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Twitch streams for all performances will be available for 14 days from the date of performance.

Join us for the Fall 2020 Object Movement Puppetry Festival! Over the course of three nights, this year's Object Movement resident puppetry & object theater artists will each present a brand new short piece, developed in residence at The Center at West Park. Each evening features three 10-minute presentations by three different extraordinary artists and a half-hour long conversation with the artists to follow.

Curated by Maiko Kikuchi, Rowan Magee, and Justin Perkins. Object Movement is a residency program for developing new works that address eternal human questions and the urgent challenges of our society today through puppetry and object theater.

Support The Artists

Please consider making a donation to support the Fall 2020 Object Movement Digital Puppetry Festival. We rely on the generous support of people like you to make this program possible. Your donation will go to support the artists in the festival and the production and administrative resources that support their work.

 
 

The Center at West Park, Inc. is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization. Donations to the Center at West Park are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law.


FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 20 AT 8PM

available until Friday, December 4 at 8pm

“Out of the box” by ONE DOUBLE-O FOUR EIGHT (Aretta Baumgartner & Thom Stanley)

“Take a page” by Amy Jensen

“Hortice Loves Atmosphere” by Katie Melby

 

Object_Movement went live on Twitch. Catch up on their VOD now.

 

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 21 AT 8PM

available until Saturday, December 5 at 8pm

“Dive” by DT Burns

“Adventure Pizza” by Leigh Walter, Marty Allen & Dan Brennan

“In the time oF the blue ball” by Ali Goss

 

Object_Movement went live on Twitch. Catch up on their VOD now.

 

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 22 AT 8PM

available until Sunday, December 6 at 8pm

“Be(ings)” by Andrew Murdock & Gabrielle Schutz

“A Short Lecture on The Weimar Republic" by Sara Walsh

“Stalwart Little Darlings" by Solomon Weisbard

 

Object_Movement went live on Twitch. Catch up on their VOD now.

 

About the ARTISTS

“Out of the box” by ONE DOUBLE-O FOUR EIGHT (Aretta Baumgartner & Thom Stanley)

Join meeting! Explore how a meeting participant overcomes video-conference boredom by traveling out of the box and into their imagination in this short piece inspired by lambe lambe and toy theatre traditions.

Aretta Baumgartner is a performer/teaching artist specializing in puppetry, mask and movement. She’s been a professional puppeteer since 1992, and is proud to be the Education Director of the world-renowned Center for Puppetry Arts in Atlanta, GA—the largest non-profit organization dedicated to the art of puppetry in the United States (www.puppet.org). Favorite puppet experiences are The Lord of the Rings stage trilogy with Ovation and Clear Stage theatre companies (for which she performed the mask role of Gollum/Smeagol and served as puppetry and movement director), The Body Speaks: Scripted at the Cincinnati Fringe Festival, Gilgamesh in Uruk: G.I. in Iraq with Performance Gallery, Three Times the Tale with New Edgecliff Theatre, The Rocky Horror Puppet Show with The Basement Theatre, Carnival of the Animals with Madcap Puppets and Xperimental Puppetry Theater (XPT) at the Center for Puppetry Arts (2012, 2013, 2014, 2015—and 2017, for which she created a brand-new puppet theatre pieced inspired by Acrobats by Israel Horovitz). learning to fly, a production for which she served as puppet director and lead puppeteer, was selected for inclusion in the Les Sages Fous Micro-Festival of Unfinished Puppetry in Troi-Rivieres, QC, Canada in 2014. She’s worked as a special projects puppeteer with The Puppet People, The Object Theatre and Ninja Puppet Productions, and toured extensively with Madcap Productions Puppet Theatre and Voyageur Puppets (as well as with her own puppet theatre company, ImagineNation). She’s puppeteered in numerous productions of Little Shop of Horrors, and puppet coached/directed many versions of Avenue Q and The Long Christmas Ride Home. Aretta has performed and taught all over the United States, and in Australia, Bahrain, Bulgaria, Canada and Honduras as well. Along with her teaching and performing career, Baumgartner has served as the Great Lakes Regional Director of and on numerous committees for the Puppeteers of America (currently serving as President), and is Co-producer of Puppet Sideshow, Atlanta’s new migratory cabaret of original adult puppetry. Her most recent puppetry performance is Shadow Realm, a segment for the interactive production, Dreamland for Immerse 2019 by Creative City Project, Orlando.

