Chicago Puppet Fest presents:
The streamers are strung, the punch has been spiked, and the cake is just waiting to be eaten. Now all Bill has to do is wait for his guests to arrive. But waiting is hard. RSVP now for Bills’ 44th, an original comedy by Brooklyn-based artists Andy Manjuck and Dorothy James, two puppeteers who together create one very worried protagonist. Many styles of puppetry, raucous balloons, and a cheeky piece of crudité all collide in this “poignant, comic puppet play…as much about the ingenuity of the mind as it is about loneliness.” (New York Times Critic’s Pick)
With special support from Cheryl Henson
Andy Manjuck (co-creator and puppeteer) is a Brooklyn-based puppeteer, director and voiceover artist. Recent work/puppetry: Chimpanzee (Nick Lehane); The Plastic Bag Store; The Pigeoning (Robin Frohardt); Made in China; Baby Universe; Saga (Wakka Wakka); UAE 48th National Day (Betty Productions); and Petrushka (NY Philharmonic Orchestra, Giants Are Small) Upcoming: 9 Years to Neptune, a new puppet television show, premieres this fall on BYUtv. Manjuck is an intern on the Late Night Puppet Talk Show with Special Guest, a 100% live, 100% improvised puppet catastrophe on Saturday nights at 10 p.m. ET on twitch.tv/talkpuppet2me. andymanjuck.com
Dorothy James (co-creator and puppeteer) is a Brooklyn-based puppeteer, educator, and maker of tiny things. She’s performed with Basil Twist (Hansel & Gretel, Michigan Opera Theatre), Wakka Wakka (Made In China, The Immortal Jellyfish Girl), the Columbus Symphony Orchestra (Petrushka, Giants Are Small), the Rockettes (The New York Spectacular, Radio City), and is a puppeteer for the new children’s series Moon and Me (BBC, Andrew Davenport). Her work has also been seen at the Kennedy Center, Arena Stage, the Jim Henson Carriage House, St. Ann’s Warehouse, 59E59, Dixon Place, La MaMa, and overseas in Norway and the Czech Republic. She is co-creator/intern of the Late Night Puppet Talk Show With Special Guest, a 100% live, 100% improvised puppet catastrophe on twitch.tv/talkpuppet2me. dorothy-james.com
Chopin Theatre Productions is a 501(c)3 art presenter and producer at the historic Chopin Theatre building, 1543 W. Division St. in Chicago. Its 500+annual theater, literary, music, film and social events are often avante garde or international. Its mission is to promote enlightened civic discourse through a diverse range of artistic offerings. Chopin has presented over 120 of its own productions, mostly Eastern and Central European. It has hosted performers from each American state and from over 40 countries. It produced I-Fest, an international festival of solo performances bringing 17 international artists from Austria, England, Finland, France, Germany, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Slovenia, Switzerland and Ukraine to Chicago. chopintheatre.com
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The Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival advances the art of puppetry by presenting sophisticated programs vital to the cultural life of Chicago. Engaging and inspiring the largest and most diverse audiences for puppetry possible, the Festival is the biggest event dedicated to puppetry in North America and traditionally offers more than 100 activities annually including performances, workshops, artist instensives, free neighborhood events and symposia to audiences up to 14,000 over 11 days each January. The organization is also home to other key initiatives, including the Chicago Puppet Studio and Chicago Puppet Lab, that nurture the development of puppeteers and deepen the field locally, nationally and internationally with the ultimate goal of promoting peace, equality, mutual understanding, and justice locally and globally.
Fine Arts Building
410 S Michigan Ave, Studio 310
Chicago, IL 60605
Administrative Office:
312 753 3234
info@chicagopuppetfest.org
© 2023 Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival, a 501(c)(3) charitable organization. All rights reserved. Site by Silver Egg Studios.
