This trailer was created from Milo performances filmed at the following locations:

Happenstance Theater in Rockville, Maryland (filmed by Sharon Crissinger)

Black Cherry Puppet Theater in Baltimore, Maryland (filmed by Sharon Crissinger)

and La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club in New York City (filmed by La MaMa ETC)

A short, slam-length version of Milo the Magnificent® was presented at the Puppeteers of America Festival at the University of Connecticut in 2015. The next day, these photos were featured on the front page of the Hartford Courant newspaper.

Photo by Alex U. Griffin Photography.

The full-length, Jim Henson Foundation grant awarded "Milo the Magnificent" premiered at Baltimore's Black Cherry Puppet Theater in September, 2017. As part of our commitment to community engagement, we invite the audience to come up to the stage after every show and see the puppets up close. This group of children were particularly curious about our marionette version of Milo, a puppet carved out of wood. Fun fact: several pieces of this marionette were carved out of wood from the Supreme Court. Our friend's son was a staff carpenter at the Supreme Court at the time and was in the habit of sharing the off-cuts of excellent hardwoods, which we gratefully repurposed.

Photo by Kintz.

In 2023, we had a series of command performances at Black Cherry Puppet Theater in Baltimore, Maryland. This was the first time that we performed Milo at Black Cherry since we premiered it there in 2017.

Photo by Ryan Maxwell Photography.

The puppeteers wear handmade black velvet costumes from head to toe in Milo the Magnificent®. This is so that we may blend more into the background and feature the puppets more directly. At the end of the performance, we remove our velvet masks for the bow.

Photo by Ryan Maxwell Photography.

Regarded as one of the "top six museums in the United States with an encyclopedic collection which spans the globe from ancient Egyptian and European works to contemporary art" (Wikipedia), the Detroit Institute of Arts is also home to over 1,000 puppets with a dedicated puppetry exhibit that is regularly rotated and a dedicated season for performances of live puppet theater. Milo was presented at the fabled Detroit Institute of Arts in 2019. Among their vast and eclectic collection, they are also home to Diego Rivera's Detroit Industry cycle of frescoes designated by the Department of Interior as a National Historic Landmark. Milo was overjoyed to see them in person.

We always bring our Milo kinetic sandwich board whenever we travel by car. This Milo sign is placed conspiciously so as to either draw audience members in to the theater, or to direct them to the correct location. Holding a sign with showtimes that can be changed out from venue to venue, this sign moves up and down when you turn the handle at the top.

Photo by Chuck Robinson at the Puppeteers of America Festival, 2015.

In 2022 we were contestants on a German television show called "Die Puppenstars," or in English, "The Puppet Stars." The producers found us online and flew us out to Cologne, Germany to film a 3-minute segment from our 40 minute show in front of a live studio audience.

This was a competition show where the judges awarded points to each act. The top 3 ranking acts were then voted on by the studio audience to determine the grand prize winner. We didn't win the big prize but we were up against some incredible numbers. The winning act, Barti, a marionette by puppeteer Alex Mihajlovski, is one that we've been following online for years.

We don't speak German and there's a lot that we missed from the judges, however they made a point of translating some of their comments. Our favorite feedback was given to us by the judge Martin Reinl who is a well-known German puppeteer. He gave us a 10, the highest that a judge could give an act, and shared that our idea for Milo was so good that he wished he'd thought of it himself. High praise coming from a fellow puppetry artist!

Photo © RTL / Stefan Gregorowius & Frank Hempel.

Our second time performing Milo in Canada was at the storied Festival of Animated Objects in Calgary, Alberta. A city nestled in the northern range of the Rocky Mountains, Calgary is well known for both its Cowboy culture and it's alternative puppetry scene spearheaded by the Old Trout Puppet Workshop. 

Photo by Sean Dennie Photography, 2019.

