Automata Presents Susan Simpson's A MACHINE FOR LIVING

Automata, in association with Los Angeles Performance Practice, presents A Machine for Living, a post-gender, sci-fi, puppet-cinema thriller. Created and performed by Susan Simpson, alongside her masterful object manipulators, A Machine for Living follows the journey of a Southern California artist as she slowly evolves into a highly advanced alien being. With a blend of live video, eloquent puppetry and revelatory imagery, Simpson's uncanny tale runs May 18-27, 2018 at Automata Arts at 504 Chung King Court, Los Angeles, CA 90012. Tickets are available at automata-la.org.

The work's dramatic story begins when a women unknowingly absorbs errant alien DNA. Gradually, she begins to recieve visual and aural revelations from her distant planet. Her body transforms. Soon she finds herself capable of supernatural botanical reproduction-an new act of creativity that could transform the human race. Pursued as a biological terrorist, she must decide her next steps...

Each scene is performed on-stage, with small-scale puppets, sets and hand-operated special-effects. The performance is magnified by multiple cameras, and mixed live to create an indelible work of cinematic scope.

A Machine For Living is presented with support from the Jim Henson Foundation. The performance is written, directed and designed by Susan Simpson, with video design by Ting Zhang, sound design by Jesse Mandapat, and performed by Molly Allis and Moira MacDonald.

ABOUT SUSAN SIMPSON
Susan Simpson is a Los Angeles based, multidisciplinary artist and puppet theater director. Her practice includes installation, puppet theater, miniatures and animation. She makes performances and interactive public art works that engage viewers in intimate viewing. Her works often investigate the history, mythology and social dynamics of the sites where they are located. Since 2004 she has been the Co-Artistic Director, of Automata, an organization dedicated to puppet theater and other lost and neglected forms, with a storefront theater in Chinatown. Simpson's performance work has been presented at HERE in New York, The Museum of Jurassic Technology, The Santa Monica Museum, and REDCAT among other venues. She has received funding from Creative Capital, The MAP Fund, The Center for Cultural Innovation, The Jim Henson Foundation, The California Community Foundation, The Durfee Foundation. She is a recipient of Center Theatre Group's Richard E.Sherwood Award.

She has done design projects for The Huntington Library, Gardens and Art Collections. The Readers Chorus, The Falcon Theater and Automata. She recently completed a series of dioramas as a public art commission for the city of Inglewood, CA,

Simpson taught at CalArts 2000-2014. Her writing has appeared in Puppetry International, Double, and Ecumenica.

ABOUT AUTOMATA
AUTOMATA is dedicated to the creation, incubation, and presentation of experimental puppet theater, experimental film, installation, music and other definition-defying events. Founded in 2004 by artists Susan Simpson and Janie Geiser, AUTOMATA seeks to radically redefine and re-contextualize the notion of object performance, locating it at the intersection of contemporary performance, media, visual art, sound art and experimental writing. AUTOMATA has garnered a national reputation as one of the critical sites for work that expands the definition of puppet theater.

Photos by Susan Simpson.

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