1987

PROJECT GRANTS

Center for Puppetry Arts – Beatnik Monsters from Outer Space
A work by Jon Ludwig combining elements from classic monster movies, the Beatnik movement, and the emergence of jazz ($4,000)

Long Island Stage, Inc. – Rituals And Cliches
A co-production with Avner Eisenberg and Mark Ross that combines puppetry, mime, dance, performance art, and vaudeville. ($1,000)

Magical Moonshine Theatre – Orpheus Descending: A Musical Masque
A retelling of the Greek myth of Orpheus’ journey to the underworld using large rod puppets, a masked chorus, and live music. ($2,500)

Mettawee River Theatre Company – The Wildman
An exploration of the many guises of the wildman in medieval and Renaissance literature told by masked actors with giant puppets. ($3,000)

Pat Oleszko – Bluebeard’s Hassle: Dr. Jackal Misses Hyde
An adaptation of the Bluebeard opera into a modern tragi-comedy, using shadow play, projections, puppets, and other techniques. ($5,000)

Ragabash Puppet Theater – Move Your Shadow
A piece addressing the South African situation based on the Joseph Lelyveld novel that mixes shadow and three-dimensional puppets. ($2,000)

Sandglass Theater – Invitations to Heaven
A piece for one puppeteer and two musicians illustrating a collection of images in the mind of a young Jewish child. ($3,000)

Skysaver Productions – Measure of Man
A look at historical personages and events in the areas of science and genetics told with life-size and four foot puppets. ($2,000)

Eugene O’Neill Theater Center – The Institute for Professional Puppetry Arts
A professional seminar series held in conjunction with the National Critics Institute summer conference. ($1,500)

Underground Railway Theater – Rhapsody in Blue
A piece using a symphony orchestra as an integral element of the stage picture, along with shadow puppetry and large masks. ($3,000)

“When I was a kid, I wanted to be a puppeteer for the longest time. I forgot about it until after I became an artist and a performer and Paul Zaloom commented that I actually was a puppet, which of course sent me right down the street into the beneficent arms of the Henson Foundation. Who knew? They agreed, to my great delight.”

– Pat Oleszko