BIG TADOO PUPPET CREW (Thursday, Kids Mini-Fest) has been creating conscious puppetry since 2002. Combining elements of poetry, song and storytelling, they have brought memorable lessons of sustainability and democracy to the stage, touching the hearts of all ages. They have performed a numerous celebrations and festivals including: Earthday, Health and Harmony, Reggae on the River, In the Street, Carnival and more. Big Tadoo is truly honored to premiere their new show We Interrupt This Newscast! which will also tour the country this summer on a bus powered by veggie oil and with the goal of weaving truth and democracy back through the threads of this troubled nation. Big Tadoo will also perform the Granny Cure All Quilt Show at this years Kids Festival including songs about farming, bicycles, fairies, and of course, the lovable presence of the GREEN MAN! bigtadoopuppetcrew@baylist.net
MERRILL GARBUS (Thursday) Coming to us from the Sandglass Theater in Putney, Vermont, Merrill Garbus presents Fat Kid Opera, a bizarre, hilarious portrait of a world in which children are bred to be eaten. Using hand puppets, foot puppets, songs accompanied by ukulele and dark, slapstick humor, Fat Kid Opera tells the story of Fatilda, a kid destined for the meat grinder but determined to fight back with farts. mgarbus@hotmail.com
GiLLJACK PRODUCTIONS (Friday, Video) A brand new Bay Area puppet company, GillJACK's work encompasses a range of puppetry, film, video, live performance and Claymation. Founder Ian Petrella has worked as a professional puppeteer in LA for companies such as Jim Henson and the Chido Brothers. Ian performed in PuppetLOVE2003 with Puppets and Pie in their piece The Birds and the Beets. Many members of that work will join Ian in this short piece The Life Raft. pigfish13@hotmail.com
HUMMINGBIRD WORKS (Thursday) Little Man Takes Flight is the story of a boy who runs away from home to seek solace in the woods. He comes across a wise old woman that teaches him lessons about finding strength and beauty, In a Dream he experiences the power of flight and learns to confront his fears. Developed and performed by Mia Rovegno and Maya Willow. Musical accompaniment The Beginning of the End was written by Ara Anderson and performed by members of Iron and the Albatross. miarov@yahoo.com
IDLE HANDS (Friday) The Hungry Girl is a piece about a father and
daughter’s struggle to understand each other in a world complicated by fantasies,
illusions and conflicting desires. Idle Hand is a theatre group dedicated
to experimental, performances that, with the layering of multiple genres
explore the political and emotional complexities of being human. Performers:
Kate Duffly, Emily Barbee, Tom DeVaigny, Renu Capelli and Laura Palgeman.
Story and narration by Anne-E. Wood. cduffly@hotmail.com
TIM GIUGNI ~ IL TEATRO CALAMARI
(Friday. Workshop) Tim Giugni has been a puppeteer
and actor since age 10. Some of his best previous rolls include, “I’m Too
Sick to go to School Today”, “Third Duck on the Right”, “Fifth Grade Play”,
and “Spoon River Anthology” in middle school. Tim has worked for many
companies including the Atlanta Puppetry Center and Tears of Joy Theater.
He is the founder and Artistic Director of Il Teatro Calamari, a company renowned
for its uses of puppetry, mask and physical theatre. Good Night
Bush is based on the beloved bedtime tale.
JENNIFER LEVINE (Kids Mini-Fest) Dragons Never Laugh is a hand puppet musical starring Princess Moxie, a funky, feminist princess who wants to do everything but get married to the prince. Jennifer Levine makes it happen with the help of musician Larry Roberts. Original score by Gaby Alter. For more info visit www.princessmoxie.org
CHERIE PANEK (Thursday, Workshop) Untitled #1 is a Table-Top Puppetry piece that is one in a series of shorts about love, loss, life and death. Written and directed by Cherie Panek and performed by Portland Puppeteers. Untitled #1 is dedicated to Phillip, the boy who sat on the corner. Cherie Panek is a graduate of Kent State University where she received a BFA in acting. After establishing a base of classical theater training and performance she ventured to the National Puppetry Conference where she immediately fell in love with the Art of Puppetry. Since then she has had the privilege to study with world class directors Eric Bass, Jon Ludwig and Larry Reed and the honor of performing for Sandglass Theater, Lunatique Fantastique, Tears of Joy and Il Teatro Calamari. Recently her focus has been on directing and bringing her own work to life.
