On September 4th and 5th, 2009 I performed Pump that Pussy, an excerpt from Bride of Wildenstein – The Musical at Great Arizona Puppet Theatre in Phoenix Arizona.
In Bride of Wildenstein – The Musical, an aging socialite grows fur and claws to recapture her philandering game hunter husband’s attention. Using puppets and masks to augment the body, this solo cabaret performance playfully unpacks desire and the contagion of identity with songs that examine the making of a monstrosity.
The weird and tragic love story wildly reimagines tabloid accounts of the real-life “cat woman”, Jocelyn Wildenstein.
As the protagonist’s marriage dissolves, she begins to reinvent herself through drastic measures. But biomedical and surgical procedures to become more feline only heighten her sense of estrangement and embolden her quest to find a fiercer sense of self.
After being estranged from her husband, Jocelyn finds herself in a junk yard pumping party* where she encounters a rat doctor and a pigeon recovering from a beak job. A cockroach who’s just had his thorax pumped convinces Jocelyn to inject her face so she can feel beautiful again.
*a gathering where participants inject industrial grade silicone to create low-cost curves as a dangerous, often fatal alternative to medically sanctioned cosmetic surgery
The performances were part of Great Arizona Puppet Theater’s puppet slam (an evening of short-form puppetry for adults that was hosted by Stacy Gordon and Mack Duncan.
CREDITS
Bride of Wildenstein – The Musical
Written and Performed by
Marsian De Lellis
Direction
Derron Wood
Written with
P.J. McWhiskers
Musical Composition
Josh Senick
Vocal Coach
Sarah Marie Ibrahim
Costume Design
Rachel Weir
Puppet Build
Sarah Sowell
SPECIAL THANKS
Original Co-Director
Dramaturg
Leila Ghaznavi
Originating Set Designer
EuGean Seo
Originating Co-Producer
Jennifer Koblosky
Originating Lighting Designer
Brandon Stirling Baker
Originating Sound Designer
E. Martin Giminez
Originating Scenic Artist
Amanda Smith
Alice Boehm
Byung Lee
Chi Kyung
Chris Barecca
Ellen McCartney
Greg Ballora
Heather Henson
Janie Geiser
Larry Seigel
Leslie Cararra-Rudolph
Lynn Jeffries
Lynn Rosenfeld
Marianne Kubik
Marty Robinson
Pam Arciero
Rafael Lopez Barantez
Richard Termine
Robert Smythe
Ron Binion
Steven Levine
Susan Simpson
Tyler Bunch
Vandy Wood
Z. Briggs
Bride of Wildenstein was developed at CalArts and the National Puppetry Conference at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center with funding from The Durfee Foundation and Ibex Puppetry.