We always invite the audience to come up to the stage after the show and see the puppets up close. Community engagement is important to us and one of the reasons we make theater. Through puppetry, physical theater, and innovative machines, we make original works for all ages that awaken the imagination, spark wonder, and encourage participation. The sooner we can get a room full of people laughing together, the sooner that room is breathing together. And there's no question that we're eager to share about how the puppets were made in the hopes that the curiously-minded will try their hand at making their own, too.

Photo by the National Theatre Foundation, 2023.

This is the show trailer for Alex and Olmsted's MAROONED! A Space Comedy, a show that premiered at Baltimore Theatre Project (BTP).

This trailer was filmed at BTP in April 2022 by Sharon Crissinger.

We premiered the workshop version of MAROONED! at Baltimore Theatre Project in 2019. The following year we were awarded a Jim Henson Foundation grant but couldn't make the show because of the pandemic. When theaters finally opened up again in 2022, we premiered the Jim Henson Foundation grant awarded version of the show, the show that we are currently touring today.

Fun fact: this photograph is being used to advertise our upcoming performances at the Kennedy Center this May 2025.

Credit: Photo by Ryan Maxwell Photography.

Location: Baltimore Theatre Project, 2022.

During the 10 days leading up to the premiere of MAROONED! A Space Comedy, we recorded our daily progress for our Patrons on Patreon. This is a SUPERCUT of the 10 videos that we shared with our patrons in the days leading up to our premiere at Baltimore Theatre Project in 2022. When one makes a puppet show, there is a veritable panoply of tasks that need to be addressed, from cutting plywood in arc segments on the bandsaw to painting a marionette, from cutting down bamboo as material for light-weight poles to designing a peanut puppet. The days leading up to a premiere are filled with a diverse array of projects that keep us on our toes! One of the big reasons we love making puppet theater is that it allows us to make so many aspects of the productions - from the puppets to the sets, from the costumes to the scripts. We wear many hats and love taking advantage of a new project to learn a new skill, too (or new hat, if you will!).

This photo was taken at the 2023 Puppeteers of America Festival which was held at the University of Maryland's Clarice Center for the Performing Arts in College Park, Maryland. 

Credit: Photo by Guy Thompson.

Location: The Puppeteers of America Festival at the Kay Theatre at the Clarice Center for the Performing Arts, 2023.

We make a point of including at least one sequence of audience participation in every show that we make. This photograph is from one such moment in MAROONED.

Credit: Photo taken by Glenn Ricci.

Location: Baltimore Theatre Project at the workshop premiere of MAROONED, 2019.

The space upstage behind the Moon Screen in MAROONED! is particularly dynamic. There are two tables, one with a video projector and live camera feed for all the live-action puppetry that is projected on the screen, and another table for the overhead projector transparencies and shadow puppets. If sitting either far stage left or right in the theater, you're able to watch the puppeteers create these theatrical illusions in real time.

Credit: Photo by Ryan Maxwell Photography

Location: Baltimore Theatre Project, 2022

MAROONED! is about an Astronaut whose crashed spaceship sends her on a series of trials seeking other means of returning home. She is able to extract an Autonomous Task Assistant (ATA) rescue-robot from the rubble of her ship and must gain the robot's trust before she can make an emergency call.

Credit: Photo by Richard Termine

Location: Puppeteers of America Festival at the Kay Theatre in the Clarice Center for the Performing Arts, 2023

Credit: Photo by Kintz.

Location: Sandglass Theater's International Puppets in the Green Mountains Festival at the historic Latchis Theatre in Brattleboro, Vermont, 2024.

We always invite the audience up to the stage after a performance to say hello and share the puppets with them. If someone ever asks how we made the puppet move in a certain way, we often ask in response: if you were to make a puppet that made that type of movement, how would you make it? And the conversation always goes in a fascinating direction as folks offer all kinds of brilliant ideas regarding design and fabrication. 

Credit: Photo by Kintz

Location: After a MAROONED! performance at the International Puppets in the Green Mountains Festival hosted by Sandglass Theatre at the historic Latchis Theatre in Brattleboro, Vermont, 2024.

