Recorded Live on Tuesday, August 25, 2020
Available to watch through Monday, September 7, 2020

Join us for an evening of new, short-form puppetry pieces created during the pandemic by Object Movement resident artists past and present. Hosted by world-famous late night puppet talk show personalities Lord of Chat and Glenn of “Talk Puppet 2 Me.”

Featuring performances by Kate Brehm, Maria Camia, Vincent Mraz, Christine Dempsey, Leila Ghaznavi, Tyler Gunther, Jenny Hann, Dorothy James & Andy Manjuck, Amy Jensen, Brodrick Jones, Kyra Miller, and Leah Ogawa

Curated by Maiko Kikuchi, Rowan Magee, and Justin Perkins

Support the artists

The show is 100% free. If you like what you see, make a donation to support the artists! All proceeds from the event will go directly to support the artists.

The Center at West Park, Inc. is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization. All donations to The Center at West Park are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law.

About the artists

“THE TRANSMUTATION STAyTION PRESENTS: BOOB RADIO” BY MARIA CAMIA

“The Transmutation Staytion presents: BOOB RADIO” is a meditation to release what is unuseful and to align to the highest/best self. 

Maria Camia (@themaricama) is a Visual Theatre Artist and writer who creates spiritual/sci-fi plays, puppets, performances, paintings, illustration, comics, and videos with the intention to globally inspire play and healing. With the characters and universe she creates, she focuses on the highest potential of society and rewiring the brain with a new, more loving frequency. Maria is from Virginia Beach, Virginia and currently lives in Brooklyn, New York.  

“SOCIAL MIRROR” BY VINNY MRAZ

Social Mirror is a low-tech puppet show in a high-tech puppet world exploring how we create our identities through social media and how our screens can be both a window and a mirror. "Social Mirror" was first presented as part of Andy's Summer Playhouse Digital Renaissance Project. This the latest installation blending the cardboard puppet worlds and the flesh and bone and foliage real world.

Vinny Mraz is a playwright, teaching artist and theater maker in NYC. His work has been seen at Object Movement Festival, The Tank, Dixon Place, Little Theater, The Dallas Solo Festival, Harlem Nights, the Secret Theater, New Short Play Festival, the PIT Solocom and Sarah Lawrence College. He was an Artist in Residence with the Object Movement Festival from 2018 - 2019 where he developed an original puppetry piece called You Can see Nothing From Here along with collaborator Chris Carcione. He was a 2019 artist-in-residence for the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council’s Su Casa program. He is a teaching artist with Rehabilitation Through the Arts. He works with Lifetime Arts as a trainer where he leads workshops and seminars for artists and administrators on Creative Aging. He is an adjunct professor of theater at Manhattanville College. MFA Sarah Lawrence College.

“IN FOCUS” BY AMY JENSEN

“In Focus” consists of three short stop-motion pieces. "Read Alive Read Aloud" plays with words. The cast of "re:collecting" hails from Central Park. "Last Night as I Lay Sleeping" is set to Antonio Machado's poem.

Amy Jensen creates work to keep her heart and mind alive. Her performances include Giveness (Object Movement Puppetry Festival) and Third Eye (LMCC Community Arts Grant). She supports the performance of reading aloud through her initiative Read Alive Read Aloud. She has performed with the Trusty Sidekick Theater Company, Jeanette Oi-Suk Yew, and Conni’s Avant Garde Restaurant. As a dramaturg she has worked with the New Victory Theater, the Write Now Festival, the New York Neo-Futurists, Spencer Lott, and Geva Theatre. www.amy-jensen.com A huge thanks to the OMM community for their humanity, humor, technical prowess, and encouragement.

“A PRELUDE TO PUNISHMENT” BY KATE BREHM

“A Prelude to Punishment “is a new toy theater puppet show examining the history and current state of incarceration in the United States. The short segment created for Object Movement Puppet Shorts is an imaginary vintage educational video about white hands’ accountability.

