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| Performance Dates: |
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May 2005
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| Director: |
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Michael Griggs |
| Writers: |
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Michael Griggs
& Chris Harris |
| Production
Designer: |
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Chris Harris |
| Production
Manager: |
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Jonathan
Walters |
| Original
Music Composer: |
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Jack Falk
& Ralph Huntley |
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Figures created by: |
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Bill
Holznagel, Frank Irby, Bobby Jones, Dawn Panttaja, Katrina Scotto di
Carlo |
| Costume
Designer: |
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Andrea
Royse |
| Stage Manager:
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Alex
Huebsch |
| Production
Assistant: |
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Dave Stefani |
| Sound
& Light Technician: |
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Eric
Lentz |
| Performed
By:
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Lesley
Harper, Mark Hayes, Faith Helma, Erin Leddy, Ben Plont & Ted
Schulz |
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It's reassuring
to see that five years past their last visit to Portland, Poland's
Wierszalin Teatr still has a hold on local puppeteers' imaginations.
This evening of six short folk tales from around the world utilizes
Wierszalin's singular style, particularly in the full physical presence
of the puppeteer, where the very solid puppet (which can be a highly
abstract construction of kitchen utensils as well as a rough birch log)
represents the material world, while the human behind it exists in the
spiritual.... the performers (Faith Helma, Ted Schulz, Mark Hayes, Ben
Plont, Lesley Harper and Erin Leddy) are energetic, and the puppets
themselves are often true works of art.
Steffen Silvis, Willamette
Week, May 2005
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| The quietly
innovative Hand2Mouth Theatre's last production, Wild Child,
was notable--among other things--for its
reliance on a simple wooden puppet. Having demonstrated the raw power
basic puppetry can still wield in this modern world, Hand2Mouth has
moved on to an even greater challenge with their current production, Mysteries
of the Heart . Directed by Michael Griggs from a script he
penned with Chris Harris, Mysteries of the Heart
is a collection of darkly funny folk tales from a smattering of
different cultures, grounded in a traditional Polish theater technique
wherein characters are represented by what are basically stiff, wooden
dolls. With excellent Hand2Mouth company members Erin Leddy
and Faith Helma on board, as well as veteran local stalwarts Ben Plont
and Ted Schulz, the performances in Mysteries are
exuberant and committed. Playing an array of storytellers, animals, and
spirits, the actors weave seamlessly through an odd collection of
folklore from around the globe, including a funny Yiddish morality
tale... eerie Native American spirit-world sagas ... and stories from
the decidedly bleak Brothers Grimm...If anything, the figures portray
the ultimate Mystery of the Heart: the true nature of our bodies. We
are lumps of matter given life and breath by something outside
ourselves, something that we will never understand.
Justin Sanders, Portland
Mercury, May 2005
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