Puppet Dreams), demons. (Director of Puppetry at Bushwick Starr).

Study for the Glass Curtain Call  by Sara Stern

A glass feather floated down and away and up and over the city. And the people watched. They were in the theater. The glass was a scrim. And the glass was caught in a loop.

Stern is an interdisciplinary artist from NYC. Recent projects prod histories of urban development with animacy and speculative fiction. Stern has exhibited and screened her work at venues such as SculptureCenter (Long Island City, NY), Anthology Film Archives (NYC), Museum of the Moving Image (NYC), The Jewish Museum (NYC), and Institute of Contemporary Arts Singapore. She’s the recipient of: a Rema Hort Mann Emerging Artist Grant; Fountainhead Fellowship in the Dept of Sculpture + Extended Media at Virginia Commonwealth University: and several residencies at Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, MA. Recently, Stern has participated in the Fire Island Artist Residency (Cherry Grove, FI), the Artist Residency at Carving Studio & Sculpture Center (West Rutland, VT), and Object Movement Residency at The Center at West Park (NYC). She has a solo show Jan 13-Feb 11 at Ortega y Gasset Projects (Brooklyn, NY).