Three Cultures, Four Puppets

It has been another long stretch out of the country, but I find myself coming back to America with a lot of great new experiences, friends, and ideas. In January I found myself in Chiang Mai, Thailand (after a wild series of plane flights and layovers in December—airspace is an interesting place to celebrate Christmas!). I was part of a learning and production workshop environment designed by scenographer and wonderful puppet supporter Manuel Lutgenhorst. This pulled together artists from Thailand, the USA, and Myanmar to simultaneously learn about and train under the traditional system of Burmese string puppetry, while creating a new contemporary production which sought to integrate our 21^st century work with the centuries old foundation of the Burmese marionettes. We performed this new show—an adaptation of a Burmese short story about a puppet master’s conflicted son and his four puppets—in both Chiang Mai and Bangkok, and the process was a really intricate, compelling, and eye-opening process of intercultural theater and the mixing of different ideas, values, and aesthetics. American designer and director Amy Trompetter headed the project alongside Lutgenhorst and Khin Maung Htwe, the artistic director of Htwe Oo Myanmar and the wonderful Burmese puppeteers who conditioned us into their artform. Later on, I was able to share some of these experiences in India on World Puppet Day 2010, where I gave a public talk at India International Center on the fundamentals of Burmese string puppetry and gave a small performance demonstration of my new marionette companion—the mountain mystic Zawgyi.

My heartfelt thanks to Naan, Aung, and Baba Gyi for their care, generosity, unparalleled skills, and invaluable guidance.

Fake Trees, Real Stories

“How Do You Celebrate?”

As always one of my favorite collaborators, Louise Hung and I teamed up for a third time this last December for a not-so-traditional holiday show entitles “True Stories from Under the Tree”, premiered at the Celebration Theater. Inspired by true stories and interviews collected for this project, the performance sews together fun and poignant holiday stories and traditions which may be different than the “Night Before Christmas” stereotype we see on holiday cards. From secret presents to “fish and cake” platters, the show combines physical theater with object puppetry, and is performed on a set crafted entirely of bubble wrap (it was a true holiday miracle I could fit it all in my car!). Some quirky, some tense, these stories remind us that the holidays are a time for all of us to come together in our own unique ways.

A Walk in the Woods

It is a great and uncommon honor to work with one of the very few autonomous Armenian theater companies in the world, but I have indeed had the great privilege to do so these past few weeks with the Luna Playhouse and the Armenian Theatre Company—a leading company in the Diaspora. Artistic director Aramazd Stepanian has translated and staged a production of Saghatel Haroutunyan’s soviet-era drama called “If Your Eyes Are Clear”, about a respected judge is forced to undergo great pressure to convict an innocent man. The story features several short shadow puppet sequences performed by two of the characters (a young girl Aroos and her uncle Tigran) who are forming an amateur puppet production which allegorically comments on the dramatic action—a story about a young girl who becomes lost in the woods and encounters a supernatural monster called the Man-Eater. All of the puppetry will be done in shadow—equal parts spooky and humorous in keeping with the surprising story about the little girl who laughed in the face of death himself.

The show runs from November 19th to December 12th at 8:00pm at the Luna Playhouse: 3706 San Fernando Road Glendale, CA 91204

Peace to the Frogs!

This past month I was brought on to puppeteer for a webisode-media project designed and directed by Kris Fitzgerald and launched by Rain Frog Apparel, an environmentally-minded clothing company which uses alternative fibers and fabrics. I played Sammy, a naïve and happy-go-lucky frog-child who has trouble understating why he has to move out of his pond-home when a strange fungus begins to cover its surface. With the help of his human friend Maya, Sammy (and hopefully our young audiences!) comes to understand the environmental issues affecting his habitat more clearly—while keeping his youthful optimism things can be changed.This was a particularly rewarding project to work on not only because of the positive cause, but also for the fantastic group of individuals involved. Hopefully our newfound friendships will come together again for another episode!

Check out the youtube upload here: http://www.youtube.com/user/krisfitz77#p/a/u/0/U6TF1n3Joa0

May Peace Prevail on Earth

Two weeks ago I was very fortunate to be asked to build a giant peace dove for my old elementary school, Montessori Center, for their annual United Nations Day observance. The idea started with the Roots and Shoots Project--and initiative lead by Jane Goodall to try and promote the discussion of peace from an early age. The teachers banded together to find local donations for the supplies, and my contribution was the eventual fabrication of the dove and conducting a puppeteering workshop for the graduating sixth graders who would lead the dove through the procession. I was very impressed by their seriousness and dedication--and it is my hope that this little project got a least a few students, teachers, and local business owners thinking that perhaps peace may not be too much farther away than some old sheets and inner-tube ties--so long as we keep thinking about it.

Czech It Out! : Lit Moon Festival 2009

This past week saw the open and close of the 11th Lit Moon International Theater Festival. After many years as an enthusiastic supporter, I had the great honor and pleasure to join the company and festival as assistant to the director and a supporting designer/fabricator for the company's new production: and offbeat and terrifically zany staging of Fielding's "Tragedies of Tragedies". This festival was a particularly valuable experience; reconnecting with long time mentors John Blondell and James Donlon was a truly meaningful gift, as well as forging new friendships with phenomenally talented Czech and American artists, such as international clown Stevo Capko, trailblazing artist and performer Howard Lotker, and collaborating with Jaco Connelly--a superb designer-of-all-trades and perhaps my long lost puppet brother. May we all meet again (sooner than later!), and in the meantime enjoy a look at some of my contributions to our all-muslin constructed show.

A Twist on the Nile: Fierce Backbone's "Cleo's Girls"

Here are a few photos to commemorate the very successful Fierce Backbone workshop production of Jan O’Connor’s new play “Cleo’s Girls”, a reworking of Anthony and Cleopatra though the famed female pharaoh’s handmaidens. Equal parts comedic and probing, the cast gave excellent performances, and I was really happy with how my set designs integrated seamlessly with Brandon Baruch’s lighting and Lauren Tyler’s costumes. Filling up the Lex Theater for two weekends, this production had little to apologize for in terms of quality or attendance. Pretty good for a “workshop”!