Thom Stanley is a producer and puppeteer from Atlanta, Georgia. He is co-owner of a new production company with a focus in puppetry, Bob’s Your Uncle Production. He was selected for and participated in a Muppets training workshop and subsequently performed in “Muppets from Space” for The Jim Henson Company. He has puppeteered in independent short films including “Maiden to Monster” (New Puppet Order), “Magic the Gathering: The Musical” (Zombie Cat Productions) and “Pets” (Ninja Puppet Productions) -- all entries in the Atlanta Film Festival andwas lead puppeteer for the short film “Nature Calls” (New Puppet Order), part of the 2017 Handmade Puppet Dreams Film Series. He also worked as puppet builder and performer on the series pilot, “Freestyle Love Supreme” with Lin Manuel Miranda for Adult Swim. Thom has participated in four Xperimental Puppetry Theater festivals at the Center for Puppetry Arts in Atlanta, GA, crafting world premiere original pieces titled Time to Eat the Dogs, learning to fly, Deus Ex Machina and On Tiptoe: an Exploration of Acrobats by Israel Horovitz. His most recent theatrical puppetry performance is Shadow Realm, a segment for the interactive production, Dreamland for Immerse 2019 by Creative City Project, Orlando. Thom also choreographed puppets for the “Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends” float in Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Thom and Aretta have collaborated on 12 original puppet theatre productions.

 

“Hortice Loves Atmosphere” by Katie Melby and Andrew Lynch

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This piece is a love letter to the ASMR community. Hortice, a bunraku-style puppet, takes in the small pleasures of the day with sounds that satisfy and soothe.

Katie Melby is a theatre and puppetry artist who recently became an ASMRtist during her time in quarantine (Melby ASMR on YouTube). She is co-Artistic Director of 3 Sticks, a physical theatre company dedicated to making new work, that she co-founded after graduating from the Lecoq-based London International School of Performing Arts in 2005. Their work has been presented across the US, Canada, and Japan as well as Ars Nova, Dixon Place, and Governors Island Art Fair in NYC. Her credits include Basil Twist’s Rite of Spring (Lincoln Center) and Sister's Follies (Abrons Art Center), Mabou Mines’ La Davina Caricatura (La Mama), The Cat Who Went to Heaven (Brooklyn Academy of Music), l’Arbre Enchanté (Fire Island Opera Festival), Firebird (Chilean Tour), American Weather (HERE Arts Center), The Disappearing Man (Musical Theatre Factory) and numerous productions with Back Room Shakespeare Project. She is also a member of BREAD Arts Collective, and a co-founder of the Brooklyn arts space Cloud City.

Andrew Lynch is a Composer, Performer, and Sound Designer. Recent projects include: a new musical adaptation of Elektra with Director Juliana Kleist-Mendez at UCSD, Calafia at Liberty with the Wetsuit Collective at the La Jolla Playhouse’s 2019 WOW Festival, and Leap and the Net Will Appear presented by the Catastrophic Theatre in Houston and New Georges in New York. He is a co-founder of the Brooklyn arts space Cloud City, and co-artistic director of the physical theatre company 3 Sticks.

 

“Take a page” by Amy Jensen

An onion rolls, a notebook opens, and a park beckons.

Amy Jensen has developed and shared Giveness, re:collection, and Last Night as I Lay Sleeping through Object Movement Puppetry residencies. She received an LMCC Community Arts Grant for Third Eye: How to See While Spinning. She has performed with the Trusty Sidekick Theater Company and Jeanette Oi-Suk Yew, and as a dramaturg she has worked with the New Victory Theater, the Write Now Festival, the New York Neo-Futurists, and Spencer Lott. She is deeply grateful to the curators and artists of OMM. www.amy-jensen.com

 

“Dive” by DT Burns

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“Dive” is a puppetry piece about the ocean. The creatures depicted have been created mostly out of recycled garbage. I am concerned at how much the ocean is being filled with garbage.Hopefully, there will be a little less garbage in the ocean. Because some of that garbage is now busy being fish.

