Puppetry
Animal Cracker Conspiracy engages a hybrid approach, utilizing diverse forms of puppetry such as table top, shadows, toy theater, and object puppetry. These performances are a multilayered approach to visual storytelling ranging from short form to full productions.
Spectrum: Society of Wonder
Four celestial entities have become embodied to confront a looming cosmic crisis: the five elemental forces of the universe have become unbalanced and disconnected. Guided by ancient star lore, these visitors summon mythological beings to regenerate the Earth and inspire humanity toward a radiant future.
Designed to spark both awe and awareness, Spectrum is a unique fusion of music, puppetry, and projected shadows that invites audiences to explore themes of empathy, connection, and resilience. This extraordinary performance channels the silly, the supernatural, and the sublime, offering a vivid spectacle that celebrates the universe and our place within it.
In a breathtaking 45-minute outdoor journey, Spectrum: Society of Wonder combines shadow puppetry, towering puppets, stilt dance, and visual storytelling to weave a tale of cosmic fear and luminous hope. Under the canopy of stars, the performance unfolds without words, guiding audiences through an unforgettable exploration of light, perception, and the shared human experience.
- Performed by 4 actors, 4 puppeteers, and 2 stilt walkers
- Run Time: 45 minutes
- Writer/Director Bridget Rountree and Iain Gunn
- Music performed by San Diego Symphony String Quartet
- Puppet Design by Iain Gunn and Bridget Rountree
- Dramaturg Gabe Greene
- Production Manager Niko Lambrose Smith
Paper Cities
A 60 minute journey of devised kinetic theater is a fragmented speculative survey of western civilization and imagined mythologies, narrated through puppetry, animated film, movement and sound. A reflective multidisciplinary performance that asks how we collectively created the current social, political, cultural and environmental narratives situated in contemporary North American society.
Realizing there is a myriad of perspectives that make up this broad question, we aim to incite discussion rather than to proffer answers. The piece sniffs out colonial narratives subsumed and buried in personal genealogies, investigating what it means to lose one's home by force, eviction, or habitat destruction.
Created in collaboration with:
- Direction from Liam Clancy and Lisa Berger
- Music Composition & Performance by Kristopher Apple
- La Jolla Playhouse Resident Dramaturg, Shirley Fishman Supported by the Jim Henson Foundation
The Collector
The Collector is a mysterious tale, set in an alternate reality, about a lowly debt collector, who, under the management of a mechanical, tyranniacal overseer, undergoes a radical transformation of spirit in the process of collecting outstanding debts. As he travels through the urban landscape the boundaries between object and self collide. Performed with toy theatre, table-top puppets, object theatre, stop motion animation and film.
The story unfolds into a multidimensional mixed media performance through Orwellian, neo-Victorian lenses. The agitprop nature of this alternate reality is underscored by original constructed soundscapes by experimental composer Margaret Noble. Funded in part by the Jim Henson Foundation, the Sator Arts Foundation, and the Puffin Foundation.
Created in collaboration with:
- Music Designed & Performed by Margaret Noble
- Supported by the Jim Henson Foundation and Sator Arts Foundation
Society of Wonder: Short Films
Embark on a whimsical journey with this enchanting six-part video series that transports viewers to a world oddly familiar yet uniquely magical. In these captivating short films, The Society of Wonder, a group of visionaries, unravels the discovery that each backyard conceals a clandestine portal to an underground realm brimming with inspiration and hope. This revelation, however, predates the ominous influence of the monolithic Xebos Corporation, which has pushed our natural world to the edge of collapse.
As the story unfolds, five seemingly unrelated characters find themselves receiving mysterious signs from an enigmatic Cyborg. Tasked with deciphering these cryptic clues, they hold the key to preventing impending disaster. Will the Society of Wonder rise again, or will the threat from the Xebos Corporation extinguish the last flicker of hope? Join us on this extraordinary adventure where the fate of both worlds hangs in the balance.
Created in collaboration with:
- Commissioned by the La Jolla Playhouse Digital Without Walls Series
- Funded in part by the Jim Henson Foundation