On May 19th, 2006, I curated and hosted Blood from a Turnip, Rhode Island’s only late night puppetry salon with Vanessa Gilbert. In this final show of the 9th season and my curatorship, acts included Evan O’Television with Competition, Geoff Nosach of Eagle Ager, David Higgins with The Story of the Black Cow, and spoken word interludes by Christopher Johnson.
From the press release:
Final Show of BfaT’s 9th banner season
Vanessa Gilbert and Marsian, curators of Blood from a Turnip, Rhode Island’s late night puppetry salon, have announced the final show of BfaT’s 9th banner season, 10pm, Friday May 19 at Perishable Theatre. “During this season finale performance we will be saying farewell to our glamorous, fantasy fur-loving, agile and frisky, puppet-pimping creature, Marsian, who will be leaving us for the West coast,” sobbed Perishable artistic director and BfaT founder, Vanessa Gilbert, who was in rare form, clutching an empty bottle of Ambien as single tear trickled down her cheek. “There, There, Vanessa. . . Try not to look at this as a loss, but rather as an opportunity to roast me! Flattery will get you everywhere with me,” added plaything, Marsian, whose contributions to BfaT included: bringing a gutter-femme sense of style to the masses, punking the lineup with an odd charm and quick wit, an annual evening of puppet film and video, brilliant posters, press releases that read like a novel and a Hello Kitty karaoke machine, to name but a few.The line-up includes:
Evan O’Television in Competition
Boston-based Evan and Evan are forced to contend with the possibility of other high profile double-acts eclipsing their own hard-fought battle to be considered the premiere dueling multimedia id and ego if our era. Evan O’Television’s sketches are tightly scripted comic dialogues between Evan, the live performer and Evan, his pre-recorded television alter-ego. These absurdist comedy routines, sometimes called “video ventriloquism” are styled after the call-and-response dynamics of classic comedy pairings such as Abbot & Costello, Burns & Allen & the Smothers Brothers.Geoff Nosach of Eagle Ager
Geoff Nosach et al in “the only natural spectacle that is really gripping is the one which offers both the most moving profundity and at the same time the total simulacrum of that profundity” Charlotte Gibbons, Geoff Nosach and Stephen Cooper graduated from SUNY Purchase in 2004 and perform regularly together. This dancer/sculptor/composer team creates work that usually includes absurdities and ritualistic actions, junky trashy puppets, costumes, and/or set pieces.David Higgins – The Story of the Black Cow
This toy “theatre story about a childhood trip to the mid-west is the first puppet show developed by Higgins, a resident of Providence and husband to BfaT founder, Vanessa Gilbert.With spoken word interludes by Christopher Johnson
Christopher Johnson is the present Poet Laureate for the Black Repertory theater and has performed his “spoken word” on radio for such stations as Power 99.5 in Philadelphia, the “A Radio Network for the Blind” & WMBR of the MIT campus, both in MA. Chris has been featured in cities across the Eastern sea board and has won slams at the Urban Word in Trenton, Euphoria in Newark, Serengeti Plains in Montclair, Brenner’s Brew in Bridgeton New Jersey, as well as AS220 in Rhode Island, Lizard Lounge and the Cantab, both in Boston MA.