Date: Fri, 6 Jan 2006 06:23:52 -0800 (PST)
To: puptcrit-AT-lists.driftline.org
Subject: [Puptcrit] Puppets in NYC this weekend!


Hey all, there is a lot of great puppet stuff in NYC this
weekend and next. Including...

(- Gretchen)

Drama of Works and
HERE=92s Dream Music Puppetry Program present=85

Sleepy Hollow
(a music & shadow retelling of Irving=92s tale)

ONLY FOUR PERFORMANCES!!

Sleepy Hollow is being presented as part of CULTUREMART, an
annual festival of hybrid performance by HERE=92s Resident
Artists.

NEW YORK, NY: Drama of Works, award-winning puppet company,
present their newest full-length work, on January 7th and 8th at
4pm and 8:30pm at HERE Arts Center. The piece was
ensemble-created, led by director Gretchen Van Lente, also
president of UNIMA-USA; collaborating with award-winning
composer and Julliard professor, Vivian Fung. The puppet design
was by James Walton and the assistant direction was by John
Ardolino. The piece was helped along by lighting consultant Paul
Hudson and costume consultant Mary Trumbour. The ensemble
includes John Ardolino, Talaura Harms, Matt Jackson, Scott Weber
and Meghan Williams. The musicians include a live string
quartet, pianist Vivian Fung and vocalist Amy Carrigan.

Drama of Works=92s Sleepy Hollow
at HERE Arts Center=92s CULTUREMART
145 6th Avenue (between Spring and Broome)
New York, NY 10013
212-868-4444 / www.here.org 
January 7th & 8th -AT- 4:00pm & 8:30
HERE donors: $10  
(Become a HERE Hundredaire and see this show FREE! 
See www.here.org for details)
Everyone else: $15

=93It is remarkable that the visionary propensity I have mentioned
is not confined to the native inhabitants of the valley, but is
unconsciously imbibed by everyone who resides there for a time.
However wide awake they may have been before they entered that
sleepy region, they are sure, in a little time, to inhale the
witching influence of the air, and begin to grow imaginative=97to
dream dreams and see apparitions.=94 =97Irving

THE PLAY: Based on the incomparable tale by Washington Irving,
and inspired by his sparse dialogue, lush imagery and vividly
drawn mood, Sleepy Hollow is a large-scale shadow puppet
re-telling of the classic story, featuring original live music
written by Vivian Fung, which focuses on how one=92s vices can
overtake them when faced with their wildest dreams and most
overwhelming fears. The piece will play on a gigantic quilted
screen, borrowing stylized movements and shapes from silent
horror films, melodrama and Victorian silhouette; use lighting
effects, costume, and natural materials, as well as traditional
shadow puppetry to create a landscape unlike any other.

THE COMPOSER: Vivian Fung has been described by the New York
Times as =93prodigiously gifted,=94 and by the Seattle Times as =93a
composer of considerable skill.=94  She has had an impressive
string of commissions and performances by such ensembles as the
Seattle Symphony, New York Chamber Symphony, San José Chamber
Orchestra, members of the Lausanne Chamber Orchestra, Pittsburgh
New Music Ensemble, Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, New England
Philharmonic, American String Quartet, Avalon String Quartet,
Vancouver New Music, and Millennium Chamber Music Society in
Canada. Ms. Fung is on the Literature and Materials of Music
faculty at The Juilliard School.  She is a member of SOCAN
(Society of Composers, Authors, and Music Publishers of Canada)
and an associate composer of the Canadian Music Centre.

THE DIRECTOR: Gretchen Van Lente is the Artistic Director of
Drama of Works and has been performing, building and directing
in the field of puppetry for over the past six years. Through
this time, the company has created over ten shows; received 3
Henson Foundation grants, 2 grants from the Rhode Island
Foundation and a grant from Arts International; participated in
over five international festivals and won two international
awards. Last summer, Gretchen was awarded an APPEX fellowship
where she studied theatrical collaboration with American and
Asian artists in Bali, where she met composer Vivian Fung. She
is the president of UNIMA-USA, the American wing of the oldest
international theatrical organization.

Sleepy Hollow is being developed through HERE=92s unique residency
programs (HARP & Dream Music), which commission and develop
hybrid performance work through long-term relationships with
artists over a 1-3 year period.

