I am so bummed that I didn’t promote Wakka Wakka Productions amazing performance of FABRIK: The Legend of M. Rabinowitz at the Mandel JCC of Cleveland last month. Truly not only an amazing pierce of puppet theatre, but one of the best pieces of theatre in general I have ever seen. Simply amazing. At the morning show I attended there were maybe only two dozen people in attendance (and more than a quarter of those were staff).
Those of you lucky enough to live near San Francisco or Princeton have an opportunity to see this work and I highly recommend it.
http://www.wakkawakka.org/
Because of work I wasn’t able to attend a workshop that was being offered with the group and to be honest I wasn’t really interested in attending. After seeing the group in action I wished I had. A local theatre company, Theatre Ninjas sponsored the workshop with the troupe.
I’ve seen some of Theatre Ninjas work at the Centrum Theatre at Coventry. I saw their production of a collection of absurdist plays the called Mad World… where I discovered that I didn’t like absurdist theatre. But I thought the performers and production was top notch…and I loved the projected penguin cartoon entitled A Video of the History of the Theatre of the Absurd that preceded the show. (click here to watch).
They have a production coming up this weekend.
Here’s their press release:
Big [BOX] 2009 opens with a double bill - puppetry and theatre combine in The Beetlebug and the Bad Worm from Theater Ninjas and artists Katherine Kurre and Danielle Hisey present their new work Kissmet! The Beetlebug and the Bad Worm is a story of about friends, cruelty and bugs. Mixing physical theater and puppetry, the show follows the duo on an epic journey that takes them to the heights of fame, the gutters of poverty, the halls of power and the kitchens of kitchens. Through all their ups and downs, they must learn to help others and get along...assuming they don't kill each other first.Taking threads from physical theater, puppetry, pop culture, clowning and improv, Theater Ninjas has crafted a series of comic misadventures reminiscent of Tom & Jerry, Laurel & Hardy and Samuel Beckett. Akin to a live action cartoon, the endearing characters find humor in the outrageous and the mundane, not to mention the sacred and the profane. It is through this child-like bug's-eye view that they encounter many of the problems and conundrums that make up daily life. Theater Ninjas was founded in 2006 and performs original works and interpretations emphasizing accessible stylistic experimentation, drawing on elements of physical theater, film, improv comedy, dance, and graphic novels. The ninjas offer a chance for up-and-coming artists to develop their craft while providing affordable experiences that entertain, provoke and excite the next generation of Clevelanders.
http://www.theaterninjas.com/.
Theater Ninjas on Facebook!
Theater Ninjas on YouTube!
Here’s where I’m conflicted.
I was actually really looking forward to this show… until I saw their You Tube promotional clip. As I suspected, the puppetry part of the “puppetry and theatre combine” seems to be a sock puppet on one of the performer’s hands. And while I’m sure it will be effectively used, I’m looking for a bit more when I seek out a puppetry performance.
I remember going to see a modern adaptation of Ubu Roi in New York… THE Puppet show of Puppet shows, and though the poster promised puppets, there wasn’t one in site anywhere - - the actor as puppet. Yeah right. I’ve used the “actor as puppet” shtick in productions of my play The Battle for Christmas (Uber-marionation!), but I also had actual puppets in the show, interacting with the cast via video monitors.
So while the clip has a fun, zany, I Love Lucy quality to it that I am sure is quite charming in the theatre (video can NEVER capture the live theatre experience), the promoted puppetry aspects were more what I was interested in so I probably won’t attend. Of course now I won’t go and the thing will end with the Beetlebug and the Bad Worm battling a twelve foot tall animatronic dung beetle.
Those of you lucky enough to live near San Francisco or Princeton have an opportunity to see this work and I highly recommend it.
http://www.wakkawakka.org/
Because of work I wasn’t able to attend a workshop that was being offered with the group and to be honest I wasn’t really interested in attending. After seeing the group in action I wished I had. A local theatre company, Theatre Ninjas sponsored the workshop with the troupe.
I’ve seen some of Theatre Ninjas work at the Centrum Theatre at Coventry. I saw their production of a collection of absurdist plays the called Mad World… where I discovered that I didn’t like absurdist theatre. But I thought the performers and production was top notch…and I loved the projected penguin cartoon entitled A Video of the History of the Theatre of the Absurd that preceded the show. (click here to watch).
They have a production coming up this weekend.
Here’s their press release:
Big [BOX] 2009 opens with a double bill - puppetry and theatre combine in The Beetlebug and the Bad Worm from Theater Ninjas and artists Katherine Kurre and Danielle Hisey present their new work Kissmet! The Beetlebug and the Bad Worm is a story of about friends, cruelty and bugs. Mixing physical theater and puppetry, the show follows the duo on an epic journey that takes them to the heights of fame, the gutters of poverty, the halls of power and the kitchens of kitchens. Through all their ups and downs, they must learn to help others and get along...assuming they don't kill each other first.Taking threads from physical theater, puppetry, pop culture, clowning and improv, Theater Ninjas has crafted a series of comic misadventures reminiscent of Tom & Jerry, Laurel & Hardy and Samuel Beckett. Akin to a live action cartoon, the endearing characters find humor in the outrageous and the mundane, not to mention the sacred and the profane. It is through this child-like bug's-eye view that they encounter many of the problems and conundrums that make up daily life. Theater Ninjas was founded in 2006 and performs original works and interpretations emphasizing accessible stylistic experimentation, drawing on elements of physical theater, film, improv comedy, dance, and graphic novels. The ninjas offer a chance for up-and-coming artists to develop their craft while providing affordable experiences that entertain, provoke and excite the next generation of Clevelanders.
http://www.theaterninjas.com/.
Theater Ninjas on Facebook!
Theater Ninjas on YouTube!
Here’s where I’m conflicted.
I was actually really looking forward to this show… until I saw their You Tube promotional clip. As I suspected, the puppetry part of the “puppetry and theatre combine” seems to be a sock puppet on one of the performer’s hands. And while I’m sure it will be effectively used, I’m looking for a bit more when I seek out a puppetry performance.
I remember going to see a modern adaptation of Ubu Roi in New York… THE Puppet show of Puppet shows, and though the poster promised puppets, there wasn’t one in site anywhere - - the actor as puppet. Yeah right. I’ve used the “actor as puppet” shtick in productions of my play The Battle for Christmas (Uber-marionation!), but I also had actual puppets in the show, interacting with the cast via video monitors.
So while the clip has a fun, zany, I Love Lucy quality to it that I am sure is quite charming in the theatre (video can NEVER capture the live theatre experience), the promoted puppetry aspects were more what I was interested in so I probably won’t attend. Of course now I won’t go and the thing will end with the Beetlebug and the Bad Worm battling a twelve foot tall animatronic dung beetle.