D.T. Burns is a writer, artist, and generally useful person. D.T. has performed puppetry at the Prague Quadrennial, Darkfest @ the Tank, Bricolage Production Company's Bazaar, and in weird quiet corners of the internet. Outside of puppetry, D.T. makes comics, performs aerial dance, and writes plays about science. B.A. Rice University. M.F.A. Carnegie Mellon University.

 

“Adventure Pizza” by Leigh Walter, Marty Allen & Dan Brennan

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Uncle Monsterface's “Adventure Pizza” is a Choose-Your-Own-Rock Show in which the audience has control of the story as the lead character, all framed in a world of toy theater, puppetry, and song. Inspired by a love of interactive games, pizza, and the transformative magic of puppets, the adventure follows a branching map in which you, the audience, must choose the best path to restore pizza delivery to yourself and the rest of the world. “Adventure Pizza” was originally conceived as live theater. Monsterface Industries is delighted to have the opportunity to begin adapting and reimagining the piece as toy theater for the Object Movement digital residency. Tonight’s showing is a world premiere of selected work-in-progress scenes from the larger map and story. Team Monsterface hopes to keep developing it into 2021.

Marty Allen (Co-creator, Writer, Co-composer, Designer, and Puppeteer) tells stories using art, words, songs, puppets, and sometimes a combination of all of those interesting items. He is a writer, visual artist, performer, musician, teacher, creative producer, and above all else, a maker. He has been a working artist for over twenty years. A graduate with honors and distinction from Mass College of Art’s SIM  program, Marty is best known for making up The Sock Puppet Portraits, writing the related book, "Sock Puppet Madness," and for performing with rock band/multimedia art collective/giant monster/sock puppet, Uncle Monsterface. Marty has five published books and has worked with cool folks like Nickelodeon, The Henson Foundation, Comedy Central, Harry & The Potters, Google, Trusty Sidekick, Puppet Playlist, Lemon Demon, Maker Faire,  Leroy’s Place, many others, and mostly himself, running his own business of art sales and freelance for more than fifteen years. While rambling in terms of medium and method, Marty’s multi-disciplinary work focuses on themes of the everyday and shared struggle, triumph, and all-too-real absurdity of being a human. Moreover, he’s chasing a sense of wonder and moments of real and honest connection. Wonderful connection. To you, to himself, to the audience, to the universe. All tied together with often-rather-puppety stories. In all of his work, Marty is dedicated to arts activism that promotes racial and community justice and equity, and continuously strives to learn and to incorporate this ethic into everything he makes and participates in, in ways both large and small. martystuff.com | sockpuppetcity.com @martystuff

Leigh Walter (Co-creator, Director, and Puppeteer) is a freelance director and stage manager based in NYC. Her work has been seen at Lincoln Center, Park Avenue Armory, Ars Nova, The Public, St. Ann’s Warehouse and New York Theatre Workshop among a myriad of other theaters where she has dedicated herself to developing new works. This work has ranged from large scale Off-Broadway musicals, to immersive children’s theatre, to puppet folk musicals and everything in between. Leigh seeks to create work that is magical, strange, and delightful. She develops side by side with a playwright or designer to create a visceral theatre experience, leading with imagery and imagination to heighten audience connection. These elements naturally drew her to the puppet community, where she has felt at home for the past six years.  There she has been able to play and experiment with many styles of puppetry including (but not limited to): Bunraku, Shadow Puppetry (including Indonesian and Overhead Projector Puppetry), Crankie, Puppeteered Immersive Environments, Mask Work, Object Theatre, and thanks to Marty Allen, Sock Puppets. She is excited by the Object Movement Festival, as a way to connect again with the puppet community during this time of isolation, but also, for the first time, step outside of only being a director of puppetry, and into experimenting as a puppeteer herself.  SELECT DIRECTING: Up and Away (Lincoln Center, Director of 2018 remount),  9000 Paper Balloons (HERE Arts Center), The Death of Balder (St. Ann’s Warehouse), Campfire (Asst. D. Lincoln Center, Director of TBD 2021 remount Brooklyn Bridge Park and NY State Puppet Festival), LARP Me Gently,( Dixon Place), Regret + Time Travel, (Dixon Place, Duckworth Art Museum) SDCF Directing Observership Class 2015-2016.  Co-Founder The Society for Misfit Puppets (2015-2018), Company Member Trusty Sidekick.  B.F.A. Directing, Nebraska Wesleyan University. leighwalter.com 