We share the puppets, props, or anything else handmade that may be of interest to those who are curious after the show. It's one of our favorite aspects of making live theater.

Alex demonstrating how one of the alien puppets work to the curious audience members after a performance of MAROONED! A Space Comedy.

Credit: Photo by Kintz

Location: The International Puppets in the Green Mountains Festival produced by Sandglass Theatre at the historic Latchis Theatre in Brattleboro, Vermont.

Hubba Hubba is a show about love for all ages. It was awarded a 2023 Creativity Grant from the Maryland State Arts Council and premiered at Baltimore Theatre Project.

Credit: Filmed by Sharon Crissinger

Location: Baltimore Theatre Project, 2023

more soon

Credit: Ryan Maxwell Photography

Location: Baltimore Theatre Project, 2023

On Monday, March 27, 2023, which is World Theater Day, we performed Hubba Hubba for a group of 110 second, third, fourth, and fifth graders from Baltimore’s The Green School at Baltimore Theatre Project. 

Hubba Hubba is an all-ages puppet show consisting of vignettes that explore the different aspects of romantic love. There's a moment in the show where we acknowledge that everyone remembers their first crush, to which these 7-10 year olds chimed in "Yes!" And a following acknowledgement in the show of everyone remembering their first heartbreak, to which these children shouted out affirmations of "Yes! We remember!!" It was a great reminder that no matter the age, everyone has a deep understanding of love.

Their enthusiasm was so strong that all the students lingered in the theater after the show to ask questions and to see the puppets up close. We gave demonstrations about how the puppets worked and explained how we built them, too. We heard feedback from the teachers that the students were talking about the show for the rest of the week. One student in particular wrote us a letter with an accompanying drawing: “Dear Olmsted and Alex, I really “hubba-hubba-d” the act. I really enjoyed everything. My favorite act was the…ughhh…I just love all of them... Love, Sybil.”

Credit: Photo by Carlos Gonzalez-Fernandez

Location: Baltimore Theatre Project, 2023

Credit: Ryan Maxwell Photography

Location: Baltimore Theatre Project, 2023

Credit: Photo by Ryan Maxwell Photography

Location: Baltimore Theatre Project, 2023

Photo: Leah Huete Photography

Location: Baltimore Theatre Project, 2024

Credit: Leah Huete Photography

Location: Baltimore Theatre Project, 2024

A&O making last-minute puppet changes for HUBBA HUBBA at Baltimore Theatre Project.

Opening a brand new show means making puppets up until the eleventh hour! There's a wonderful tradition in the theater of "Les Trois Coups" - the three blows - that are hit on the floor of the stage with a stick just before the start of a performance. Historically, this may have emerged in the Middle Ages in France where the three blows, symbolizing the Trinity, represented "the mystery." We like to think they're the sounds of the hammer striking the final nail of the set before the curtain rises, acknowledging that the piece has only just been assembled.

Here's to performing with freshly painted puppets and newly hammered sets!

Credit: Photo by Eli Bendel-Simso

Location: Baltimore Theatre Project, 2023

Credit: Photo by Alex Vernon

Location: the Hubba Hubba world premiere at Baltimore Theatre Project, 2023

Credit: Leah Huete Photography

Location: Baltimore Theatre Project, 2024

Credit: Filmed and edited by Sharon Crissinger

Location: Baltimore Theatre Project, 2024

Credit: Leah Huete Photography

Location: Baltimore Theatre Project, 2024

Credit: Leah Huete Photography

Location: Baltimore Theatre Project

Credit: Leah Huete Photography

Location: Baltimore Theatre Project, 2024

Credit: Leah Huete Photography

Location, Baltimore Theatre Project, 2024

Credit: Filmed by A&O

Location: At the world premiere of Happy Birthday Mon Ami at Baltimore's Black Cherry Puppet Theater, 2024

Credit: Leah Huete Photography

Location: Baltimore Theatre Project, 2024

We always invite the audience to come up to the stage after a performance and see the puppets up close. 

