November rehearsal residency begins!

Dan Hurlin working from the script

Today we began to work with "Mr. Miller," a shadow play that take place inside two TV sets.  The idea is "Dick van Dyke Show" meets "Eraserhead." We're experimenting with our materials and working our way through the scenes.

Zach and Darius operate the stage left TV set.

Pay no attention to the Zach behind the screen.

Darius working with a Mr. Miller shadow puppet.

Two levels of shadows work together: one on the overhead glass (Darius) and one against the screen (Zach)

Rachael and Sheetal work with stage right TV set.

Sometimes the two TV sets show identical images. Sometimes the two talk to each other.

November 8-18 rehearsal residency

Stay tuned for daily updates on rehearsals.  We'll be in residence at UCLA.  This time we're lucky enough to be working with our full ensemble, including musicians Mike Flanagan and Daniel Corral.  We'll be posting tons of photos, video clips and text, so please do check us out!

Article in the Brattleboro Reformer

A test kitchen for food for thought

Artistic team building puppet theater piece about hunger during Vermont Performance Lab residency

By JON POTTER / Reformer Staff

July 20, 2011

READ THE ARTICLE

From left, Darius Mannino, Sheetal Gandhi and Zachary Tolchinsky work on a scene from Who s Hungry Santa Monica, Tuesday afternoon at Broad Brook Grange in Guilford. (Zachary P. Stephens/Reformer)

Dinner with Friends of VPL

After our second day in the studio, we got to spend the evening with friends of Vermont Performance Lab. Great conversations and delicious food.

Darius and Sheetal chat on the wall.

Amy Denio takes a moment away from the studio to relax.

Darius, Zach, Amy, Sheetal and Rachael on Sara and Dave's beautiful screened-in porch.

Cupcake time!

Getting Wood to Walk

Zach, Rachael and Sheetal perform "Etude #1." Dan Hurlin and the performers have constructed a series of six etudes as a training regimen and to discover what the "Sharon" puppet does and doesn't do.

Viewing Schedule at VPL

Join us for informal viewings in the comings days. We welcome you!


open studios + work-in-progress showing

Who's Hungry Santa Monica?

a new tabletop puppet play 

produced and written by Dan Froot 

designed and directed by Dan Hurlin 

original music composed and performed by Amy Denio

Open Studios: Thursday, July 21 @ 7PM and Monday, July 25 @ 2PM

Work-in-progress Showing: Thursday, July 28 @ 7PM

presented by VPL @ the Broad Brook Grange

3490 Guilford Center Road, Guilford, VT 

$5 donation or 2 non-perishable items to benefit the Guilford Food Pantry

reservations strongly recommended: 802-257-3361 or sara@vermontperformancelab.com

Recording at the Vermont Performance Lab

Working with local community members to record voice over text for the show. Our young friends were very gracious in offering their time and talents, and such professionals!

First Days of Residency at VPL

We're happily working away in the Guilford Grange Hall.  Dan H and the puppeteers have made several etudes with the Bunraku puppet.  Dan F has written several scenes, and Amy has been recording cue after cue at Guiford Sound.  Heaven!  Click here for more photos.

Zach and Darius operate Sharon.  It takes time to work out the mechanics of walking a Bunraku puppet.

Dan Hurlin relaxes at sunset on the patio of Vermont Performance Lab

View of the recording studio from the patio.

More of the VPL compound.

Go figure.

Open Studio!

Wow! Check out the transformation of these objects!  Dan Hurlin, Brian Selznick, Seth Partner and Gordon Landenberger have created incredibly beautiful pieces for Angel's story.

Santa Monica-on-the-Hudson

Dan Hurlin, Gordon Landenberger, Seth A. Partner, and Brian Selznick are hard at work at Dan's puppet studio in Stuyvesant, NY, preparing for our rehearsal residency at Vermont Performance Lab, July 15-28. Here they are:

After losing her Beverly Hills townhouse, Angel's next abode was a cardboard box on the sidewalk. 

Another view of the the wooden "cardboard box." All these items will be painted to look like Delft china.

This Japanese torii sits on plate, representing a story about Angel trecking to a zen mountain monastery outside of Tokyo, in her fur coat and high heels!

Brian Selznick working the drill press in the basement studio of Dan Hurlin's renovated church.

Seth A. Partner working on Angel's Range Rover

One in a long line of stylish homes Angel occupies.

Gordon Landenberger crafts the frame of a house.

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Bride and Groom. Sort of like salt and pepper shakers, but bigger. 

Chris Cahill dies at 54; skater with Dogtown Z-Boys

This is an obituary from the LA Times. I had the honor of creating a book-length oral history with Chris. A few days before he died, Chris gave us permission to adapt his stories into puppetry, and also gave us some wonderful visual ideas. We are humbled to have the opportunity to tell his stories.
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Chris Cahill dies at 54; skater with Dogtown Z-Boys
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He joined up with the trailblazing skateboarding group at the Zephyr surf shop in Santa Monica in the 1970s.

By Keith Thursby, Los Angeles Times
July 4 2011
Chris Cahill, one of the original Dogtown Z-Boys who brought seismic changes to skateboarding with their style and attitude, has died. He was 54.
The complete article can be viewed at:
http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-chris-cahill-20110704,0,519773.story

Visit latimes.com at http://www.latimes.com

Final Day of the L.A. Build

Darius brushes glue onto to dutch hinge. Final act of the build. For now.

The table has a faux tablecloth draping over the edge facing the audience. Actually, it's made of lauan (wood), and hinged to the edge of the table so that it can lift up vertically and become a layer of the ocean swells. It'll be painted trompe l'oeil to look like folds of a table cloth on this side, and on the underside, like ocean waves.

Cindy Darby and Dan Hurlin apply the dutch hinge (muslin soaked in glue).

Twin TV sets, created by Zach, for shadow scenes.  In progress.

DanRae is working on clothing Sharon.

Chris Cahill, 1956-2011

We were saddened to hear of the passing of Chris Cahill, surfer, artist, surfboard maker, and original Z-Boy.  Chris is very special to us.  His story is one of the five that we will be portraying in "Who's Hungry - Santa Monica." Dan Froot and Dan Hurlin last saw him a few days ago, and today we heard he had passed. Chris called me (Dan Froot) after our recent visit to ask for feedback on his artwork. He said that he knew he didn't have much time left (his health was failing), but that he had met some wonderful people in his life, and that he was at peace.  Those were his words.  I will miss him terribly.  This project will be a tribute to his life and love of the ocean.

Agony of the Pull-Toy

Randall is working on a pull-toy that simulates ocean swells. This is a side view.  The paint can and glue bottle are to give it some weight so that the wheels have enough downward pressure to turn. But there are problems...