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PROLOGUE PART II What will you pack in your suitcase when you are going somewhere far away and strange, and you don’t know when you will be back? Stories inspired by the extraordinary life experiences of a group of Chinese ladies who get together weekly for an art class at the Homecrest Bensonhurst Community Center in Brooklyn, New York. Through object manipulation, shadow play and music, this show brings their adventures to life. * This show is in collaboration with the Red Silk Dancers Company |
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Conceived & Designed by SPICA WOBBE
Developed & Performed by SPICA WOBBE & MARGARET YUEN Music by YUKIO TSUJI & Freesound Voice by SO SIM NG, JULISA CHIN SOOK FONG SETO, YIN MUI PUN SUSANNA HOM, JOHN WOBBE |
* Age: 12 and up * Max audience: 80
* Duration: 35 minutes * Black out is necessary * Set up: 90 minutes * Strike: 30 minutes * Stage: 10F (W) x 10F (L) x 7F (H) |
☆ History of the show:
First Chinese Baptist Church/ 21 Pell, New York 2023
HCS Bensonhurst Community Center, New York 2024
14Y Theater, New York 2024
Seward Park Library, New York 2024
Museum of Chinese in America 2024
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HIDE AND SEEK HIDE AND SEEK is inspired by events that happen around us which generate the emotions that either make us hide or/and seek. The whole world has experienced and is still experiencing major difficulties that challenge us to think more about how we can come out from hiding and seek ways of making the world a better place. How can we feel each other and give each other a hand to bring each other up. Through the manipulation of minimal objects, it is depicted in an abstract way, so that the audience can experience the emotions brought by the events from a distanced perspective and see a bigger picture. |
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Concepts by SPICA WOBBE
Design by SPICA WOBBE Performance by SPICA WOBBE & MARGARET YUEN |
* Age: 8 and up * Max audience: 50
* Duration: * Black out is necessary * Set up: 30 minutes * Strike: 15 minutes |
☆ History of the show:
Puppet Come Home: Body Slam @ Coney Island USA, New York 2022
LaMaMa Pupppet Slam, New York 2023
LaMaMa Puppet Festival-- Jump Start, New York 2024
Puppet Come Home: Body Slam @ Coney Island USA, New York 2022
LaMaMa Pupppet Slam, New York 2023
LaMaMa Puppet Festival-- Jump Start, New York 2024
Concepts by SPICA WOBBE
Design by SPICA WOBBE Performance by SPICA WOBBE & MARGARET YUEN |
兒時的家 MY CHILDHOOD HOME This is a shadow performance about Spica's childhood memories. This immersive experience transports the audience back to the time of the 1970s in Taipei, Taiwan. In this enchanting performance, you are not just a spectator; you are a time traveler, transported to a realm where innocence knows no bounds. Through the intricate dance of shadows, witness the world through the eyes of young Spica as she unravels the mysteries and magic of her surroundings. * Age: 3 and up * Max audience: 50 * Duration: 14 minutes * Black out is necessary * Set up: 30 minutes * Strike: 20 minutes |
☆ History of the show:
Chapin School, New York 2022
Nan Shan Senior Center 2022
Chapin School, New York 2023
Mott Street Senior Center 2023
Newtown Italian Senior Citizen Center 2023
Selfhelp Latimer Center 2023
Poly Prep Country Day School, Park Slope, New York 2023
Chapin School, New York 2024
Concepts by SPICA WOBBE & KAREN OUGHTRED Design by SPICA WOBBE Performance by SPICA WOBBE & KAREN OUGHTRED Music by YUKIO TSUJI Special Thanks to JULIE AZUMA, NICKY PARAISO, MEE MEE CHIN AGOSTO MACHADO, MARGARET YUEN EUNG HO PARK, JOHN WOBBE |