Credit: Leah Huete Photography

Location: Baltimore Theatre Project, 2024

Some of the audience feedback we had at BTP:

There was a young person, maybe 8 years old, who, after Alex showed them how the mechanism for the puppet Murphy bed worked, said, "Now I want to be a puppet person."

An audience member shared, "This was the best time I've ever had at the theater."

Another adult reflected on the importance of experiencing something so tangibly handmade. He explained that our handcrafted show was a refreshing experience in a world that is more and more digital and removed. He wrote to us later also mentioning, "... your creativity, artistry, craftwork, intelligence, vision, execution, collaboration, good humor, and everything else...[made] Happy Birthday, Mon Ami so touching, beautiful, and unique."

We had several people share with us how much they had laughed during the show and that they had really needed to laugh. 

In the tradition of audience engagement, we invite the curious to see the puppets up close. At Baltimore Theatre Project, we were able to invite the audience onto the stage and behind the puppet booth to see how it was made.

As you can see from the image above, the Happy Birthday, Mon Ami puppet booth is a Punch & Judy style booth. This particular design was created around 1928 by George Blake, featured in an out-of-print book of Punch and Judy booth designs. The "lazy-tongs" style design is wonderful in that is all folds up on itself and can be broken into small enough pieces to fit in a large duffle bag. 

Credit: Photo by Leah Huete Photography

Location: Baltimore Theatre Project, 2024

After we sculpted the Happy Birthday, Mon Ami glove puppet heads out of paperclay, it was time to paint. We started off by painting each head with a base color of unbleached titanium. Then, we applied an underpainting technique where we blocked out blue and red sections on each of the heads. After the underpainting was completed for all puppet heads, we then began to paint over them with very light washes, ending with some raw umber to emphasize the shadows, eyes, hair, etc.

Credit: Photo by A&O

Location: The A&O Workshop in Baltimore, Maryland, 2024

Homebodies was the first full-length show that we created for Baltimore Theatre Project in 2018 and soon after we were invited to become Resident Artists. Though we tour extensively, we are committed to creating and premiering all of our works in Baltimore.

Credit: Homebodies trailer filmed and edited by Sharon Crissinger

Location: Baltimore Theatre Project, 2018

Homebodies is a show about two characters who live together in a tiny home - the Homebodies puzzlebox. Inspired by the 13 years that we lived in a ~400 sq ft studio apartment, the Homebodies box has a variety of surprising features that serve all purposes for living: a kitchen, a bed, a lamp, a retractable chair, etc.

Credit: Photo by Leslie Swan Photography

Location: Happenstance Atelier in Rockville, Maryland, 2018

Credit: Filmed and edited by Sharon Crissinger

Location: Happenstance Atelier in Rockville, Maryland, 2018

The Homebodies box is a 30 cubic inch puzzlebox that has many features including: a sound system that we use to play cassette tapes and that also amplifies a telephone and microphone attachment, a set of stairs that can be climbed, a retractable table, an outlet with working power that a lamp is plugged into, and an electric hot plate that cooks an egg, among other features. It was designed by Alex and Olmsted and custom built by Alex.

Credit: Photo by Leslie Swan Photography

Location: Happenstance Atelier in Rockville, Maryland

Credit: Photo by Leslie Swan Photography

Location: Happenstance Atelier in Rockville, Maryland, 2018

Credit: Leslie Swan Photography

Location: Happenstance Atelier in Rockville, Maryland, 2018

Credit: Photo by Kintz

Location: Baltimore Theatre Project, 2018

Credit: Photo by Kintz

Location: Baltimore Theatre Project, 2018

There is a sequence in Homebodies when the characters cook a single egg in their tiny "kitchen" and just as they're about to sit down to enjoy it, realize their manners and first offer it to the audience. At every performance, someone would take a bite of the egg that had just been cooked on the hot plate inside the box.

Credit: Photo by Kintz

Location: Baltimore Theatre Project, 2018

The Egg Dream Sequence from Homebodies.

