La MaMa's Annual Puppet Festival Returns to New York

LA MAMA announces its Puppet Festival, (November 1 - 25, 2018), featuring the New York and World premiere of works by artists from around the world including Germany, Brazil, Australia, Japan, Colombia, China, Belgium, and the USA taking place at La MaMa's Ellen Stewart Theatre and The Downstairs (66 E. 4 St.), in the East Village throughout the month of November. The festival highlights interdisciplinary works from female artists who explore many contemporary issues including cultural identity, Black Lives Matter, the refugee crisis, and the disability experience. Puppet Festival curator, Denise Greber, explained "The majority of all the creatives in this festival, whether a director, conceptualist, designer, or performer, are women. It's essential to elevate the female perspective." The festival will also feature family events, the annual Puppet Slam, La MaMa Coffeehouse Chronicles and Jump Start, a weekend of works in progress.

Festival ticket packages available for five, three or two shows in the Puppet Festival for one low price! Tickets and packages available at 212-352-3101 or www.lamama.org.

The La MaMa Puppet Festival showcases new contemporary puppet theatre by American and International Artists. Puppetry has been an integral part of La MaMa's programming since 1962, when Founding Artistic Director, Ellen Stewart invited puppet artists from Korea to perform their production of Head Hunting by Pagoon Kang Wouk. Since then, La MaMa has presented other notable puppet artists including: Theodora Skipitares, Heather Henson, Vit Horejs, and Kevin Augustine among many others. La MaMa Puppet Festival is under the leadership of Denise Greber (Director and Curator) and Federico Restrepo (Producing Director).

Complete show descriptions for The La MaMa Puppet Series and additional information on the artists involved provided below:

WUNDERKAMMER: CABINET OF CURIOSITIES
Created & Performed by Alice Therese Gottschalk, Raphael Mürle and Frank Soehnle (Germany)
NOVEMBER 1 - 3, 2018
THE DOWNSTAIRS - Thur and Fri at 7pm & Sat at 3pm & 7pm

Step into a place of wonderment, inimitable allure and weightlessness - Cabinet of Curiosities reveals a perception of a world in which history, art, nature and science all fuse to create oneness.

WEBSITE: http://www.franksoehnle.com/Wunderkammer.html

TIAN WEN: HEAVENLY QUESTIONS FOR MODERN TIMES
By Visual Expressions | Directed by Hua Hua Zhang (China)
NOVEMEBER 3 - 5, 2018
Ellen Stewart THEATRE - Sat at 8:30pm, Sun at 3pm & Mon at 7pm

Based on an ancient Chinese poem, Tian Wen is a collection of dreams of the East and West that Hua Hua Zhang has experienced during her artistic journey in America.

WEBSITE: www.visualexpressions.org/Hua_Hua_Zhang_Visual_Expressions/Home.html

BLIND

Concept by Duda Paiva & Nancy Black | Direction by Nancy Black (Netherlands/Australia)

NOVEMBER 8 - 11, 2018
Ellen Stewart THEATRE - Thurs - Fri at 7pm & Sat at 8:30pm, Sun at 3pm

Duda Paiva suffered an illness that blistered his body and left him temporarily blind. Blind transforms this experience into a metaphor about disability, rejection, and resolution. Often interacting with the audience, it is funny as well as moving. It finds the political through intimacy, woven into a rich theatrical tapestry of dance, puppetry, adaptations of Yoruba songs from a unique Afro-Brazilian subculture, and driving forces of sound and light.

WEBSITE: www.dudapaiva.com/en/portfolio/blind/

EVERYTHING STARTS FROM A DOT

Concept & Design by Nekaa Lab/Sachiyo Takahashi (Japan/USA)

NOVEMBER 8 - 10, 2018

THE DOWNSTAIRS - Thur and Fri at 8:30pm & Sat at 7pm

Inspired by a Wassily Kandinsky quote, Everything Starts from a Dot is the story of a humble dot. An inhabitant of two dimensions, the dot escapes from its familiar environment and encounters microscopic yet cosmic territories in itself and beyond. A fable for the subconscious.