Dan Brennan (Co-creator, Co-composer, and Lead tech) is an Emmy-nominated sound designer with over a decade of experience in the NYC Film and Television industry. Dan is also  the co-founder of Uncle Monsterface and Monsterface Industries. Dan is an accomplished recording engineer, musician, composer, and performer. His  passion for music runs through these creative pursuits, all of which are informed by a deep love of story. Dan’s work as a designer, engineer, and musician hinges on a meticulous attention to detail that pairs seamlessly with the vision and intention of his collaborating artists. He brings both a varied skillset and the ability to be flexible with it in order to see a vision through. Notable works include engineering and sound design on major films and TV such as HBO’s Emmy-nominated Fahrenheit 451, Sorry To Bother You,  Craig Zahler’s  Bone Tomahawk, Quantico, Happy! and dozens of other projects. His music credits include full album recordings and mixes for  Pearl and the Beard, Harry and the Potters, Jocelyn Mackenzie, and Uncle Monsterface. Dan has worked for nearly fifteen years alongside Marty Allen as half of the primary creative team that produces all of Uncle Monsterface/Monsterface Industries’ works, from albums to stage shows to television pitches to animated productions, a collaboration which extends to the stage, where Dan performs as lead guitarist. Noteworthy works include 2008’s ‘This Is An Adventure’ and its accompanying national multimedia tour, 2014’s Monsterface Industries pitch for a Nickelodeon series, ‘Team Monsterface,’ and 2016’s award-winning animated short, ‘Vampire Boy.’

Uncle Monsterface/Monsterface Industries
In 2006, Marty Allen made a sock puppet named Uncle Monsterface. That sock puppet quickly became the soul and mascot of  a weird and nerdy rock band that sang songs about lobsters, Nintendo, and breakfast cereal. Soon enough, the sock puppet transformed into a large suited monster, more and more puppets appeared, and by the time Uncle Monsterface (the self-proclaimed‘Sock Puppet Rock Band’) had released their first full-length album, ‘Letter Green (I Love You),’ they were accompanied on-stage by a teetering pile of puppets, inflatable animals, and interactive videos. Over time, the band and its live show evolved and adapted, and so, too, grew it’s mythology and the wonderful mayhem that appeared as part of the high energy stage show. Interactive video, participatory video games, a giant mashed potato monster, on-stage dance contests, and so much more grew into an insane experience that toured across the country, most notably and frequently with the founders of Wizard Rock, Harry and the Potters.  The evolution continued off-stage, as the artists who had worked as animators, composers, and designers reconfigured and produced animated shorts, a sock puppet soap opera, TV pitches for Nickelodeon and Comedy Central, and a successful Kickstarter to  fund their concept album - ‘Rise of the Lava Men.’ While always helmed by Dan Brennan and Marty Allen, the extended family of Uncle Monsterface has changed and evolved over time, though it's always featured a diverse array of amazing artists, all of whom work deeply collaboratively on the project-at-hand. unclemonsterface.com @monsterfaceindustres

 

“In the time of the blue ball” by Ali Goss

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“In the Time of the Blue Ball” is an interactive live-stream puppetry piece based on the book of the same name by Manuela Draeger. In the piece a detective Bobbi Potemke and a wooly crab navigate a not-so-distant future in which government systems have failed and succumbed to the natural world. The duo set off to save a noodle Auguste Diodon but soon ask the question—did the noodle even want to be saved? The piece follows the two as they journey to save the noodle, meeting other beings trying to survive in their new world along the way.