Credit: Photo by Kintz

Location: Baltimore Theatre Project, 2018

On June 8, 2023 we had the distinct honor of sharing our handmade penguin puppets at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History on World Ocean Day.

Opened in 1910, the National Museum of Natural History is a museum administered by the Smithsonian Institution, located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. It has free admission and is open 364 days a year. In 2022, with 3.9 million visitors, it was the most-visited museum in the United States.The museum holds the largest natural history collection in the world and is also home to about 185 professional natural history scientists—the largest group of scientists dedicated to the study of natural and cultural history in the world.

We had two little "anchovies," made out of fleece, that we used to feed the penguins. As we roamed the Sant Ocean Hall, one of the games we played with audiences throughout the day was asking them to help us feed the penguins with the anchovies. Olmsted played the "mama" penguin and Alex performed with the gaggle of baby penguins.

Some memorable moments from the day:

One child was so taken with the puppets that he followed us around the hall for the better part of an hour. His speech was limited, but his ability to communicate to us through the puppets was clear. He frequently pet them gently on the head and gave them hugs. 
Several children asked us if the penguins were real. 
One woman walked by and exclaimed, "Oh! Look at those penguins! Children must really love this!" and then after a moment, she shared aloud, "I...I love this!"
A woman saw us and exclaimed, "This. This is the job I want to do!" 

When we were in Italy at the puppet festival this past spring, there was a banner in front of the theater with a quote by Gianni Rodari. "Burattinaio, il piu bel mestiere del mondo" which translates to English as, "Puppeteer, the most beautiful job in the world." There are several challenges associated with our chosen path. Yet there are also several moments of aching beauty. Moments, for example, when we're standing in an historic, and proudly admission-free, museum, beneath a c.1903 full-cast of a whale, holding a penguin puppet and witnessing, over the course of 6 hours, cascades of delight, astonishment, curiosity, and wonder. We, too, feel wonder as we usher these puppets to life and engage in the curious and delightful astonishment of this beautiful world we so gratefully are passing through.

Credit: Photo by Jennifer Renteria

Location: The Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C., 2023

Credit: Photo by A&O

Location: Takoma Park, Maryland, 2023

Commission Project: A Teacher Mask for The Object Group's production of "Pinocchio", 2023.

The director had requested the teacher mask be made of multiple faces, all with the same expression. We started by creating a 1/3 scale sculpt out of Plasticine clay, then using the masking tape technique to lay out the pattern lines. The pieces could then be removed from the clay and flattened for scanning, and then enlarging to full scale. The eyes were created from clear plastic soap molds, coating the insides with different sized green sequins and glitter to give them an insect-like multifaceted feel. The hair was created from strips of black EVA foam.

Credit: Video by A&O

This fox puppet was built for The Object Group's production of "Pinocchio" in Atlanta. The fox is a devious character who hopes to take Pinocchio out to the woods to rob him. His General's coat makes him seem trustworthy at first, until you notice the back is stained with blood and the fabric torn, giving a hint of the violent end the last companion found in the woods.

Credit: Photo by A&O

Location: Filmed in Takoma Park, Maryland, 2023

This cat puppet was built for The Object Group's production of "Pinocchio" in Atlanta. The cat is the lackey of the fox. While not as outwardly aggressive as the fox, the cat manipulates in his own way to gain pity. We learn later in the show that both the sling and eyepatch are merely for show, and even the badge on his chest (reading Officer Katz) is homemade from the lid of a can of cat food.

Credit: Photo by A&O

Location: Photo taken in Takoma Park, Maryland, 2023

“The Uninvited Guest” horse and rider puppet featured in The Christmas Revels 2015.

Credit: Photo by Shep Ferguson

Location: The Washington Revels' Christmas Revels show at Lisner Auditorium in Washington, D.C., 2015

Credit: Video by the Washington Revels

Location: Lisner Auditorium in Washington, D.C., 2015

This transforming chair puppet was comisisoned by Theater Alliance in Washington, D.C. for their 2017 production of Complicité's "Mnemonic." It was a really fun project to figure out and prototype, and the team did an amazing job with it during the production.

