Puppet Blok Puppet Blok 6.9.25 Curated by Concrete Temple Theatre
About This Show
The popular Dixon Place annual program, Puppet BloK, presents groundbreaking new and developing works of puppet theater and features artists working in myriad forms including Shadow Puppetry, Object Theater, Bunraku, Hand and Rod, Toy Theater, Kurama Ningyo, Marionettes, Stop Motion Animation, finger to full-size puppets, and more!
The evening includes an enlightening (brief!) post-show artist talkback. And conversation continues after in DP’s cocktail lounge!
Bequeathed by J Hann
A short new excerpt from Bequeathed, a surreal, comedic, semi-autobiographical puppet show about gender roles & the fight to transcend beyond societal expectations – all told through a fantastical fiber arts world. Bequeathed is made possible by The Jim Henson Foundation, New York State Council for the Arts and Two Chairs, and Concrete Temple Theatre.
J Hann (they/them) is a puppeteer, fiber artist, & puppetry director. J’s unique textural work draws inspiration from the past and is centered in the weird, wonderful, & whimsical. Their work has received support from The Jim Henson Foundation, New York State Council for the Arts, and Two Chairs Inc. They are an Artistic Associate with Concrete Temple Theatre, and a fabricator with Official Puppet Business. When not performing or making, J teaches puppetry & fiber arts workshops to students of all ages.
For-Naught, by Doubled Jointed Studios (Alyssa Parkhurst and Emma Alosi)
The life & creations of the great inventor Dyre Jules Supercherie & a demonstration of the refurbished fortune telling machine, For-Naught.
Double Jointed Studios is a visual & performing arts collective co-created by Emma Alosi & Alyssa Parkhurst, based in Brooklyn. DJS focuses on creating immersive shows & installations with a strong focus on puppetry, drawing on Alosi’s background in illustration, sculpture, & immersive entertainment and Parkhurst’s background as a puppeteer & actor. Their work explores the boundaries of reality and themes of simulation, fantasy, history, & constructed environments.
Say Mama by Brzezinski & Schap
Inside the miniature world of a dollhouse, Say Mama follows a mother unraveling under the weight of new parenthood. As shadows twist into nightmare, she faces the terrifying isolation, judgment, and emotional rupture of postpartum life.
Brzezinski & Schap is a shadow puppetry duo creating performances using moving shadow screens, innovative lighting textures, and blurred lines between puppeteer and shadow character. Their premiere production, Flying Lessons, was a whimsical, full-length shadow play that toured across the U.S. with support from the Jim Henson Foundation. Their current work-in-progress, Say Mama, explores the terrifying experience of new parenthood. Developed as part of the 2024 Micro-Festival of Unfinished Puppetry in Montreal, the piece features original music by Christopher Vu.
Equality Tea, by Jaime Sunwoo
Throughout America, women organized tea parties for meetings and fundraisers to support the suffrage movement. The Woman’s Suffrage Party sold ceylon, young hyson, gunpowder, and oolong tea under their charitable brand “Equality Tea.” Yet the history of tea is steeped in inequality, driven by colonialism, war, and appropriation. In her short film, Equality Tea, Jaime Sunwoo brews tea while drawing parallels between the fraught histories of the tea trade and the suffrage movement.