Puppeteers, Spica and Karen interviewed 6 extraordinary elders who are representative of New York’s resilience, vibrancy and uniqueness. Their remarkable stories, woven together, are retold through Object and Shadow Theater. The performance, “Inseparable”, explores our common humanity through the transformative lens of these individuals. Based on interviews with Julie Azuma, Nicky Paraiso, Mee Mee Chin, Agosto Machado, Margaret Yuen and Eung Ho Park. "Inseparable" is made possible in part with public funds from Creative Engagement, supported by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and administered by LMCC. * Age: 14 and up * Max audience: 50 * Duration: 50 minutes * Black out is necessary * Set up: 90 minutes * Strike: 20 minutes * Stage: 8F (W) x 15F (L) x 7F (H) |
☆ History of the show:
LaMaMa, New York 2021
St. John’s Lutheran Church, New York 2021
Sirovich Center and Project Ore, New York 2021
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The screen of the Chinese Shadow Theater is called "Ying Chuang (Shadow Window)." Through this window, the audience can see things that reflect culture, history and humanity. This show adopts the name and the art form to reflect the moments and emotions we have been experiencing since the beginning of 2020. The show is inspired by a poem Spica wrote: It rains a lot, recently Why the sky cries so much Teardrops draw the sadness on my window Blur the view in front of me Raindrops take the wind Become thousands of needles Stitch the sorrow in the air Cover the city with a blanket of agony I reach out to the rain to feel the cold and the pain It slips through my hand right to the earth underneath I bend down to my knees And see my plants are still growing The sun is not out yet and the clouds are still heavy But the neighbors' windows open for the 7 o'clock clapping Somehow the wave of the sound tells me It will come eventually |
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Concepts & Design by SPICA WOBBE
Performance by SPICA WOBBE & KAREN OUGHTRED Lighting and Video by JOHN WOBBE Sounds and Music from FREESOUND by InspectorJ, FlatHil, elaineaeris, cheespuff, chimerical, stereobrother,lorenzosu, Snapant and RokZRoom Special Thanks to DOUG SZLOMPEK |
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☆ History of the show:
LaMaMa Puppet Slam, New York 2021
2023 Tertulia Fiestas @ IATI, New York 2023
☆ History of the show:
LaMaMa Puppet Slam, New York 2021
2023 Tertulia Fiestas @ IATI, New York 2023
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PROLOGUE What does it take to move from a place you were familiar with to the other side of the earth, the unknown? These stories were told by a group of Chinese ladies who get together every Tuesday at an art class at the LaGuardia Senior Center on the Lower Eastside of New York. Through shadow, movement and music the show brings their adventures to life. |
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Concept by Spica Wobbe
In Collaboration with Margaret Yuen & Karen Oughtred Design by Spica Wobbe Performance by Spica Wobbe Voice by Wai Ming Lan Pan, Lin Ying Zhang, Anna Wong, Cindy Cheng, Siu Kuen Wong, Bing Kil Shek, Pei Shu Wong & Margaret Yuen |
* Age: 12 and up * Max audience: 50
* Duration: 20 minutes * Black out is necessary * Set up: 30 minutes * Strike: 20 minutes * Stage: 7F(W) x 10F(L) x 7F(H) |
☆ History of the show:
Chinatown Arts Week, New York 2019
LaGuardia Senior Center, New York 2019
First Chinese Batist Church/ 21 Pell, New York 2021
Chinatown Arts Week, New York 2019
LaGuardia Senior Center, New York 2019
First Chinese Batist Church/ 21 Pell, New York 2021