Mnemonic by Complicité

Directed by Colin Hovde

Movement by Dody DiSanto

Credit: Video by A&O

Location: Filmed in Takoma Park, Maryland, 2017

For the romantic "Harvest Moon" celestial number in Happenstance Theater's "Pocket Moxie: A Happenstance Vaudeville," we had the opportunity to build a brand new Pierrot puppet and we went all out. Over the last year and a half, we've been taking an online puppetry course with Icelandic artist and puppet master Bernd Ogrodnik called "The Academy of the Wooden Puppet." One of the tabletop wooden puppetry techniques that Bernd teaches in the class is a puppet he refers to as an "Advanced Tabletop Puppet" and this style became the basis for our Pierrot.

Pierrot is hand carved out of bass wood. We first laid out our solid beam of bass wood and cut it down on the table saw into more manageable pieces. From there, we laid out the templates for each limb and cut them out on the band saw. Then it was time to take out the chisels and carve. This is the longest part of the process and the most meditative, too. 

In the ultimate design for this puppet, the puppeteer raises the balloon in the puppet's hand to their mouth to inflate it directly.

Credit: Photo by Blonnie Brooks of WAGS Media

Location: Baltimore Theatre Project, 2022

This Pierrot Puppet was commissioned for Happenstance Theater's "Pocket Moxie: A Happenstance Vaudeville" in 2022. We decided to also use it in a short film celebrating World Puppetry Day.

Launched in 2003 by UNIMA (the Union Internationale de la Marionette, an organization that is non-governmental and affiliated with UNESCO), the World Puppetry Day on March 21 is both a tool for the promotion of puppetry arts and a project allowing to unite puppetry artists around the world. World Puppetry Day seeks to promote the puppet arts by defending, among other objectives: 

• the maintenance and the safeguard of the traditions and, in parallel, the renewal of the art of puppetry 
• the use of puppetry as a means of ethical and aesthetic education 
• to collectively and as widely as possible carry the diversity of puppetry arts today

Credit: Film by A&O

Location: Filmed in Takoma Park, Maryland, 2022

After finishing the automaton for Charm City Books, I was struck with the inspiration to build this kinetic sign for our company. I started with a rough sketch to get an idea of the size and shape. I designed and cut the gears here in our workshop in Baltimore by using our laser cutter and assembled them on the base. All of the letter movements were discovered through experimentation and play. I would create a pivot point on a letter, attach a linkage to a gear, and see how it moved. Then I could link another letter to the previous one, or use an entirely different mechanism to move forward.

This piece really satisfied two opposite parts of my brain; the part that loves to design and plan complicated moving objects, and the part that just wants to jump in and figure it out by getting hands-on and trying things.

A local artist friend gave me a few sheets of scrap HDU (High Density Urethane) that she had gotten from a shop that uses the material to create bucks for vacu-forming speaker grills. I experimented carving it with different tools and techniques to see if it might be a good option for puppetry. I made a series of small legs out of the HDU to test knee joints at the same time.

While tidying up the workshop I came across a few of the legs and made some experimental automata. This piece utilizes a snail shell shaped cam to give the leg a sharp snapping kick. I love having the time and freedom to build something without the expectation of what it should be in the end. It also serves as a visual reminder of some techniques that are available that I can understand better than a written note-to-self. It's also a good example of why the workshop never gets tidy!

David Plunkert is an amazing graphic designer based here in Baltimore. For the last 20 or so years he's been designing posters for Baltimore Theatre Project (BTP). We've been honored to have David design posters for 4 of our shows that have played at BTP. The posters appeared in a collection of his work that was published in 2022 titled "Happy Sad Ugly Pretty". As a tribute, and thank you, to him I designed this automaton based on his illustration for the cover of his book. The figure was carved from scrap 2x4 pine in honor of his reuse of found materials. The mechanisms were designed through a combination of mathematics and trial and error.

