Welcome Home: A Traveling Crankie Puppet Slam!

Mackenzie Doss [she/her] is a Southwest born writer, director, educator, fabricator and puppeteer. She received her MFA from the University of Connecticut Puppet Arts Program in 2022 and is the current Managing Director for Sandglass Theater in Putney, VT. Her previous work includes creating and directing A Eurekan Spectacle (Eureka Springs Arts Council), writing The Combustibles (Five & Dime Drama Collective), Directing Accountability (Five & Dime Drama Collective), Assistant Directing Nehprii Amenii’s Food For the Gods (Connecticut Repertory Theatre), and performing as part of the Sandglass Theater ensemble for Oma and the Doppelskope/Sandglass Theater co-production of The Amazing Story Machine.

Prepare to be transported into a world of wonder and enchantment with Madison J. Cripps, a puppeteer whose talent has captivated audiences for almost two decades. Madison's dedication to the art form has earned him a UNIMA citation of excellence in puppetry and through his meticulously crafted marionettes and storytelling, he creates a unique connection that transcends time and space, leaving spectators spellbound and their imaginations ignited.

Kay Kinderman: I have done a little bit of everything but have always had a special place in my heart for the detailed and the small and the intimate. I'm always dancing with the notion of grief and love being inseparable. Bloodletting and blessing have the same etymological root.

Storm Welch is the visual artist, illustrator, vocalist, writer, and shadow puppeteer of the Crankie "Hares on the Mountain" as well as many other Crankies. A traveling artist, Storm originally hails from the Monadnock Region of NH and currently resides in Brattleboro, VT. They take inspiration from living folk traditions across the northeast and adapt and arrange Appalachian and European folk ballads to visualize stories about loss, queerness, change, and most importantly, more than human brethren- flora and fauna. "Welcome Home" is a puppet slam organized by Storm with a traveling circus tent proscenium made in collaboration with Hannah Ellingwood of Gnome Studio.

Director, designer and puppet theatre artist Anatar M. Gagné is originally from Caracas, Venezuela. She holds a MFA in Puppet Arts from the University of Connecticut, and a BA in English/ Creative Writing from Hunter College. Her strong background in art, dance, writing, fiber and fabrication all come together seamlessly with her love for puppetry.

She has trained at the National Puppetry Conference at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center, designed puppets for The Dramatic Question Theater, Yale, Hartford Symphony, Boston Pops and Glass Half Full Theaters "Maebelle's Suitcase/La Maleta de Maebelle" where she was nominated for outstanding puppetry design by B. Iden Payne Awards in 2024. In 2023 she won 1st place in community impact at Nor'Easters 25th video Festival Alliance for Community media for the "Superhero Within." She has performed in slams all over the country, and has toured her full length show Calle Allende, a puppet theater production inspired by a journal entry in Frida Kahlo’s Diary. The show explores themes of pain, inspiration and infertility- all themes that became very personal in her own life. She is the proud recipient of a Jim Henson Workshop grant for “Sueños”. She is the founder and curator of The Pinned & Sewtured Puppet Cabaret and is proudly supported by the Puppet Slam Grant Foundation. Anatar was the Workshop Chair for the 2023 Puppeteers of America National Puppet Festival which had bilingual workshops for the first time and sits on the board of Puppeteer of America Board of Directors. Her newest project "Widow Bunny" explores grief through self portraits.

Doors are at 7pm and music will begin at 730! Seating is first come first served!

Thanks to support from Savings Bank of Walpole, this show has an Access For All option which lets you name your price (you can't buy multiples of this option at the same time, so to buy more than one ticket, it is necessary to do each additional ticket in a different transaction).

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Host or Publisher Nova Arts