Rango Tango was a short marionette performance that explored movement and rhythm with an orangutan puppet. I created Rango Tango at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center in Waterford, Connecticut as part the 2006 National Puppetry Conference, where I worked with marionettist, Phillip Huber who choreographed and directed the piece. Later, I performed Rango Tango at the Revolving Museum in Lowell, MA. The performance was part of a special edition of Blood from a Turnip for the Pulling Strings: Traditional and Contemporary Puppetry Exhibit.
Phillip Huber’s work spans theatre, cabarets, and film. Before he launched Huber Marionettes in 1980 with partner David Alexander, he worked for Tony Urbano and Jim Henson. Huber has played the international cabaret circuit that including the Lido in Paris, Casino de Monte Carlo, the Cunard, cruise lines, and The Tonight Show. Huber created and manipulated marionettes for the film, Being John Malkovich. He performed his theatre piece Suspended Animation in Japan, South Korea, Brazil, Ireland, France, Spain, Portugal, Switzerland, Norway, Mexico, and Canada. He has collaborated with Tony Ousler on Don’t Trust Anyone Over Thirty at the Whitney Museum. Recently, Huber manipulated puppets for the film, Oz the Great and Powerful.
Blood from a Turnip was an ongoing evening of short-form puppetry for adults that ran for 19 years in Providence, RI. Co-founded and curated by Vanessa Gilbert, Blood from a Turnip offered professional puppeteers and those new to the art form an opportunity to present big stories, in miniature. Perishable Theatre ran for over a quarter century in Providence and provided some of the edgiest productions in the state.
The mission of the O’Neill’s National Puppetry Conference is to encourage puppet artists to create and communicate through the visual and kinetic form of the puppet, to push beyond their personal boundaries, and develop new works for puppet theater. Participants collaborate with renowned guest directors, puppet artists, and playwrights to develop innovative productions conceived by guest artists, as well as presentations initiated by the conference participants.
Funding for my time at the O’Neill was made possible with funding the Kevin Clash Minority Scholarship.