* * * * * * *

=93Drama of Works invites the audience to re-examine their notions
of theatrical structure and method without seeming
self-important or compromising accessibility=85This company will
be around for years to come. If you go see them now, you=92ll be
able to say you knew about them before everybody did.=94
(www.offoffoff.com)

DRAMA OF WORKS, =93New York=92s tightly organized satirists=94 (In
Pittsburgh), are known for their innovative works =93high on
fantastic production value=94 (Village Voice) that cross the line
between actors and puppeteers. =93Whatever it is supposed to be,
it isn=92t boring.=94 (Puppetmaster) Led by Artistic Director
Gretchen Van Lente (also president of UNIMA-USA), they have
performed locally and abroad: around New York City (CBGB=92s, The
Atrium, Clockworks Experimental Puppetry Theatre, Clemente Soto
Velez Cultural Center, The Culture Project, HERE Arts Center,
Dixon Place, Theatre for the New City, Surf Reality, Present
Company, P.S.122, Manhattan Theatre Source, Ensemble Studio
Theatre and in Brooklyn at Arts At St. Ann=92s, The Brick Theater,
Galapagos Arts Space, BRIC and the Brooklyn Museum of Art), plus
all over Pennsylvania and New England with their unique brand of
theatre: gaining members, fans and supporters along the way. 

Drama of Works has performed at six international festivals to
date: The Barents Region International Puppet Festival in Oulu,
Finland; The FOOT Festival of Original Theatre in Toronto,
Canada; The Istanbul International Puppet Festival and The World
Festival of Puppet Art in Prague, where WARRIOR received a
special award for BEST ORIGINAL ADAPTATION and were nominated
for Best Original Creation and Best Actor (Amy Carrigan). This
May they went again to Prague to participate in the Prague
Fringe Festival and for a second time in the World Festival of
Puppet Art, this time taking home the prize for BEST ORIGINAL
PERFORMANCE for WARHOL=99.

Drama of Works was accepted into the program, =93New, New Stuff,=94
at Performance Space 122, where their piece, WARHOL=99, received a
weekend performance in the Spring of 2005. Sleepy Hollow
received a prestigious Project Grant from the Henson Foundation
and was accepted into the Dream Music Puppetry Program where it
will receive its premiere in January 2006.

For the past six months, Drama of Works has curated, hosted and
performed monthly at Galapagos Art Space=92s PUNCH puppetry
cabaret in Brooklyn.

Drama of Works prides themselves on including members from a
variety of backgrounds, including puppetry, experimental
theatre, clowning, classical theatre, folk dance and comedy.
They are proud members of THAW (Theatres Against War), Theatre
Without Borders, The Magdalena Project, Puppeteers of America,
UNIMA-USA and Dance Theater Workshop. They are the recipients of
three Henson Foundation grants, two grants from the Rhode Island
Foundation, a grant from the Fund for US Artists at
International Festivals, and an Ensemble Studio Theatre/Sloan
Project Commission. They have participated in various festivals
and developmental labs, including the O=92Neil Puppetry
Conference, the Arts at St. Ann=92s Puppet Lab, the Black Sheep
Puppet Festival, the International Toy Theatre Festival, the
Greenwich Village Halloween Parade, the New York and
Philadelphia Fringe Festivals, and HERE=92s American Living Room
Series, in association with Lincoln Center Theatre, among
others.

* * * * * *

Since 1993, the OBIE-award winning HERE Arts Center has been one
of New York=92s most prolific producing organizations, and today,
it stands at the forefront of the city=92s presenters of daring
new hybrid art. HERE supports and develops multidisciplinary
work that does not fit into a conventional programming agenda
through such acclaimed works as Eve Ensler=92s The Vagina
Monologues; Basil Twist=92s Symphonie Fantastique; Hazelle
Goodman=92s On Edge; Trey Lyford & Geoff Sobelle=92s all wear
bowlers; and original musical and dance works created and
directed by HERE Co-Founder and Executive Director Kristin
Marting. In 2005, HERE purchased its two theatres and
cafe/gallery as part of its Secure HERE=92s Future campaign to
ensure HERE=92s long-term growth and stability. 
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