Mice fiesta footage

Intensive rehearsal weekends make Mondays seem like waking up in a new world! Here’s something we did this weekend: shot some silly footage that will be folded into our show. This sound isn’t the real sound we’ll use…

Maverick festival sparks

I love this image. I came across it as I researched for Overlook, the lecture/performance that I’ll be showing a snippet of this Saturday. It’s of the Allen family at one of the infamous Maverick festivals in Woodstock in the 1920s. Everyone wore a costume because the entrance fee was doubled if you didn’t and in any case, it was the thing to do.

Hedgehog in the Fog

Hedgehog in the Fog by Yuri Norstein, 1975.

I showed this at our launch event, and I thought I’d post the link for those who missed it! Stop motion animation, anthropomorphic animals, magically beautiful… what more could you want? It inspires us as we figure out how we want to stage the story of Reynard the fox, that smooth operator, not as animation but as object theater.

 

Last day of studio construction + cooking for launch event + puppet prep

The studio space is reaching that “substantial completion” point. Floor and stairs are painted, walls are done, windows and doors are in, and the trim and shelves are going in today!

Meanwhile, in the kitchen, we are cooking up a storm for our Studio Reynard launch dinner event in one week. We have been sold out for a while but please join the mailing list to find out when will we host our next Cafe Isegrim pop-up dinner salon.

Lastly, Anastacia and I have been collecting materials for weeks : gnarly roots, foam, faux fur, fabric, detritus, plaster, papier maché, wire, cardboard, dried stalks and seed pods, rolls of paper. Beginning prototype work on the puppets is already underway. So far, a rooster, a fox and a crow. Moving all our stuff into the studio tomorrow!

 

as yet untitled new show

Starting the research and development phase for a small scale puppet-driven duo performance based on the medieval story cycle of Reynard the trickster. My collaborator Anastacia Bolina and I are looking at Russian stop-motion animation, hand-made animal head girl dolls, and pondering the pros and cons of different puppeteering styles and techniques.