photo credit: Richard Termine

September 9-11 (Thu-Sat), 14-18 (Tue-Sat) 8pm
$20

Dead Puppet Talk conjures a hypnotic world where puppet performers silently act out scenes from a "play within the play" as actors wryly speculate on the puppets' raison d'être. This "talking opera" marks Roman Paska's return to New York after four years as Director of the International Institute of Puppetry (Charleville-Mézières, France), the world's foremost center for puppet theater. Developed at the 2004 Sundance Theatre Laboratory at White Oak, it features the director's signature blend of elegant puppets inspired by anatomical dolls and artists' mannequins, film interludes, and a score of electro-acoustically altered blues and traditional music mixed live at each performance.

The Kitchen's presentation of Dead Puppet Talk is made possible with generous support from the Henson International Festival of Puppet Theater.

photo credit: Dae-Seung Seo

September 18 (Sat) 2-5pm Free
Rain or Shine
Location: 19th Street (between 10th & 11th Avenues)
Hotline: 212-255-5793 x10

Come kick off our fall season with the annual Kitchen Neighborhood Street Fair—an eclectic mix of outdoor shows, surprise acts by street performers, interactive artists' booths and the best in local cuisine. Main stage highlights include Slavic brass band Zlatne Uste's toe-tapping tunes; West African/American group Mamma Tongue's soulful harmonies; Jollyship the Whiz-Bang's band of brigands, braggards, and musical maritime puppets; and veteran storyteller Abike Jotayo's fusion of historical stories and African folk-tales. Hosting the afternoon is the "Bemused Blonde of Performance Art" (The New York Times) Julie Atlas Muz in a rare daytime appearance.

photo credit: Margaret Ryon

September 23-25 (Thu-Sat) 8pm
September 25 (Sat) 2pm
$20/$10 under 18
Lunch break performance: September 24 (Fri) 12pm $10

Director/designer: Amy Trompetter
Choreographic director: David Neumann
Lead actor: TBA
Performers: Trudi Cohen, Christopher Green, Sophia Holman, Ricardo Muniz, Jessica Valadez

Papier maché puppets of all sizes, a chorus of puppeteers and dancers, a fiery "hell mouth" and a miraculous deus ex machina set the stage for this delightful piece by master puppeteer/director Amy Trompetter and Bessie award-winning choreographer David Neumann. The collaborative team illuminates Oscar Wilde's fairytale The Happy Prince, in which a weeping statue, so large only a portion of it can be seen at one time, longs to give his jewels to the suffering poor. Trompetter's production of The Barber of Seville, revived with Neumann at St. Ann's Warehouse in 2003, was critically acclaimed as "the best sort of rethinking of the basic opera repertory now taking place" (The New York Times).

The Kitchen's presentation of The Happy Prince is made possible with generous support from the Henson International Festival of Puppet Theater.

September 18-October 30
Open, Tue-Sat, 12-6pm Free

A 1979 video recording of Molissa Fenley's Mix, performed by Molissa Fenley, Elizabeth Streb, John Bernd, Kate McLaughlin.

b&w remastered tape with sound.