Ali Goss is a NYC based multimedia artist and puppeteer. In 2016-2018 they toured with Australia-based Snuff Puppets performing and wreaking havoc in Taiwan, the UK and Germany. Their work has been seen at The Tank, La Mama, Dixon Place, Coney Island Sideshows, Puppet Showplace Theatre and in internet chatrooms. With Liz Oakley and Michaela Farrell they perform shows in parks across the boroughs as the Out of Work Puppeteers. alexandragoss.com // @therealdairyq

Original score by Jeremy Martinez.

 

“Be(ings)” by Andrew Murdock & Gabrielle Schutz

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This new work integrates puppetry with emergent technology to create a uniquely organic digital performance. Through exploration of shape, movement, and transformation we imagine ourselves new bodies on new worlds and the surprising stories they may contain. Inspired by deep sea creatures, sculptural costume, and early Futurist art/innovation.

Gabrielle Schutz is an interdisciplinary theatre artist currently based in New York City. As a Director and Choreographer her original work often engages dance, puppetry, and multimedia to create visually rich, and fully embodied productions. Her work has been presented by numerous venues including Dixon Place (New York, NY), TheatreLab NYC (New York, NY), Hudson River Museum (Yonkers, NY), Pony World Theatre (Seattle, WA), Northwest New Work Festival (Seattle, WA), and the Seattle International Dance Festival (Seattle, WA) among others.Her original solo performances have been presented by TheatreLab NYC (The Audit), Dixon Place (BEASTS), and Colorado Mesa University (BEASTS). Schutz is also an active educator who currently teaches Adjunct Faculty of BA International Performance Ensemble program at Pace University (New York, NY). She holds an MFA from Sarah Lawrence College (2015). www.gabrielleschutz.com

Andrew Murdock is an interdisciplinary artist. His work bridges the tangible and digital by utilizing techniques in video, physical theatre and puppetry. He holds a customized BFA dual major in Sculpture and Film, Animation, Video (FAV) from the Rhode Island School of Design and an MFA in Theatre from Sarah Lawrence College focusing on collaborative theatre making and the integration of technology. He has worked with Dan Hurlin, David Neumann, Phantom Limb, Basil Twist and Bread and Puppet Theater. Recent credits include: Video Designer and Livestream Technician for 36.5 / PROCESS by Sarah Cameron Sunde (Socrates Sculpture Park/Hallett’s Cove, NYC) and commissioned video project AMASS (ArtYard, Frenchtown, NJ). More info at www.AndrewMurdock.com

 

“A Short Lecture on The Weimar Republic" by Sara Walsh

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Sara C Walsh is a multi-disciplinary performance-maker who is learning to make things that aren't live. She lives mostly in upstate NY. She has two white kittens named Thunder Meadow and Luna Lightning. www.saracwalsh.com

 

“Stalwart Little Darlings" by Solomon Weisbard

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Created in the months following the death of the artist’s mother, “Stalwart Little Darlings” is an open-hearted investigation of our strange human bodies. What are the peculiar conditions for their formulation and dissolution? Each short stop-motion segment was completed as it was made, serving to chronicle the ambiguous loss and fleeting moments of joy in the grieving process.

Solomon Weisbard is new to puppetry — his primary work has been centered around theatrical lighting design. He couldn’t be more thrilled to explore this form, building on his existing skills to expand his own artistic practice.