Title: Happy Sad Ugly Pretty Crankie Crankie Automaton | 2025
Materials: wood, brad nails, acrylic, brass, paper
Credit: Filmed by A&O
Location: Baltimore, Maryland

One of my jobs is repairing and maintaining the automata collection at the American Visionary Art Museum. It's a joy to help keep those pieces running, and in doing so has forced me to learn more about electrical wiring, DC motors, and transformers. Previous to my work at AVAM all of my automata was hand-cranked. Once I got over the learning hurdle for motors they became a really fun tool to have in the kit.

Two of our friends, Daven and Joe, from the DC theater community moved to Baltimore a few years ago to open Charm City Books. This past holiday season while enjoying a day snowed in, I prototyped and built this motorized window display featuring their raven mascot.

Title: Charm City Books Automaton | 2025
Materials: wood, acrylic, paper, galvanized wire, DC motor
Credit: Filmed by A&O
Location: Baltimore, Maryland

While we were going through our old archived projects we came upon this short demo video of an Automaton Alex made in anticipation of the automata workshop he led at the 2014 DragonCon Puppetry Track. It was built mostly from pine and plywood. The white gears you can partially see were taken from a children's toy!

Title: The Automata Cranker | Handmade Wooden Kinetic Sculpture | 2014
Materials: pine, plywood, _________
Credit: Filmed by A&O
Location: Takoma Park, Maryland, 2014

The American Visionary Art Museum (AVAM), founded in 1995 by Rebecca Hoffberger, is an art museum located in Baltimore, Maryland... which specializes in the preservation and display of outsider art (also known as "intuitive art," "raw art," or "art brut") ...AVAM artists, the museum boasts, include “farmers, housewives, mechanics, the disabled, the homeless... all inspired by the fire within." ...It has been designated by Congress as America's national museum for visionary art. (Wikipedia)

Umwelt | 2020

Umwelt is the story of a man who longs to experience the world through the eyes of another creature. This piece is told with shadow puppets and a Crankie, a type of puppet show illustrated on a long scroll and cranked across a frame.

Umwelt premiered as part of Creative Alliance's 2020 Baltimore Crankie Fest. It has since been adapted into a 12 minute film.

A semiotic theory developed by German biologist Jakob von Uexküll in 1909, "Umwelt," meaning "environment" or "surroundings," refers to a simple phenomenon that is often overlooked: that different species perceive the world differently. 

In other words, all creatures are biologically unique in the way they perceive the world. The bloodhound, for example, has a nose with two hundred million scent receptors, 40 times that of a human.

It began with the story. Olmsted spent several hours working on the script while Alex began prototyping the shadow puppets. Once the script and puppets had been determined, we worked in tandem painting the scroll and building the shadow puppets. During our first rehearsal, we found a gap in the narrative and chose to alter the piece by cutting the scroll and inserting a new section for the ending. You may pick up on that faint diagonal cut line during the film.

Credit: Photo by A&O

Umwelt premiered as part of Creative Alliance's 2020 Baltimore Crankie Fest.

Credit: Photo by A&O

The Wonders of Bread serves to edify, enlighten, and enrich your mind with this look into Bread’s pivotal roll in our history. Alldough the puns might be crumby, we hope these morsels of wisdom will make your life a little butter.

The Wonders of Bread premiered at Creative Alliance's 2023 Baltimore Crankie Fest, co-produced by Josh Kohn and the Center for Cultural Vibrancy. 

PERFORMANCE HISTORY:
Arts After Dark at Historic Smithville Park in Eastampton, New Jersey, USA, September 2023
This Old Town with the Geraldine Band in historic Ellicott City, Maryland, USA, May 2023
Baltimore Crankie Fest at the Creative Alliance in Baltimore, Maryland, USA, January 2023

Credit: Filmed by A&O

Yes, we did indeed use a loaf of sourdough bread for our bread crankie "The Wonders of Bread." Because the loaf was so small, we had a live video feed of the crankie projected behind us onto a screen.