WEBSITE: http://www.nekaa.org/everything-starts-from-a-dot

EXODUS

Théâtre d'Un Jour (Belgium) | Directed by Patrick Masset

NOVEMBER 15 - 18, 2018

Ellen Stewart THEATRE - Thur & Sat at 7pm, Fri at 8:30pm & Sun at 3pm

Exodus is a multi-disciplinary performance based on four refugee stories who tell about their dreams of freedom, wash up on the shores of a "free" country, and find themselves facing "the European fortress."

WEBSITE: http://www.t1j.be/portfolio/les-inouis-2-chapiteau/

FOOD FOR THE GODS

Written and Directed by Nehprii Amenii

NOVEMBER 15 - 18, 2018

THE DOWNSTAIRS - Thur at 8:30pm, Fri at 7pm & Sat at 8:30pm, Sun at 5pm

Food for the Gods is inspired by the killings of Black men. This work uses object and puppet performance to explore "human value", light, invisibility and well...the dehumanization of it all.

WEBSITE: http://www.nehpriiamenii.com/read-me/

JUMP START - A PRESENTATION OF WORKS IN PROGRESS

NOVEMBER 23 - 25, 2018
THE DOWNSTAIRS - Fri & Sat at 8pm & Sun at 5pm

Puppeteer and theatre artists get a chance to showcase their works in progress.

FEATURED WORKS BY: Tom Lee and Lisa Gonzales; Loco7 Dance Puppet Theatre; Maiko Kikuchi; Concrete Temple Theatre; Torry Bend; Sova Theater

FAMILY SHOWS

DON QUIXOTE TAKES NEW YORK

By Loco7 Dance Puppet Theatre

Re-Imagined & Co-Directed By Federico Restrepo & Denise Greber

NOVEMBER 10 -11, 2018
THE DOWNSTAIRS - Sat at Noon & Sun at Noon & 2pm

Don Quixote and his friend Sancho Panza travel the five boroughs of New York City on a quest to save the world from evil forces and protect Lady Liberty. Come follow Don Quixote on his quest for love, honor, liberty and justice for all. Ages 4 and up - fun for the whole family!

WEBSITE: http://loco7.org/don-quixote-takes-new-york/

CHICKEN SOUP CHICKEN SOUP
By WonderSpark Puppets
NOVEMBER 17 - 18, 2018
THE DOWNSTAIRS LOUNGE - Sat at 2pm, Sun at Noon

Chicken Soup, Chicken Soup, based on the beloved PJ Library book by Pamela Mayer, revolves around two grandmothers, one Jewish and one Chinese, who come up with elaborate ways to show their granddaughter that their cultural heritage (their chicken soup) is the best.

WEBSITE: http://www.wondersparkpuppets.com/jewish-puppet-shows

SPECIAL EVENTS

PUPPET SLAM

Curated by Jane Catherine Shaw

NOVEMBER 5, 2018
THE DOWNSTAIRS - Mon at 8pm

Puppeteer and theatre artist Jane Catherine Shaw will curate a one-night only Puppet Slam featuring contemporary short-form puppet and object theatre from both emerging and veteran puppet artists.

Coffeehouse Chronicles: CELEBRATING: Ralph Lee

Curated by Michal Gamily
NOVEMBER 10, 2018

Ellen Stewart THEATRE - Sat at 3pm

Renowned puppeteer, Ralph Lee is the focus of Coffeehouse Chronicles, an ongoing program at La MaMa that explores the history and development of Off-Off Broadway. Part artist portrait, part creative event, part history lesson, part community forum, it is an intimate engagement with art.

WEBSITE: http://mettawee.org/wordpress/about-us/ralph-lee-artistic-director/

Photo by Theo Cote for La MaMa