Kate Brehm created “Wolf Life” in the first year of Object Movement. She is an accomplished international puppeteer and movement director. She is currently teaching Toy Theater Online and plans to offer more puppetry classes this fall. Selected credits: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Bdway), Dorothy and the Prince of Oz (Ballet Met), Symphonie Fantastique (Here), Doguagaeshi (world tour), Dark Space (Chashama) www.katebrehm.com

“A TATER, FOR LATER” BY TYLER GUNTHER 

You’ve read the novel. 
You’ve seen the Broadway play. 
Now this epic potboiler makes its way to the silver screen.

Originally from Arkansas, Tyler Gunther has designed costumes for theatre, opera, dance and a select number of root vegetables. He has also worked as a studio assistant for artists Robin Frohardt and Duke Riley. When not building medieval pageant wagons he also freelances as an illustrator. @tylerguntherart 

“BABA DREAMS” BY LEAH OGAWA

“Baba Dreams” is a fantastical puppetry piece exploring the dreams BABA(Grandma) sees. Told by a mixture of miniature set, life-size body parts, and surreal sounds.  

Leah Ogawa is a puppeteer, director, and model based in New York City. Raised in Yamanashi, Japan, Leah has worked with puppeteers, artists, and companies including The Metropolitan Opera, Phantom Limb, Dan Hurlin, Tom Lee, Nami Yamamoto, Loco 7, and others. She has performed across the US as well as at the Quay Branly in Paris and across Asia. Leah is a recipient of the Queens Council on the Arts' New Work Grant for her original piece, Molding. She is currently in residency at New Victory LabWorks and La MaMa Experimental Theatre. For more information visit leahogawa.com and follow @leahogawa on Instagram.  

“THE WONDERFUL TEA KETTLE” BY CHRISTINE DEMPSEY

This is a story of a poor peddler and a mischievous tanuki. Tanuki are real animals that, according to Japanese mythology, are playful tricksters with mystical powers of transformation. 

Christine Dempsey is a resident artist from the most recent iteration of the Object Movement Festival.  She is a project coordinator, puppeteer, and fabricator of fantastical things throughout the New York metro area.  Primarily working in live theater and events, Christine is excited to shift to video and share her first ever shadow puppet film with you all as part of Object Movement Puppet Shorts.  She would like to thank her OMF family for their support throughout this process, and thank Valerie Meiss for narrating the video. Valerie can be found on instagram as @valeriefromfaraway

“REVENGE” BY LEILA GHAZNAVI

What happens when your paper products rise up? Let's hope you never find out!!

Leila Ghaznavi is a multidisciplinary theatre artist that confronts current social issues in a dynamic and engaging way. Her original works combine puppetry, poetry, original text, history, aerial acrobatics, and dance to create stunning visual elements aimed at transporting audiences into her stories. You can learn more about her work at www.panteaproductions.com.

“AND NOW A MESSAGE FROM OUR SPONSORS” BY DOROTHY JAMES & ANDY MANJUCK

Introducing an all new miracle product to help turn your mind off and your business ON. 

Music by Der Südwind. Concept by Booklover555.

Dorothy James and Andy Manjuck are a couple of goofballs who make silly stuff.  And serious stuff.  In fact, they are artists; please don't laugh at them.  They currently star as The Interns on the hit internet sensation Late Night Puppet Talk Show With Special Guest, and are preparing to throw an unforgettable zoom birthday event for their dear friend Bill in October. Special Thanks to LOC & Glenn. dorothy-james.com, andymanjuck.com

“MY MARVELOUS MIND” BY JENNY HANN

After a cry for help, a mediator unravels an overwhelmed brain.  

Jenny Hann (she/her/hers) is a puppeteer, actor, teaching artist, and visual storyteller based in New York City. As a puppeteer, she’s worked onstage and in tv and film, in a variety of different puppetry forms. She currently performs and leads puppet making workshops with WonderSpark Puppets and The Puppet Company. In addition, she produces shows and workshops independently with her company Owlicorn Entertainment. She is a three time participant of The Eugene O’Neill Puppetry Conference, as well as a featured artist with the Catapult Program at The Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival in 2017.  Her piece, Soon (formally called Damascus) was seen at last year's Object Movement Festival. www.jennyhann.com

“BLUEBEARDGASLIGHT” BY KYRA MILLER

This is the story of two folklorists parsing the fairy tale Blue Beard. In their children's nursery, the two explore the dark material in the tale with their children's toys as a buffer, not realizing that their own secrets aren't far from the surface. The puppet excerpt blocks out the beats of the fairy tale inside a dollhouse distantly reminiscent of the townhouse in the movie Gaslight. 