RUN FOR YOUR LIFE! IT'S A DANCE COMPANY! (Thursday) Baris is a traditional Balinese dance presenting the archetype of a brave and noble warrior. Several types of puppets are both popular and famous in Bali, but the Balinese have never used humanettes and, to the best of our knowledge, no Western humanettist has interpreted a Balinese dance. Our humanette Baris is the second collaboration between Dudley Brooks, Artistic Director of Run For Your Life!... It's a Dance Company!, and Kompiang Metri Davies, brilliant dancer with the Bay Area's Gamelan Sekar Jaya. info@runfor yourlife.org
LESLIE SEITERS & DANCERS (Friday) Leslie Seiters makes work that combines visual and movement arts in live performance and video. She has danced with Bebe Miller, Jo Kreiter/Flyaway Productions, Dandelion Dance Theater, Jess Curtis, and Sara Shelton Mann/Contraband. Leslie is currently working on “the way to disappear” which will play in the fall, 2004. Excerpts from “the way to disappear” Dancers: Ron Estes ,Sean Hoskins, (Leslie Seiters) Music: Calexico (Carla Kihlstedt)
SIGNAL LIGHT THEATER in co-production with HAND2MOUTH THEATRE (Friday) are visiting San Francisco to present an excerpt from their longer show The Wild Child. The show contrasts nature and civilization through the eyes of an artistic nomad, a scientist from revolutionary France and a child raised by a herd of gazelles. Signal_light @yahoo.com
MELISSA EHRENREICH The Woman Who Outshone the Sun: A Retelling From Brooklyn, NY This show was created by teen volunteers of the Brooklyn Children’s Museum through a residency program. Over the course of ten weeks, the eight teens took a Mexican folktale from the oral history of the Zapotec Indians and created their own contemporary version.
HUMMINGBIRD WORKS Little Man Takes Flight (Saturday only) Video version of the piece. Little Man Takes Flight is the story of a boy who runs away from home to seek solace in the woods. He comes across a wise old woman that teaches him lessons about finding strength and beauty, In a Dream he experiences the power of flight and learns to confront his fears.
ERIC KURLAND has been an active filmmaker since childhood, shooting his first narrative film at the age of eight in the Philadelphia area. He received his BA in Film Production from Ithaca College in 1992 and currently resides in Los Angeles, where he writes, produces and directs independent films. The Ends of the Alphabet was originally intended as a live-action project.
IAN PETRELLA The Socks (GillJack Productions) A brand new Bay Area puppet company, GillJACK's work encompasses a range of puppetry, film, video, live performance and Claymation.
TRUNK FULL OF FACES Primitive Instincts Truck Full of Faces from Eugene Oregon performs puppetry and masked theatre in the street, on the stage, or in the field, bringing characters to life with music, beauty and humor. Primitive Instincts portrays a female character who expresses her sexual desire in a strong and positive manner. jefftam@efn.org
XANDER Fine Dishes for Fine Bitches
EMILY BUTTERFLY is a creatress of many genres. She wields paintbrushes, microphones, pens, wands and carving knives with a magical story telling uniqueness passed on from her poetic ancestors. She currently shines with the BigTadoo Puppet Crew...as well as gracing the walls and classrooms of the Bay Area with her colorful inspirations. bigtadoopuppetcrew@baylist.org
SHARLINE CHIANG communes with puppets and believes they are the answer to world peace. Myla, the Peacock Goddess, is a rod-puppet fabricated of polymer clay, bamboo and silk. Her creation was the result of David Morley's marionette-making class at CellSpace. She was inspired by local artist Keina Davis' "Spirit of a Phenomenal Woman," a painting featured in CellSpace's gallery. sharline@bmsonline.org
SYLVIA DAWKINS www.sylviadawkins.com.
GITTY DUNCAN founder of Puppets and Pie creates puppets, props and costumes for Bay Area theater and music groups. She also teaches puppetry and storytelling workshops for children at her Berkeley studio. This year at PuppetLOVE!, Puppets and Pie will be presenting kid-friendly workshops in basic puppet building and costumery. gitty@comcast.net
DAVID HAAZ-BAROQUE/SHADOW CIRCUS CREATURE THEATRE Combining Lovecraftian horror, World mythology, drunken debauchery and foam-rubber parodies of other local acts, Shadow Circus has garnered both praise and loathing from the San Francisco art scene. This Gallery Exhibit features "The Elves of Golden Gate Park", which are only a handful of the creatures that inhabit the Shadow Circus realm. creaturetheatre@yahoo.com
RAVEN KALIANA has puppeteered for Folkmanis Puppets for 6 years, but recently decided to combine her love of puppets with her longtime work in sculpture, resulting in this series of marionettes, constructed for a work-in-progress called Journey of a Spirit Through Time. The wooden marionette was constructed last summer under the tutelage of Czech master carvers in Prague. cedartree@prodigy.net
MAX max@xq.com
K.RUBY has been making stuff for at least 35 years. She hopes she's getting better at it. The ceramic bits of the wall puppets are fired in a process called Raku. The glazed pieces are pulled from the kiln while glowing hot and smothered in combustible materials. The drastic temperature change cracks the glaze and the smoke from the burnables creeps into the cracks and saturates the places where unglazed clay is exposed. The drama of the process-fire air wood water metal- is apparent in the finished effect. Work is available for purchase. wisefool@lmi.net
WISE FOOL is a theatre company dedicated to community celebration and change. The puppets seen here were built during a 10-week lab in the spring of 2003. Air was created by Kate Duffly, Shana Cohen and Mark Tully. Water was created by K.Ruby and Corpzilla by Bonnie Bone and Thia Jennings. wisefool@lmi.net
SARA WOOLLEY creates puppets and narrative sculpture that stem from a lifelong love of folktales and storytelling in art. Her choice of materials and techniques are eclectic, based on the character she is creating. She enjoys incorporating found objects and organic materials, often getting her ideas from the materials themselves. puppetmeister@earthlink.net