Join Mayo Street Arts and Great Small Works for two evenings of short-format toy theater work in three acts.

Enjoy the Anything Goes Trio (Marji Gere, Dan Sedgwick, and Jazimina MacNeil) playing the music of Tin Pan Alley. Witness Great Small Works'  “We Love Trees.” And ponder a second selection from Great Small Works' repertoire: “Newspaper/Sidewalk Ballet” (Sat, June 17) or “Lyzer the Miser” (Sun June 18).

"We Love Trees"

Featuring a magnificent copper beech tree growing in East Somerville on the same land where the musical Hadley family lived in the early 20th century, “We Love Trees”  celebrates the beauty and value of trees, and warns of the decline in our urban tree canopy.

The show uses diverse source materials from “Braiding Sweetgrass” and “The Secret Life of Trees" to Cajun folk tunes and the music of Stevie Wonder.

“Living Newspaper: Sidewalk Ballet” (6/17 only)

A paper theater play inspired by the conflict in the mid-1960s in New York City between developer Robert Moses and community activist Jane Jacobs. The words of biblical Moses himself help us understand the importance of public space. Spoiler alert: community activists win, and Washington Square Park is saved!

“Lyzer the Miser” (6/18 only)

Based on a Yiddish story by Isaac Bashevis Singer, a poor and clever family tricks a rich and greedy miser into parting with some of his riches. With the help of the wise Rabbi, he teaches a lesson in generosity. The story is told on a simple tabletop, with flat cut-out figures. [Family-Friendly]

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Saturday, June 17 at 7:30 PM (doors 7:00) & Sunday, June 18 at 5:00 PM (doors 4:30 PM); approximately 60 minutes, with short breaks between acts

Tickets are available for $15 in advance, $18 at the door, and $22 for preferred seating (pay-what-you-can available)

Be sure to join Great Small Works at Puppeteers’ Happy Hour for an introduction to “The Art of Toy Theater” on Sunday, June 18 at 1:00 PM.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Anything Goes Trio | Marji Gere (violin, puppetry) and Dan Sedgwick (piano, puppetry) first played music together at the Apple Hill Summer Chamber Music Festival in Nelson, NH, some time around the turn of the millennium. In the ensuing decades they have collaborated on numerous artistic projects, performing chamber music with ensembles large and small, creating original pieces of chamber music theater, co-piloting the music and puppetry collective known as An Exciting Event, and directing Around Hear, a free concert series and educational program in the Mystic River Development, a public housing facility of Somerville, MA. They are currently co-directors of the music program at Dublin School, Dublin, NH.

Great Small Works | Trudi Cohen and John Bell are theater makers, puppeteers, festival organizers, musicians, and founding members of Great Small Works, a visual theater collective created in 1995 in New York City, whose six members share roots in Bread and Puppet Theater. Its members are now dispersed, with outposts in Brooklyn, NY's Hudson Valley, Montreal, and Cambridge, MA. Bell and Cohen anchor the New England base in Massachusetts.

John Bell is the Director of the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry and an Associate Professor of Dramatic Arts at the University of Connecticut. He was a member of the Bread and Puppet Theater company from 1976 to 1986. He received his doctoral degree in theater history from Columbia University in 1993 and is a respected scholar in the field of puppet theater. He is an organizer of the Honk! Festival of Activist Street Bands in Somerville, Massachusetts; and a trombonist in the Second Line Social Aid and Pleasure Society Brass Band. He received the 2011 Research Prize from the Institut International de la Marionette in Charleville-Mezieres, France; and the Puppeteers of America's 2019 George Latshaw Award for puppet scholarship.

Trudi Cohen was a full-time member of Bread and Puppet Theater's resident company in Vermont for 10 years and has performed as a puppeteer in productions directed by Peter Schumann, Janie Geiser, Amy Trompetter, and David Neumann. She was Director of Great Small Works' 2008, 2010, 2013, and 2020 (online) International Toy Theater Festivals and has curated dozens of the company’s Spaghetti Dinner events. She plays the bass drum with the Second Line Social Aid and Pleasure Society Brass Band, and is a founder and organizer of the HONK! Festival in Somerville, MA. She was secretary of the Board of UNIMA-USA for 6 years.

Together Bell and Cohen received Puppet Showplace Theater's 2014 Paul Vincent Davis Award for artistry and mentorship; and New England Foundation for the Arts' 2017 Rebecca Blunk Award for outstanding New England artists.

PAY-WHAT-YOU-CAN POLICY

No one will be turned away for lack of funds; contact MSA at 207-879-4629 or info@mayostreetarts.org for information on our pay-what-you-can admission policy.

COVID-19 POLICY

Audience members, staff, and volunteers will be asked to mask while not actively eating, or drinking.

Mayo Street Arts is committed to the safety of everyone at our events and will adhere to all Federal & Maine CDC guidelines on the day of the event. As we anticipate mid-season changes to our COVID-19 policy, please click here to visit our website and view the most current information.

CANCELLATION POLICY

Mayo Street Arts has a no refund policy for all reservations. In the event that MSA is forced to cancel an event due to weather, illness, etc., refunds will be offered via the Ticket Tailor platform.

Funded in part by the New England States Touring program of the New England Foundation for the Arts, made possible with funding from the National Endowment for the Arts Regional Touring Program and the six New England state arts agencies.

This event is possible with generous sponsorship from The Francis Hotel.