Content advisory: Blood, implied violence towards women

Kyra Miller is an actor, singer and writer. She has worked regionally all over the US and performed her own writing in New York City at Joe's Pub, the Flea, Rip-Torn and the Bell House, among others. She hopes to add the Center at West Park to this list. BlueBeardGasLight is her first puppet show. MFA, University of Washington PATP. Member, AEA. kyramillernyc.com

“YOU BEEN GONE” BRODRICK JONES

A skeleton in a dungeon tries to adjust to their fantasy life in a post-Pandemic world.

Brodrick Jones is an artist, puppeteer, and dungeon master living in BedStuy, Brooklyn. In the beforetimes, he was working on a show called “Madame Edgewise Tells Your Fortune” to make its debut at the Object Movement Festival that was originally scheduled toward what we foolishly assumed was the end of this, the longest month of March in the history of the Earth. One day, when March finally comes to an end, that show should see the light of day. Until then, wash your hands.

About the Curators

Maiko Kikuchi received her MFA in Sculpture from Pratt Institute in 2012. She is a multidisciplinary artist working in illustration, painting, drawing, collage, sculpture, animation and puppetry/ performance. Her recent object theatre pieces include Daydream Tutorial (Under the Radar at the Public Theater, LaMaMa, and FiveMyles Gallery), PINK BUNNY (Japan Society), and Daydream Anthology (St. Ann’s Warehouse). As a visual artist, she has presented her work at the Crown Heights Film Festival, the group exhibition “NO PARKING” at Ca’ d’Oro Gallery, and Unwritten Stories at HERE Art Center. 

Rowan Magee is a puppeteer from Troy, NY. He has performed on international tours with Phantom Limb Company, Robin Frohardt, and Dan Hurlin, and in New York for American Opera Projects, Trusty Sidekick, Chris Green, Spencer Lott, Nick Lehane, and the National Theater’s Angels in America on Broadway. He has designed puppets for The Dalton School, St Marks School, and Lincoln Center Education, received a Jim Henson Grant for his marionette show No 1 Chinese, and teaches for CO/LAB, Marquis Studios, and Story Pirates.

Justin Perkins is a puppet artist and educator. He has appeared in works by Basil Twist, Ping Chong+Company, Jeanette Oi-Suk Yew, Tom Lee, Lake Simons, Patti Bradshaw, Puppet Cinema, Unitards, imnotlost and more. Recent work includes Dianamas, an installation presented at Labapalooza 2019 at St. Ann's Warehouse, and Unicorn Afterlife (recipient of a Workshop Grant from the Jim Henson Foundation) which was presented as a work-in-progress at the Center at West Park in 2019. Justin is also Program Director at New Country Day Camp, a program of the 14th St. Y. www.justinaperkins.com

About the Center

The Center at West Park is a community performing arts center based in the historic West Park Presbyterian Church, a New York City landmark. We present engaging and boundary-pushing early-career and established artists through our artist residency programs, provide affordable rental space for artists to develop their work, and steward the restoration of our historic home’s landmark exterior. The Center is a secular, 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization.

Object Movement is a residency program at the Center for developing new works by puppeteers and object theater artists. Object Movement supports the development of new work that addresses eternal human questions and the urgent challenges of our society today through puppetry and object theater, culminating in an annual festival of short performances. Object Movement is curated by Maiko Kikuchi, Rowan Magee, and Justin Perkins. This fall, we’re going online to explore the possibilities of making puppetry for people on the internet—like you!

Staff

Zachary Tomlinson, Artistic Director
Scott Pyne, Executive Director
Natasha Katerinopoulos, Operations Manager

Board of directors

Marian M. Warden, President
Marsha Flowers, Vice President
Theodore S. Berger, Treasurer
J. Pat O’Connell, Secretary
Robert L. Brashear
Jennifer Rogers Carlock
Derrick McQueen
Mitchell Schamroth
Olga Statz
Susan E. Sullivan

thank you