As a freelance lighting designer, projects with director Robert Wilson include Otello (Festspielhaus Baden Baden, Germany); Il Trovatore (Teatro Comunale di Bologna and Teatro Regio di Parma, Italy); and Oedipus (Ancient Theatre of Epidaurus, Greece; Ancient Theatre of Pompeii, Teatro Olimpico di Vicenza, and Teatro Mercadante di Napoli, Italy). Selected Off Broadway projects: Macbeth with John Doyle (Classic Stage); Duat (Soho Rep); Men on Boats (World Premiere - Playwrights Horizons/Clubbed Thumb); America Is Hard to See (Lifejacket/HERE); The Film Society (Keen); Cherry Smoke (Working Theatre); and four productions with The Barrow Group. Regional theater: Arden, Berkshire Theatre Festival, Magic, Portland Center Stage, Portland Stage, Quintessence, Westport Country Playhouse, Yale Rep. In contemporary dance, he’s designed pieces with Alethea Adsitt, Jennifer Archibald, Joshua Beamish/MOVE, Jonah Bokaer, Christine Bonansea, Ximena Garnica/Leimay, Lane Gifford, LoudHound Movement, Ofelia Loret de Mola, Patricia Noworol, Patrick Lovejoy, Martha Graham Dance Company, Belinda McGuire, Stefanie Nelson, and four major works as associate set designer with Bill T Jones. MFA: Yale School of Drama. www.solweisbard.com


About the Curators

Maiko Kikuchi received her MFA in Sculpture from Pratt Institute in 2012. She is a multidisciplinary artist working in illustration, painting, drawing, collage, sculpture, animation and puppetry/ performance. Her recent object theatre pieces include Daydream Tutorial (Under the Radar at the Public Theater, LaMaMa, and FiveMyles Gallery), PINK BUNNY (Japan Society), and Daydream Anthology (St. Ann’s Warehouse). As a visual artist, she has presented her work at the Crown Heights Film Festival, the group exhibition “NO PARKING” at Ca’ d’Oro Gallery, and Unwritten Stories at HERE Art Center. 

Rowan Magee is a puppeteer from Troy, NY. He has performed on international tours with Phantom Limb Company, Robin Frohardt, and Dan Hurlin, and in New York for American Opera Projects, Trusty Sidekick, Chris Green, Spencer Lott, Nick Lehane, and the National Theater’s Angels in America on Broadway. He has designed puppets for The Dalton School, St Marks School, and Lincoln Center Education, received a Jim Henson Grant for his marionette show No 1 Chinese, and teaches for CO/LAB, Marquis Studios, and Story Pirates.

Justin Perkins is a puppet artist and educator. He has appeared in works by Basil Twist, Ping Chong+Company, Jeanette Oi-Suk Yew, Tom Lee, Lake Simons, Patti Bradshaw, Puppet Cinema, Unitards, imnotlost and more. Recent work includes Dianamas, an installation presented at Labapalooza 2019 at St. Ann's Warehouse, and Unicorn Afterlife (recipient of a Workshop Grant from the Jim Henson Foundation) which was presented as a work-in-progress at the Center at West Park in 2019. Justin is also Program Director at New Country Day Camp, a program of the 14th St. Y. www.justinaperkins.com


About the Center

The Center at West Park is a community performing arts center based in the historic West Park Presbyterian Church, a New York City landmark. We present engaging and boundary-pushing early-career and established artists through our artist residency programs, provide affordable rental space for artists to develop their work, and steward the restoration of our historic home’s landmark exterior. The Center is a secular, 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization.

Object Movement is a residency program at the Center for developing new works by puppeteers and object theater artists. Object Movement supports the development of new work that addresses eternal human questions and the urgent challenges of our society today through puppetry and object theater, culminating in an annual festival of short performances. Object Movement is curated by Maiko Kikuchi, Rowan Magee, and Justin Perkins. This fall, we’re going online to explore the possibilities of making puppetry for people on the internet—like you!

Staff

Zachary Tomlinson, Artistic Director
Scott Pyne,
Executive Director
Natasha Katerinopoulos,
Operations Manager
Dane Jerabek, Marketing Associate

Board of directors

Marian M. Warden, President
Marsha Flowers, Vice President
Theodore S. Berger, Treasurer
J. Pat O’Connell, Secretary
Robert L. Brashear
Jennifer Rogers Carlock
Derrick McQueen
Mitchell Schamroth
Olga Statz
Susan E. Sullivan


thank you

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Object Movement Puppetry Festival is made possible in part by a grant from the Jim Henson Foundation.

 
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Object Movement Puppetry Festival is made possible in part with public funds from Creative Engagement, supported by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and administered by LMCC.