[resident at Salvage Vanguard Theatre, 2803 Manor Rd. -- click for map]
The Head: A Trouble Puppet Show
by Connor Hopkins
Sept. 26–Oct. 12, 2013, 8 pm
Thursdays – Saturdays, 6pm Sundays
Salvage Vanguard Theater, 2803 Manor Road, Austin, TX 78722 - click for map
ASL interpretation offered on selected nights. Group sales welcome. Director/cast talkbacks available for groups of five or more.
**This show contains content and copious amounts of language not suitable for children.**
Tickets$10–$20 at the door or via
Trouble Puppet Theater Co. presents The Head, a darkly hilarious original work of puppet theater for grown-ups. Inside the Man's head, an overworked Mechanic struggles with faulty machinery and the head's other residents, the Personal Demons, to navigate through the day.
The Mechanic maintains and operates the machinery that makes it possible for The Man to get out of bed, go to work, have conversations, and otherwise live daily life. The Man's issues, poor judgment, and bad habits chronically make the little Mechanic's job more difficult. When the Personal Demons climb out of the shadows of the Limbic Lobe, all hell breaks loose inside and outside the Head.
Trouble Puppet's bunraku-style tabletop puppets are each manipulated by as many as 3 puppeteers and are designed and built by Connor Hopkins, our assistant builder, and invited guest builders from out of town. The puppets, the set, and the show are a visually and technically remarkable spectacle, with a gorgeous original score.
A completely original work by the company who brought Austin award-winning productions of The Jungle, Frankenstein, Riddley Walker, Toil & Trouble, and The Cruel Circus. Written and directed by Artistic Director Connor Hopkins (winner of B. Iden Payne Awards for Outstanding Direction of a Drama as well as Outstanding Original Script and The Austin Examiner's Best New Play Written by an Austinite), The Head features music by Justin Sherburn, lighting by Megan Reilly, sound design by K. Eliot Haynes, costume design by Monica Gibson, graphic design by Chris Owen. Performers: Jose Villarreal, Noel Gaulin, Rachel Wiese, Parker Dority, David Higgins, Travis Bedard, Kim Adams, Nathan Lahay, Elyce Lahay, Chris Gibson.
Trouble Puppet Theater Company: Founded in 2004, Trouble Puppet is dedicated to the creation of exceptional works of puppet theater, to the promotion of the art of puppetry, and to the support of its practitioners. We reach as far as we can into the possibilities that puppetry offers, in its many forms and styles, and seek to balance risk and exploration with a drive for excellent craft and technique. Our work is inspired not only by our artistic passion but by our social, political, and human convictions: that there can be no end to the struggle for knowledge and compassion, against injustice and intolerance . . . and boring theater.
Trouble Puppet is a sponsored project of Salvage Vanguard Theater. This production is supported by the Jim Henson Foundation.
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