Chicago Shakespeare Theater & Chicago Puppet Fest present:
Basil Twist: Dogugaeshi
January 20-24, 2022

Master puppeteer Basil Twist, recipient of the Rome Prize, hailed for his work on Broadway’s The Addams Family and The Joffrey Ballet’s Nutcracker, unfolds an intimate, abstract, contemporary journey of images and emotions in Dogugaeshi. The piece is influenced by the rarefied tradition of Japanese dogugaeshi stage mechanism technique and his own encounters with the remaining rural caretakers of this once popular art form. Winner of the 2005 Bessie Award and an UNIMA Award for Excellence in Puppetry, Dogugaeshi features original shamisen compositions created and performed live by authorized master musician Yumiko Tanaka.

Thursday, January 20 at 7pm
Friday, January 21 at 7:30pm
Saturday, January 22 at 1pm, 5pm and 9pm
Sunday, January 23 at 1pm and 5pm
Monday, January 24 at 7pm

Location: Upstairs at Chicago Shakespeare Theater, 700 E. Grand Avenue, Navy Pier
$40 Regular, $30 Students
Running Time: 60 minutes
Ages 9 and up

More Info & Tickets HERE

2022 FESTIVAL DE CASTELIERS
Feature film for adult and teen audiences, 13 years +
Single admission price: $15
Tickets for March 5th at 9 p.m.

Symphonie Fantastique is the film version of the ground-breaking show of the same name that revealed a truly unique artist with a limitless imagination when it opened in New York in 1998.

Symphonie Fantastique is a one-of-a-kind underwater marvel combining the magic of puppetry with the powerful suggestions of music, dance, and abstract art. Symphonie Fantastique is an intimate show set to the five movements of Hector Berlioz’s nineteenth-century classical composition of the same name.

Symphonie Fantastique is performed entirely in a specially constructed water tank. The puppeteers manipulate feathers, glitter, plastics, vinyl, mirrors, slides, dyes, black light, overhead projections, air bubbles, and latex fishing lures to deliver a concert of forms, shapes and moving colours.

Tickets HERE

2022 FESTIVAL DE CASTELIERS
The Art of Basil Twist as seen by Richard Termine

The Jim Henson Foundation Presents American Puppet Theater Today: The Photography of Richard Termine

Two exhibitions featuring the work of New York based photographer Richard Termine who has documented American Puppet Theater for over 30 years. Termine's work uniquely captures the animated gesture of the puppet in still images.

Over 120 images and objects in these exhibits illustrate the dynamic range of puppet theater being created by a vibrant community of artists across the United States and celebrate the exceptional work of one of America' most prolifc and versatile puppeteers, Basil Twist.

More Info HERE

ST. Ann’s Warehouse & Prototype present
BOOK OF MOUNTAINS & SEAS
American Premiere
MARCH 15–20

Huang Ruo, Composer

Basil Twist, Director & Designer
Puppeteers: Ben Elling, Rosa Elling, Ashley Whitfield, Lute Breuer, Ali Goss, Rachel Schapira.

Lighting Design: Ayumu Poe Saegusa

Featuring Ars Nova Copenhagen | Paul Hillier, Music Director
Developed and Produced by Beth Morrison Projects

Book of Mountains & Seas is a work of vocal-theatre, percussion and puppetry. It is inspired by the ancient Chinese compilation of early myths of the same title, which was first transcribed in 4th century B.C. Over the years, these mythological stories have become part of Chinese written and oral history, shifted and reshaped to match contemporary times. Book of Mountains and Seas is a 21st-century adaptation through the lens of our modern-day relationship with the natural world. The creation stories conjure a sense of respect and awe for the environment and the water stories challenge us to be good stewards of the natural resources we have been given.

St. Ann's website HERE
Tickets HERE

TOM OF FINLAND
Artist-in-Residence program.
Los Angeles, California
April - June 2022

More Info HERE

BOOK OF MOUNTAINS AND SEAS
Koorbiennale Amsterdam

A daring new work by composer Huang Ruo and puppeteer/designer/director Basil Twist, Book of Mountains and Seas is a modern take on ancient Chinese creation myths, first transcribed in the 4th Century BC, yet strikingly relevant to our current struggle with climate change. An ensemble of massive puppets, as fanciful as they are terrifying, and the chorus of Ars Nova Copenhagen challenge us through music and stunning visual tableaux to consider the power of the natural world and our vital, yet tenuous, relationship to it.

Basil Twist is a third-generation puppeteer and object theater artist, renowned globally for his visionary adaptations of opera, dance, and theater. Chinese-born American composer Huang Ruo has been called “one of the world’s leading young composers” and was formerly Composer in Residence at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam.
Runtime: 75 minutes, no intermission
Saturday July 2 22.00
Sunday July 3. 14.30

Muziekgebouw
Piet Heinkade 1, 1019 BR Amsterdam, Netherlands
More Info HERE