RACHAEL SHANE PUPPET LAB APPLICATION FOR ST ANN’S WAREHOUSE 2019.

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I have been thinking a lot about how my imaginary play as a kid was influenced by the books my father had in his Architecture library. We were allowed to peruse the pages, carefully. It was long before I could read and my mind was flooded by the imagery of urban design. One book in particular captured my imagination. It was Archigram, a 1960’s futuristic imagining of sci-fi-esque mobile cities, the illustrations of which looked like aerial maps of urban cities sculpted into 3D structures built on legs.

 

These incredible illustrations were friendly giants in my child's eye. It became my everything. If I was climbing on the couch, I was on top of the walking city, if I was building a fort, I was building a dinosaur-like city on legs. These physical moments of imaginary pursuit were my solace after I lost my brothers to their world of zombie video games.

I look back on the world that I created in my imagination and, in contrast, the world my brothers had in their video games. What if they were to meld together? I would be at a dinner party hosted by my parents full of the most incredible people including some of the architects behind Archigram. The sounds and quotes from the dinner table became woven into my imagination. By being a gleaner at their table, I started to think that my imagination was not just unlimited but a reality. This reality was at once friendly and scary. One thing that seemed to escape my knowledge was that these Archiagram images were only hypothetical and the line between what is real and what is not was one that slowly unraveled while I played.

 

I would like to create a piece using these images, sounds, and ideas both of Archigram and of early video games, to rebuild the world of my imagination. I want the world to explode out of books. Using a seamless 9’x9’ square of paper as our object this tangible world stands in stark contrast to the immobile pixelated world of my brothers. The large seamless squares can fold and move, revealing new landscapes. I want to explore what configuration and how many of these large squares can fold like origami into abstract Archigram walking cities. Then using projection on the papers surface to create a pixelated world, I want to explore how many origami could become faces of characters, and how big can we get? In addition, I would like to explore a way of puppeteering using dancers and acrobats (both of which I have a background in) to manipulate the puppets. I am interested in the relationship between puppeteer and puppet.  I would like to bring in acrobatics, contortion, and dance to incorporate levels that one human cannot do alone. And also create shapes where the humanness of the puppeteer is lost.

 

I have explored this idea briefly in the past, without the video game angle, in a week long residency at Hubbard Hall, in Cambridge, NY. I would like to explore this world more. I want to make it bigger, more introspective and challenging. I want to explore the world of fantasy and reality and shed light on some of the painful experiences of growing up. I would like to learn more about the storytelling options made possible by puppetry, projection, and expand further to learn about the relationship between object and puppeteer.

IMAGES FROM 2016 WORKSHOP

 

PRIMARY ARTISTS

Rachael Shane - Creator/designer

Sharone Halevy- Director

Jonny Moreno- Projection Designer

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Rachael Shane is a Brooklyn based performer and puppeteer. She has per­formed with Basil Twist (The Rite of Spring, 2013, Sister’s Follies, 2015, Symphonie Fantastique, 2018), Julie Atlas Muz and Matt Fraser (Jack and The Beanstalk, 2017), Chris Green (Firebird, 2013, 2015), Lake Simons (Carnival of the Animals 2015-18, The Jewel Casket, 2014), as well as multiple projects with Puppet Kitchen. Shane was part of the interactive theatrical production Pips Island 2016-17.  Shane runs an artists residency program called The Freight Project. She has a BFA in Drama from UNC School of the Arts.

 

SHARONE HALEVY- Director

Sharone Halevy is a NYC based director, teacher, and painter who has worked all over New York; from Chekhov to developing new works- she has worked for theater companies like INTAR, Crashbox, Distilled Theater Co., WAT Project, Playwright Horizons Theater School, Exquisite Corpse Company, NYU: Atlantic Theater Company Conservatory, The York, NYMF, Musical Theater Factory, Rockwood Music Hall, Atlantic Farm Team, and more. She has also assistant directed at the Roundabout Theater Company, Waterwell Inc., The Atlantic Theater Company, and the Public. She recently directed the off-broadway run of Romeo//Juliet a new LGBTQ+ adaptation at Metro Baptist Church. She is also developing a visual album with composer Lucy Little, seeing how the musical and visual art process can influence one another.  She currently teaches at Playwrights Horizons: NYU as well as the Professional Performing Arts High School, and the Actors Launchpad (+other institutions.)  For more info: www.sharonehalevy.com. 

 

JOHNNY MORENO- Projection Design

Johnny Moreno is a theater / live-event designer and film / video maker who received his M.F.A. from the Yale School of Drama. He has worked in Film and TV as a producer, cinematographer and editor, and has worked on the road as a live concert video director and music photographer. He is the recipient of a BDA Design Award (MTV Networks) For more info: http://johnnymoreno.com/.