“a banquet in which everyone is made to feel welcome and encouraged to indulge … And on the purely theatrical level, the food’s placement conditions the space and defines the play’s physical and intellectual parameters.”
“bold and inventive”
Are They Edible? (original creation)
It was a multi-sensory contemporary puppetry performance inspired by Homer’s Iliad and the Odyssey. It took place in an interactive setting where the audience was guided to roam amongst different puppetry stations while dining on food that has been chosen to support the performance both literally (as puppets) and dramaturgically. The food consumption aimed to engage the audience in a tactile discourse on the relationship between war, heroes, intolerance, and moralities. Hence, the audience was given the perspective of the gods with a birds-eye view of the scope of atrocities, and with the eerie sense that this was all constructed for their enjoyment.
It was played to sold-out houses at La Mama ETC's Puppet Series and had a subsequent remount also to sold-out
ALL PHOTOS BY HUNTER CANNING
WRITTEN BY: MATTHEW SMITH
DRAMATURGY BY: AMY JENSEN
MUSIC: KARL HINZE
SOUND: MARGARET SCHEDEL
SET: TORRY BEND
PROPS AND PUPPET DESIGN: RACHEL SCHAPIRA
ODYSSEUS + TELEMACHUS PUPPET: TOM LEE
CULINARY DESIGN: CONNIE HALL
LIGHTS: BURKE BROWN
VIDEO: PHILIIP GULLEY
PRODUCTION STAGE MANAGER: NICOLE GREENE
ASSISTANT STAGE MANAGER: YONGHOON KIM
FEATURING AMY JENSEN, MARISA LARK-WALLIN, JUSTIN PERKINS, MAGGIE ROBINSON, JULIA SIRNA-FREST, MEGHAN WILLIAMS AND NIKKI CALONGE