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About the show In this work a mother holds her daughter’s hand, which conveys how the previous generation took care of the next generation. It also tells how a self-taught artist, Ms. Shia Zhaozhi, used her paintings to document her life stories growing up in Meng Xia though a scroll that she painted. The show’s elements include shadow and light, object manipulation, crankie style storytelling, and music. About Ms. Shia Zhaozhi At the age of sixty-five, Ms. Shia Zhaozhi began the process of learning to paint. In the last two decades of her life, she used her paintbrush to document her life in Taiwan. Under the encouragement of her teacher Liu Xiumei, she relied on her memory and her unique simple style of painting to document her life. Although there are no academic techniques in her paintings, her works are full of history and emotion. In more than 300 paintings, she recorded the customs of Taiwan, the rule of foreign powers, the horrors of war, the social changes after liberation, and the modernization of the 20th century. The National Museum of Taiwan History acquired all of her paintings in 2015 for their permanent collection. |
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Concept by Spica Wobbe
Puppet/ Stage Design by Spica Wobbe Lighting and Sound consultant by Joyce Liao Music by Yukio Tsuji Performed by Spica Wobbe |
* Age: 12 and up * Max audience: 50
* Duration: 20 minutes * Black out is necessary * Set up: 30 minutes * Strike: 20 minutes * Stage: 7F(W) x 10F(L) x 7F(H) |
☆ History of the show:
Close To You International Puppet Festival Taipei, Taiwan 2018
Chinatown Arts Week, 21 Pell Street, New York 2018
Shadow Puppet Slam, New York 2019
Think!Chinatown Benefit Banquet, New York 2019
Berkeley Carroll School, New York 2019
Storeytelling Through Shadow Theater, Flushing Town Hall, New York (Virtual) 2020
First Chinese Batist Church/ 21 Pell, New York 2021
Swedish Cottage Marionette Theatre, New York 2022
A Chance Shadow is a poetic play inspired by the Chinese poet Xu Zhimo (1897~1931) and the Spanish poet Federico Garcia Lorca (1898~1936). Xu was one of the first Chinese writers to successfully naturalize Western romantic forms into modern Chinese poetry and Lorca was a social activist who changed the world around him though his unique style of surrealism and theatricality. With their passion for literature, social reform and true love, they changed society. By using the elements of pop-up arts, Shadow Theater, Toy Theater and poetry, the show brings the audience into the poets’ romantic and historical worlds.
This show has appeared at International Poppentheater Festival Dordrecht, Holland (2010), New York Voice 4 Vision Puppet Festival(2009, 2011), International Festival of Puppet Theater Jerusalem, Israel (2011), The BRIDGE Progressive Arts Initiative Charlottesville, VA (2011), Puppetry at the Carriage House, New York (2012), and Close To You Puppet Festival Taipei, Taiwan (2012), Dixon Place Puppet Blok, New York (2011, 2013) and the Sandglass Theater New Visions Series, Vermont (2014)
★ The show is made possible with the support of the Jim Henson Foundation’s Seed Grant (2012) and Project Grant (2013) ★
This show has appeared at International Poppentheater Festival Dordrecht, Holland (2010), New York Voice 4 Vision Puppet Festival(2009, 2011), International Festival of Puppet Theater Jerusalem, Israel (2011), The BRIDGE Progressive Arts Initiative Charlottesville, VA (2011), Puppetry at the Carriage House, New York (2012), and Close To You Puppet Festival Taipei, Taiwan (2012), Dixon Place Puppet Blok, New York (2011, 2013) and the Sandglass Theater New Visions Series, Vermont (2014)
★ The show is made possible with the support of the Jim Henson Foundation’s Seed Grant (2012) and Project Grant (2013) ★
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Concept by Spica Wobbe/ Margot Fitzsimmons
Designed by Spica Wobbe Directed by Nancy Smithner Lighting by Joyce Liao Music by Yukio Tsuji Performed by Spica Wobbe / Margot Fitzsimmons / Liz Parker |
* Age: 12 and up * Max audience: 120
* Duration: 50 minutes * Black out is necessary * Set up: 120 minutes * Strike: 60 minutes * Stage: 25F(W) x 20F(L) x 10F(H) |
★★★ UNIMA SUISSE NEWS called the show:
"...This story is beautifully constructed..." ,
"...The delicacy of the show is extreme..."
