PRODUCTION GRANTS ($7,000)

Alva Puppet Theater (New York, NY)
The Harlem Doll Palace
The Harlem Doll Palace is a piece of surrealist historical fiction in which intersecting puppet, actor and object performances utilize bedtime, playtime, teatime and storytime rituals to preserve Aunt Len, the founder and defender of Aunt Len's Doll and Toy Museum in Harlem's, soul forever between life and the afterlife. Photo: Courtesy of the Artist

Eat Drink Tell Your Friends (Brooklyn, NY)
Lectures
Lectures is an allegory about emotional vulnerability and trauma that centers around a girl who is navigating a challenging home life and a carousel horse-maker stuck in time. A physics lecturer serves as a bridge between their two worlds. It is a story about hiding your heart. Photo: Teddy Wolff

Moira Lael MacDonald (Los Angeles, CA)
Blue Waves
Svetlana Alliluyeva (the daughter of Stalin) secretly writes her memoirs as the forces of oppression close in around her; in finding her voice, she ultimately finds her freedom. Photo: Gina Marie Napolitan

Nekaa Lab / Sachiyo Takahashi (Brooklyn, NY)
Shinnai Meets Puppetry: One Night in Winter & The Peony Lantern
Shinnai Meets Puppetry: One Night in Winter & The Peony Lantern is a project to showcase the world of shinnai-bushi, a Japanese song-storytelling tradition interpreted through various new puppetry techniques. Photo: Richard Termine

Odd Savvy (Oakland, CA)
The Ground
The Ground is a sonic/visual poem exploring the intersection of nature and technology through the journey of a lone tabula rasa. Photo: Fred C. Riley III

Josh Rice (Perry, NY)
Kayfabe

Kayfabe is an over the top puppet wrestling entertainment spectacular following the rise and fall (and rise again) of a puppet navigating the tropes and trappings of the often surreal world of professional wrestling. Photo: Kat Kuo

Rogue Artists Ensemble (Sun Valley, CA)
Happy Fall: A Queer Stunt Spectacular
An original interactive theatrical spectacle, about a queer closeted stuntman’s journey to discover himself in a world of faux masculinity, unmasking the importance and danger of being true to oneself. Photo: Rogue Artists Ensemble

Trouble Puppet Theater Co. (Austin, TX)
UNDARK: A Radioactive Puppet Play
Young women find independence and fulfillment in their work only to discover that the work is poisoning them, and that they must fight the military-industrial-governmental complex to establish workers' rights. Photo: Connor Hopkins

Oanh Vu (Minneapolis, MN)
Phantom Loss
Phantom Loss is a tragicomedy show that weaves Vietnamese mythology and American pop culture to explore the impact of criminalized immigration & intergenerational trauma. Photo: Oanh Vu

WORKSHOP GRANTS ($3,000)

Double Image Theater Lab (New York, NY)
HIDE AND SEEK
HIDE AND SEEK is a non-verbal piece inspired by current events that uses objects, shadows, sound effects, music and movement to explore themes of human connection and understanding. Photo: Richard Termine

Dream Eaters Collective (Albuquerque, NM)
Library of the Dreamless
Library of the Dreamless is an immersive puppetry performance, in which audiences are invited to inhabit the role of Sleepers while navigating the surreal landscapes of The Library. Photo: Norah Solorzano

Foreshadow (Brooklyn, NY)
The Spinner
Told through overhead projector shadow puppetry, shadow mask, and an original folk music score, The Spinner reimagines the Fates from Greek mythology as ungodly factory wardens and explores the lengths we will go to make our fates our own. Photo: Walls Trimble

J Hann (New York, NY)
Bequeathed
Bequeathed is a surreal comedic semi-autobiographical show about inherited gender roles, and the fight to transcend beyond societal expectations- all told through a fantastical fiber arts world. Photo: Richard Termine

Nick Lehane (Brooklyn, NY)
The Puppet Remains
The Puppet Remains will be a durational performance for a single tabletop bunraku-style puppet, animated continuously by a rotating chorus of puppeteers, open to the public 24 hours a day. Photo: Courtesy of the Artist