Credit: Photo by Heather Keating
Location: The Creative Alliance's Baltimore Crankie Fest in Baltimore, Maryland | 2023

The making of "The Wonders of Bread."

Credit: Photo by A&O

The Life of an Apple is a crankie that incorporates hand drawn illustration, shadow puppets, tabletop puppetry and lighting effects to tell the story of an apple; from seed, to tree, to fruit, to unforeseen circumstances.

The Life of an Apple premiered as part of Black Cherry Puppet Theater's 2016 Baltimore Puppet Slamwich.

​PRODUCTION HISTORY:
Black Cherry Puppet Theater (Baltimore, Maryland) - 2016
Puppet Homecoming (Catskills, New York) - 2016

Credits: Filmed by Sharon Crissinger

Death's Sweetheart is a puppet show that was created for Happenstance Theater's "My Heart Belongs to DADA" in Feb of 2013. Inspired by the music of Dead Man's Bones, Death's Sweetheart follows the journey of a skeleton who falls in love with a sleeping woman.  

PRODUCTION HISTORY:
Happenstance Atelier (Rockville, Maryland) - 2013
Clown Cabaret (Washington, D.C.) - 2013

Credit: Photo by Clown Cabaret D.C.

Credit: Maya Jackson Photography
Location: Downtown Takoma Park, Maryland

Credit: Maya Jackson Photography
Location: Rockville, Maryland, 2021

Credit: Maya Jackson Photography

We premiered this short film as part of Black Cherry Puppet Theater's virtual May Day puppet slam in 2021.

We are often inspired by our natural surroundings and frequently film outdoors against natural backdrops. We are in the practice of walking outside on a daily basis and are drawn to the changing of the seasons. Spring is a particularly intoxicating time of year, what with the steady stream of flowering ephemerals, and one of the most beautiful species are Virginia Bluebells (Mertensia Virginica). 

Launched in 2003 by UNIMA (the Union Internationale de la Marionette, an organization that is non-governmental and affiliated with UNESCO), the World Puppetry Day on March 21 is both a tool for the promotion of puppetry arts and a project allowing to unite puppetry artists around the world. World Puppetry Day seeks to promote the puppet arts by defending, among other objectives: 

• the maintenance and the safeguard of the traditions and, in parallel, the renewal of the art of puppetry 
• the use of puppetry as a means of ethical and aesthetic education 
• to collectively and as widely as possible carry the diversity of puppetry arts today

Credits: Filmed by A&O
Location: Takoma Park, Maryland, 2021

To begin, we sculpted our mask shapes out of clay, then created a flat pattern from these small sculpted heads and enlarged them for the foam pieces.

Credit: Photo by A&O

After cutting the flat-patterned pieces out of the EVA foam and gluing them together, we used a Dremel to soften the overall shape before painting.

Credit: Photo by A&O

After shaping the mask with the Dremel, it's time to paint!

Credit: Photo by A&O

The final stage of the mask-making process.

Credit: Photo by A&O

This was one of the first educational video we ever created. We were surprised to see that it got quite a lot of views. While we made it with puppeteers in mind, we were surprised to get comments and messages from engineering students thanking us for helping the concept click with them.

Bellcranks are wonderful little mechanisms that you start seeing everywhere, once you learn what they are.

Continuing the tradition of cardboard visuals, this video goes into the benefits of different numbers of pieces for a shadow puppet.

We collaborated with Math professor (and Alex's brother) Patrick Vernon to create this video about working out mathematical formulas for flat patterning.

A tutorial on found object puppetry. We received a lot of great feedback and gratitude on this one from teachers who used it as part of their curriculum.

Making masking tape flat patterns is an INCREDIBLE tool to have in your fabrication toolbox. We're using the technique here to build a puppet, but the same process can be used for costume design, prop building, and more.

A follow up video to our Creating Flat Patterns for Puppetry. This method works best when you build with L200 foam (or EVA foam), or cardboard. Using a rigid material like this will create sharper angles and a stronger structure.