Date: Tue, 9 Mar 2004 12:12:05 -0800 (PST)
From: Gretchen Van Lente <gretchen-AT-dramaofworks.com>
Subject: PUPT: shameless self promotion (NYC)



Come out and support this festival of female theatre artistis, and in turn support this theatre's choice to present puppetry!

Manhattan Theatre Source’s Estrogenius Festival &
Drama of Works presents a workshop production of…
WARRIOR

*See it before it premieres at the Istanbul Puppet Festival!

March 13th -AT- 2 p.m. (one show only!!!)
Admission: $12
Running time (of WARRIOR): 50 minutes
BUT folks can stay & see as much as they please!
(See more about all fundraiser events below…)

Manhattan Theatre Source
177 MacDougal Street
New York, NY 10011 
212-260-4698 
(between West 8th and Waverly/Washington Sq. Park North)

WARRIOR
Written by Crystal Skillman
Directed by Gretchen Van Lente
Music composed by Julia Balestracci
Movement direction by Spencer Lafrenz
Costumes designed by Mary Trumbour
Sets and puppets built and designed by Gretchen Van Lente; 
with Amy Carrigan, Tara Conlon, David Michael Friend, Serra Hirsch, Nina Kyle, Vita Mechachonis and Scott Weber

WITH
John Ardolino as the Emperor/Osi/Ojin
Amy Carrigan as the Song-Singer/Deity
Spencer Lafrenz as Yamato/Takeshi
Gretchen Van Lente as Ototachibana/Jingo Kogo
and Scott Weber as Chuai/Kago

WARRIOR: (two parts of a three-part puppet play written by Crystal Skillman)
The Sword of Yamato is part one in this three-part puppet play based on stories from the Kojiki, the collected legends of ancient Japan. See what horror, magic and majesty Drama of Works can conjure with a screen, an overhead projector, various shades of blood-red and some haunting poetic language. Follow Yamato, the great warrior, as he searches for the Flaming Sword of Susano, only to lose his one true love as he is blinded by its glory. Partway between sacred Japanese myth and Monty Python animation, The Sword of Yamato is the best of all worlds.
Michelle Moskowitz, curator of BRIC’s Ample Sample where the piece premiered this past December, had this to say: "Gretchen Van Lente, Director of Drama of Works, assembled a stellar cast of puppeteers and actors in the highly comical and well-timed shadow puppet work entitled, Sword of Yamato. The story is superbly written by Crystal Skillman. The audience strongly responded to the dramatic story and the humor of the work. The piece definitely left images lingering in my mind. I can still hear the puppets chanting 'Yamato, Yamato...'"
Part two in the epic entitled WARRIOR, On the Backs of Fishes is a miniature table-top rod puppet play. This section tells the story of Yamato’s daughter-in-law, Jingo Kogo, possibly Japan’s most famous Empress warrior. Pregnant with the heir-apparent, Jingo battles Korea and as she brings the prize of a written language and a new prince home to her people, must also defend her title from traitorous stepsons. Puppet enthusiasts who have seen Fishes at New York’s Spaghetti Dinner and Estrogenius Festival, Providence’s Blood From a Turnip, Philadelphia’s Bumpin’ Big Top and most recently at the Barents Region International Puppet Festival in Finland, have fallen in love with this piece.
The story of WARRIOR, which is essentially the story of Japan, is told by a mysterious song-singer/deity who moves through the pieces tying them together in history. 

[*NOTE: The full-length, 3-part WARRIOR will premiere at the Istanbul International Puppet Festival on May 7th.]

ESTROGENIUS FESTIVAL DAY FUNDRAISER: This event marks the kick off for submissions for the 5th Annual Estrogenius Celebration of Women's Voices. Festivities begin at 1pm with a different special guest each hour. Admission through 6pm is $12. Special guests include: Sola Voce Estrogenia with Hilda Guttormsen & Catherine Ingman, Lightning Strikes Theatre Company, Basketcase Sketch Comedy Troupe, the scoldees & Drama of Works. At 7pm you can catch Anne Bobby in That Woman: Rebecca West Remembers for $21. Or attend the 9pm Estrogenius Benefit Performance of That Woman with reception & special events for $35. Guidelines for Estrogenius Submissions will be posted by Mar 1st. Submit in person on Mar 13th, meet the EstroTeam & support the Festival!

DRAMA OF WORKS (www.dramaofworks.com): Lead by Artistic Director Gretchen Van Lente, "New York’s tightly organized satirists" (In Pittsburgh), are known for their innovative works "high on fantastic production value" (Village Voice) that cross the line between actors and puppeteers. "Whatever it is supposed to be, it isn’t boring." (Puppetmaster) Over the past six years they have performed around downtown New York City (CBGB’s, The Atrium, Clockworks Experimental Puppetry Theatre, Clemente Soto Velez Cultural Center, The Culture Project, HERE, Dixon Place, Theatre for the New City, Surf Reality, Present Company Theatorium, P.S.122, as well as uptown at Ensemble Studio Theatre and in Brooklyn at BRIC and the Brooklyn Museum of Art), Pittsburgh (three years at the Industrial Arts Co-op’s Black Sheep Puppet Festival), Philadelphia (at the Fringe Festival and also Puppet Uprising) and Providence (Perishable Theatre’s Blood from a Turnip) with their unique brand of theatre: gaining
 members, fans and supporters along the way. In October they shared their work internationally for the first time at the Barents Region International Puppet Festival in Oulu, Finland. "Drama of Works invites the audience to re-examine their notions of theatrical structure and method without seeming self-important or compromising accessibility…This company will be around for years to come. If you go see them now, you'll be able to say you knew about them before everybody did." (www.offoffoff.com) Drama of Works prides themselves on including members from a variety of backgrounds, including puppetry, experimental theatre, physical theatre, traditional theatre, folk dance and comedy. 
Drama of Works is a proud member of THAW (Theatres Against War), Dance Theatre Workshop, Puppeteers of America and UNIMA-USA. They are the recipients of two Henson Foundation grants, two grants from the Rhode Island Foundation and an Ensemble Studio Theatre/Sloan Project Commission. They have participated in various festivals and developmental labs, including the O’Neill Puppetry Conference, the Arts at St. Ann’s Puppet Lab, the Greenwich Village Halloween Parade and the HERE American Living Room Series, in association with Lincoln Center Theatre. 
The mission of Drama of Works is to produce theatrical works, original and other, utilizing physical theatre, puppetry, text, and visuals to move audiences to laughter or sorrow, and to broaden the human spirit, locally and abroad. 
"At the end of the night of time all things return to my nature; and when the new day of time begins I bring them again into light. Thus through my nature I bring forth all creation, and this rolls round in the circles of time. But I am not bound by this vast work of creation. I am and I watch the drama of works." —The Baghavad Gita 



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