Loco7 Dance Puppet Theatre Company (New York, NY)
Forsaken (working title)
Forsaken evokes conceptual imagery to explore displacement and the conservation of endangered species, encompassing the aftermath of natural disasters, the upheaval caused by conflict and migration, and the human need for belonging. Photo: Denise Greber

Margarita Blush Productions (Storrs, CT)
Where Are You Going, Little Horse?
Where Are You Going, Little Horse? is a puppet theatre production of the play by Bulgarian playwright Rada Moskova. The show will blend puppetry, shadow imagery, and original set, costumes, and music. Photo: Anthony Sellitto

Mixed eMotion Theatrix (Beverly Hills, CA)
Hans Christian Andersen's The Shadow
Hans Christian Andersen’s The Shadow, an original dance/musical fairytale, follows the fortunes and misadventures of a Shadow who is magically set free from his Person. Photo: Barry Weiss

Tommy Nguyen / SuperTurboPlush (Brooklyn, NY)
The Magnificent Ms. Pham
We’re creating the first Vietnamese-American Puppet show to tell new stories of our diaspora adding multitudes of different puppet arts as we have acclimated into our different homes throughout the world. Photo: Doug Fitch

Paper Whisperers (Chicago, IL)
The Story of Lady Li
A story that takes place on the edge of book pages, The Story of Lady Li imagines an impossible encounter between two lesser-known women in Chinese history, both named Lady Li, through a collective act of reading. Photo: Michael Sullivan & Erin Babbin

Janel Schultz (Brooklyn, NY)
PORTALS
Portals is a wandering puppet journey through dreams and imagination. Photo: Janel Schultz

Theodora Skipitares / Skysaver Productions (New York, NY)
The Four Lives
The Four Lives is an immersive performance that suggests that we each have four lives within us: human, animal, vegetable and mineral. Photo: Jane Catherine Shaw

Yuliya Tsukerman (Brooklyn, NY)
Remedy
A solo performance that tries its best to cure common ailments with remedies made of transforming objects (though none of them seem to work right). Photo: Teddy Wolff

Untitled Theater Company No. 61 (New York, NY)
The Left Hand of Darkness
An adaptation by Edward Einhorn and Tom Lee of the groundbreaking 1969 sci fi novel by Ursula K. Le Guin, set on a planet whose inhabitants have no fixed gender. Photo: Linda Wingerter

FAMILY GRANTS ($4,000)

Alex and Olmsted (Baltimore, MD)
Happy Birthday, Mon Ami
Class, cultures, and expectations clash when Henri's American cousin Jack visits him in Paris for a birthday celebration. Photo: Ryan Maxwell Photography

Emmanuel Elpenord (New York, NY)
Jokes with Josue: a Haitian Puppet Show
Jokes with Josue introduces audiences to Haitian culture through toy theater renditions of KRIC-KRAC folktales, marionettes, and clowning all set to the backdrop of traditional rasin music and classic Haitian kompa songs. Photo: Courtesy of the Artist

Flying Cardboard Theater (Detroit, MI)
The Adventures of Dimitri and Banana Sandwich puppet show
A puppet adventure-comedy featuring a pair of young artists in Detroit.  Photo: Jason Hicks

Matt-a-Magical (Glendale, AZ)
Tales from the Bayou
A collection of original folktales set in the murky and mysterious swamps of a bygone era. Photo: Alex Griffin

Possibly Puppets / Risa Lenore (Berkeley, CA)
Agents of Change: Lizards, Carrots, Monsters, Oh My!
This show is a rollicking adventure exploring the nature of change, told through multiple interconnecting story-worlds, with lizards who travel by clouds, humanoid carrot puppets and benevolent monsters. Photo: Risa Dye

Fatima Sambo Schoenfelder (New York, NY)
The Dandelion's Wish
The Dandelion’s Wish is an extraordinary story of never giving up from the perspective of an unlikely wild flower. Photo: Richard Termine