Jaime Sunwoo is a multidisciplinary artist and filmmaker from New York City. Her short documentaries include EQUALITY TEA (Park Avenue Armory, featured in Vogue and Whetstone Magazine), HANDWRITTEN (Amazon, Samansa, New York Asian Film Festival at Lincoln Center), and OMMATIDIA (Science New Wave Festival, Labocine). Her stage production SPECIALLY PROCESSED AMERICAN ME (Dixon Place, featured in New York Times) is now screening as a performance film. She’s currently developing a sci-fi horror film, SPOON-FED. To learn more, visit jaimesunwoo.com and follow @jaimesunwoo
Credits: Created by Jaime Sunwoo; Original score by Matt Chilton; based on an 1895 suffragist anthem by Augusta Gray Gunn; photo credit Jaime Sunwoo
The rain poem (An excerpt of Husks from Iran) by Deniz Khateri
Inspired by the recent movement led by women, Husks from Iran explores themes of resistance, exile, & artistic integrity. The title references the original material of shadow puppets—skins—and symbolizes the fragility of immigrants & exiled artists. The piece weaves an abstract collage of poetry by Iranian poets imprisoned or forced into exile for opposing dictatorship. The story follows a young Iranian artist reflecting on the purpose of art & the challenge of preserving artistic integrity in the diaspora. She grapples w/questions: Is she still responsible for her community in Iran, in the diaspora, both, or neither? How can she create art that speaks to them while remaining free from propaganda? Her search for answers leads her to explore the lives of 4 exiled Iranian poets navigating similar struggles.
Deniz Khateri is a multidisciplinary artist from Tehran, based in NYC. Her work spans theater, puppetry, experimental music-theater, & opera, exploring themes of memory, grief, & immigration. Her work has been produced nationally & praised by The Boston Globe, Broad Street Review, Ewing Reviewing, and Broadway World LA. A resident artist in LaMaMa’s 64th season, she has received awards from NYSCA, UNIMA-USA (excellence in writing for puppetry), and Al-Bustan seed awards. Her animated series Diasporan was nominate by international festivals. http://www.denizkhateri.com
Credit: Photo Credit Deniz Khateri
The Runner by Theodora Skipitares & Skysaver Productions
The Runner by Theodora Skipitares & Skysaver Productions is inspired by the Greek myth of Ariadne, Theseus, and the Labyrinth.
Theodora Skipitares is an interdisciplinary artist based in NYC. She has created over 25 performance works, which incorporate performing objects, video, documentary texts, and live music.
Credits: Bowing by Arnold Dreyblatt; Design & Fabrication by Jan Leslie Harding with Jim Freeman; Stage Manager Tori Forbes; Puppeteers: Jane Catherine Shaw (lead), Sasha Beliakova, Jessica Smith Sasa Yung, Tori Forbes
Concrete Temple Theatre is an internationally acclaimed devised visual-theatre company. Known for defying conventional boundaries between design and text, CTT creates visually striking works that bring myth and ritual back to the center of dialogue in order to confront prevailing social issues of our times, presenting their work at such venerable Off-Broadway, avant garde venues as SoHo Playhouse, Barrow Street Theatre, HERE, Dixon Place and La MaMa.
Check out the other 3 nights:
Tuesday June 10: Maria Camia; William PK Carter; Charlotte Lily Gaspard & Ash Winkfield; Shabbi Sharifi
Curated by Ash Winkfield
Tuesday June 17: BreakFAST Puppets; Felicia Cooper; Max Mcbride; Tom Tuke
Co-curated by Jean Marie Keevins & Amanda Card via O’Neill Puppetry Conference
Co-curated by Jean Marie Keevins & Amanda Card via O’Neill Puppetry Conference
Friday June 20: Bonnie Duncan & Meg Rotzel; Yanniv Frank; Eva Lansberry; Justin Perkins; Madeline Shuron
Co-curated by Jean Marie Keevins & Amanda Card via O’Neill Puppetry Conference
Co-curated by Jean Marie Keevins & Amanda Card via O’Neill Puppetry Conference
DP’s puppetry programs are supported, in part, by the Jim Henson Foundation
Mon Jun 9 @7:30 PM
Tickets:
$22/advance
$25/at the door
Estimated Runtime
60 minutes, plus brief artist talkback
60 minutes, plus brief artist talkback
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Credits
PUPPET BLOK IS SUPPORTED IN PART WITH GENEROUS FUNDS FROM THE JIM HENSON FOUNDATION PRESENTERS GRANT. 