In the spring of 2018, with a Neighborhood Lights grant from Baltimore Office Promotion of the Arts as part of Light City,  I had the pleasure of collaborating with an incredible group of residents, community parters, artists, musicians and organizers to create two original shadow puppet plays that imagine a history of Remington and Brooklyn/Curtis Bay from the lens of de-industrialization, distinguishing what makes the neighborhoods distinct and what draws them together. With my family being from Baltimore, and parents who grew up in a working-class household, I was curious to explore and understand this history deeper. With the aid of local historians, community-leaders, business-owners, and artists, I hope to show an evolution in the on-going effort to revitalize Baltimore, examining both positive and negative effects, while maintaining a sense of dignity for these unique neighborhoods. 

Materials: projection screen, three over-head projectors, acetate, tyvek. The images are cut out and  layered on three different overhead projectors at the same time to get a sense of depth and movement. For each Neighborhood Lights event, three puppeteers performed live while I read narration, and the band Trucker Talk played live on stage next to the screen. There were opening acts from local poets, puppeteers, and musicians, community tabling for resources, family activities, and local food vendors.  Please see credits for a list of all the people that contributed to this project. 

Workshops: Along with the Opening Night Event and projected shadow puppet performance, each neighborhood project had a workshop component to teach a skill. For both neighborhoods, we made laser-cut, LED-lit lanterns with drawn silhouettes of iconic imagery from the area on each panel.