PUTNEY- On February 20th and 21st Sandglass welcomes the puppet artist, Amanda Maddock, with a new collaborative work, Do Elephants Dream of Eclectic Sheep? In this piece the audience is invited to visit the bedroom and mind of a slumbering elephant whose dreams are just beginning to unfold. The elephant begins to question her fate as the contents of her room and mind reveal messages either fraught with meaning or frivolous…or perhaps both…or neither? Time, scale, character transformation, creatures and objects will be awakened, unpacked, and opened to interpretation.
This piece will be presented as part of Sandglass Theater’s New Visions Series, which serves as a laboratory for new works by artist in the field of puppetry and movement-based theater.
Created by Amanda Maddock and artists first in 2008 as part of the Bushwick Starr’s Bushwhack Series (Brooklyn, NY), the show features tabletop puppetry, shadow images, some object theater, and an original sound score. A residency at the MacDowell Colony in New Hampshire as well as a Jim Henson Foundation seed grant allowed for further development of the show in 2011, and that year it was presented at the PaTCH series for developing puppet works in New York City.
This year, awarded a larger project grant from the Henson Foundation, Amanda is thrilled to bring Do Elephants Dream of Eclectic Sheep? to New England audiences as part of Sandglass Theater’s New Visions Series Amanda has been making art and playing with dolls and puppets for as long as she can remember, and has been doing it professionally in New York City and around the world for over a decade.
She is interested in fine details, character creation, multiple perspectives, eyes and gestures, and fine craftsmanship. In her puppet shows she seeks a dialogue with the audience using skilled manipulation, engaging visual events, and precise-yet-nonlinear storytelling. Other performers include Finn Campman, Andrea Detwiler, Matthew Brooks, Kirk Murphy, and Amanda Maddock, with soundscape by Maria Pugnetti.
The New Visions series presents innovative, adventurous, and socially relevant pieces, that cross-pollinate between genres and disciplines, from dance to puppetry, circus to storytelling. Sandglass presents professional artists, who often rehearse in the Sandglass theater space and then culminate their residency in performances for the local public to receive feedback and engage in dialogue.
The New Visions series is a great opportunity to engage intimately with the artistic process, actively be included in the inception of a new work, and join a community of enthusiastic theater allies in Southern Vermont.
This series is supported by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. Showtimes for Do Elephants Dream of Eclectic Sheep are Friday and Saturday, February 20th and 21st at 7:30pm and Saturday, February 21st at 4pm. Tickets are $16 general and $13 for students and seniors and are available online at http://sandglasstheater.org.
Reservations can also be made by calling the theater at (802) 387-4051. Tickets are payable by cash or check at the door. Getting tickets in advance is highly encouraged as seating is limited. Sandglass Theater is a wheelchair accessible theater located in the heart of Putney, VT.
