This Saturday night - January 22nd - at 8pm, the Puppet Showplace Slam is proud to present "Puppet Pandemic: The Boston Outbreak", a showcase of works curated and cultivated by alumni of the O'Neill National Puppetry Conference. In addition to the performed pieces — 13 in all — the Puppet Pandemic organizers will be holding a raffle filled with amazing puppet items, including a personalized voicemail recording by a Sesame Street character! The funds raised by the raffle as well as donations to Puppet Pandemic will benefit the Alumni Scholarship to attend the National Puppetry Conference at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center.
The scholarship was founded on the belief that puppetry is a contagious art form. The Alumni Scholarship is meant to support artists and encourage them to propagate provocative theatrical works.
Performing artists who have benefitted from the scholarship include 2010 recipients Jonathan Little, Alissa Hunnicutt, Elizabeth Hara, and Marta Mozelle Macrostie.
There will be 13 different pieces performed as part of the program. Below is more information about the performers.
Frankie Cordero has worked as a puppeteer/designer/builder/director in NYC for the past 10 years. Theater: Lemony Snicket's "The Composer is Dead" at Berkeley Rep, "Walking with Dinosaurs," "Ko'olau" with Tom Lee, "Bride" with Lone Wolf Tribe, "Madama Butterfly" at The Met Opera. TV: Comedy Central/McDonald's commercials, "Sesame Street," "Oobi," "Its a Big, Big World," "Jack's Big Music Show," and many music videos and pilots. Directing/Producing: "The Whole World and You," (Atlantic Record's), "IRL FILES" (The Motorola Backflip Phone). www.frankiecordero.com
Melissa Dunphy plays strings on the side, but her day job is composing. Her best-known work, The Gonzales Cantata (see www.gonzalescantata.com), was performed at the 2009 Philly Fringe, receiving rave press and reviews from The Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, Harper's Magazine, The Huffington Post, and Rachel Maddow. She has composed and performed music for many Philadelphia-area theaters and is currently getting a Ph.D. in composition at UPenn. More information at www.melissadunphy.com
Thomas Getchell I am currently working on my MFA thesis project at the University of Connecticut, a cabaret marionette performance called Proleptic Voice: A Visual Poem. The show, which was inspired by Emily Dickinsonʼs prose “I Heard a Fly Buzz--When I Died,” will run February 18-19. I did my undergraduate studies in theatre and dance at California State University Sacramento, where I learned about puppetry from professor Richard Bay.
Honey Goodenough is a producer, puppeteer, clown, costume designer, and arts educator. She received her MA in Educational Theater from NYU in 2006. Her theatrical credits include Phantom Limb's "The Fortune Teller" at HERE Arts Space, Puppetworks, and The Swedish Cottage Marionette Theater. Video credits include puppetry for "Clap your Hands" by Sia, and puppet costume construction for "IRL FILES," web ad for Collegehumor.com. You can also find her clowning around NYC hospitals for the Starlight Children's Foundation. She is very proud to consider Puppet Showplace a fellow sponsor of Puppet Pandemic and the NPC Alumni Scholarship. And yes, Honey Goodenough is her real name.
Elizabeth Hara is a costume and puppet builder who has worked for Parsons-Meares (Spiderman, The Lion King, and Shrek the Musical), The Jim Henson Company, Puppet Heap, and the Puppet Kitchen. Liz has lived in New york City for 3 years, but still goes home to Minnesota every year for the State Fair. She likes dirty jokes, candy, and dancing.
Alissa Hunnicutt is the resident puppeteer at Mount Sinai Hospital in NYC. She is an alumnus of the O’Neill Puppetry Conference, has performed at Great Small Works’ International Toy Theater Festival and is a regular in both puppet theater and slams around the tri-state area. Alissa debuted her full-length cabaret show “The Kid Inside” in 2010 and was a featured performer at the Orlando Puppet Festival. www.alissahunnicutt.com
Bradley Kemp is a composer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist based in NYC. He is a member of chamber-punk ensemble Anti-Social Music and creates electronic music under the name b-radius. Kemp is currently developing a puppet play with live music based around the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire centennial, which received a Jim Henson Foundation Seed Grant. www.catapultparlor.com
Jonathan Little has attended the National Puppetry Conference twice and is an award recipient of the Puppet Pandemic Alumni Scholarship. Jonathan graduated from the Museum School of Fine Arts in Boston. He is an accomplished dancer as well as puppeteer having studied with Boston Ballet. Jonathan toured with Kaiju Big Battle performing as Giant Club Sandwiches to the furry super hero Slo Feng. He is currently the primary puppet builder for Little's Creatures and a skilled puppeteer with a wide range of characters.
Marta Mozelle MacRostie is an NYC-based puppeteer, puppet builder, theater educator, and jazz vocalist. Recent credits include Lemony Snicket's The Composer is Dead at Berkeley Repertory Theater in CA and Puss in Boots at the New Victory Theater dir. Moises Kaufman (Off-Broadway). Marta appears on an ongoing basis with the puppet company Chinese Theater Works in NYC. She has studied at Umass Amherst, UConn, and of course at O'Neill National Puppetry Conference.
Ian Sweetman is a three-time veteran of the O'Neill National Puppetry Conference. In addition to the NPC, Ian's puppet work has been seen all along the Atlantic coast with productions in Florida, Maryland, New York and Connecticut. Recently, Ian completed a run with Phantom Limb Company's "The Fortune Teller" at the HERE Arts Center in New York City.