"...Telling the story at different levels, the personal and the social..."
"…The art of puppetry is rich and alive..."
☆ History of the show:
Voice 4 Vision Puppet Festival: Puppet Art Attacks Puppet Slam, New York 2009
International Puppet Festival Dordrecht, Holland 2010
Dixon Place: Puppet Blok, New York 2011
International Festival for Puppet Theater Jerusalem, Israel 2011
The Bridge P.A.I Charlottesville, Virginia 2011
Voice 4 Vision Puppet Festival: Puppet Art Attacks Puppet Slam 2011
PATCH Residency: Puppetry at the Carriage House, New York 2012
PS 347 school assembly program 2012
Close to You International Puppet Festival Taipei, Taiwan 2012
Dixon Place: Puppet Blok, New York 2013
Summer creative seminar @ New Victory Theater, New York 2014
Sandglass Theater Residency 2014
10th International Shadow Theatre Festival Schwäbisch Gmünd, Germany 2015
Summer creative seminar @ New Victory Theater, New York 2017
Sirovich Center for Balanced Living, New York 2024
Puppets in the Green Mountains Festival, Vermont 2024
I Laid an Egg is an original piece inspired by Margot’s childhood dream.
In the show she goes on an adventure with her imaginary friend Egg.
The show uses household items from Margot’s everyday life and shadows to
create an imaginative world.
The show is filled with many unexpected surprises and discoveries.
* By using the elements of Shadow Theater, Object Theater, Physical Theater and music,
the show will bring the audience into a child’s imaginary world.
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Concept by Spica Wobbe, Margot Fitzsimmons
Performed by Spica Wobbe, Liz Parker Directed by Nancy Smithner Designed by Spica Wobbe Music by Driftwood Fire, Vlada Yaneva Lighting by Joyce Liao |
* Age: 2 to 8 * Max audience: 200
* Duration: 35 minutes * Language: without words * Set up: 60 minutes * Strike: 40 minutes * Stage: 20F(W) x 15F(L) x10F(H) * Black out is necessary |
☆ History of the show:
National Day of Puppetry, New York 2011
Voice 4 Vision Puppet Festival, New York 2011
Philadelphia Public Library, Pennsylvania 2012
NYU Forum on Theatre for Young Audiences 2012
Jumpin’ Juniper Festival at Brooklyn Arts Exchange, New York 2013
Family Arts Day at City College of New York 2013
Internationale Puppentheatertage Mistelbach, Austria 2013
Kuddelmuddel Kinderkuturzentrum Linz, Austria 2013
Damiet Van Dalsum Theater Dordrecht, Holland 2013
Bethel Woods Center for the Arts-- world stage series 2014
Puppet Series @ LaMama Theatre, New York 2015
Winter Sunshine Series @ Sandglass Theater, VT 2017
West Fulton Puppet Festival, New York 2017
Myrna Loy Center, Montana 2018
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** This show is dedicated to Bertus Maes who fought Huntington’s Disease and passed away in 2010 **
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Concept by Spica Wobbe
Performed by Spica Wobbe/ Margot Fitzismmons Designed by Spica Wobbe Music by Yukio Tsuji |
* Age: 6 and up * Max audience: 50
* Duration: 25 minutes * Set up: 90 minutes * Strike: 45 minutes * Stage: 10 F (W) x 12 F(L) x 10 F (H) (stage) * Black out is necessary |
☆ History of the show:
8th Great Small Works Toy Theater Festival, New York 2008
Internationaal Poppentheater Festival Dordrecht, Holland 2008
10th Black Sheep Puppet Festival, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 2008
Iida Puppet Festival, Japan 2009
International Yunlin Puppet Theater Festival, Taiwan 2012
Summer creative seminar @ New Victory Theater, New York 2015
11th Micro Theater, New York 2022
ThhinkChinatown Arts Festival @ 1 Pike 2024
* Please contact us if you are interested in booking a show *
