Dear Great Small Works Family,

From all of us to all of you, greetings! Hugs, love and appreciation. There is no doubt that times are fearful and unknowable, and that we are in for some tough rounds. There is a ton of organizing work ahead and we'll put our puppeteer shoulders to the wheel of that effort in all the ways we can. We are trying, as Kelly M. Hayes advises, to not assume maximal outcomes for the new administration. "That’s a form of psychological surrender.” They will stumble, fail and misstep. We will be creative. 

In the spirit of not backing down, Great Small Works is diving full body into the creation of a new full-length show we hope to present in January of 2026. It’s called The Myceliad. It’s a shadow puppet epic that tracks the voyage of an eclectic crew of New York puppeteers (us) thrust out to sea by the crises roiling the country, crafted as a homeopathic horror story in which issues facing us in the real world are introduced in parable form. In our epic, a fantastical Mushroom Oracle conveys to the crew – in the journey’s most perilous moments – the wisdom of listening, of leaning into decades of movement strategy, of mobilizing all of the powers they do have lest they be used against them, and ultimately, learning to live, like fungi, in the middle of a diverse and ever-changing world. Not since Muntergang and Other Cheerful Downfalls have we created such an ambitious, multilayered full evening work.

Great Small Works exists to keep theater at the heart of social life, and to help keep each other alive. So, in further non-capitulation to despair, we are escalating. Most of our funds sustain our studio (see below) and our work on large-scale community based projects (also below). In these strange times we are asking you to do something unusual: please fund us to be performing artists in our own work. Our 2025 campaign to bring you the best medicine we can offer supports three company residencies through the coming year.

Just $25 dollars (or any amount) right now will fuel this work and let us do it in style.

Please donate HERE. [www.greatsmallworks.org/donate]  Or, send a check to Great Small Works at 315 W. 86th St., 4E, NYC, NY 10024. Great Small Works is a 501(c)(3) non-profit and your donations are tax-deductible.

With gratitude,

Jenny, John, Mark, Roberto, Stephen, Trudi

Some highlights of 2024

Spaghetti Dinners:  Great Small Works’ signature cabaret-style, one-time-only events dating back to the mid-1980s, an ancestor of today’s burgeoning “puppet slam” movement continue and are broadcast as hybrid on-site/online events whenever possible. Four Spaghetti Dinners took place this year:

            1) January: ”Solidarity Songs,” our annual year-end/beginning large-scale event at Judson Memorial Church. With a Great Small Works reflection on Solidarity; an underwater ballet composed of giant sea creatures made of seaside garbage by Gregory Corbino; traditional Abéimahani singers singers; Heather Christian’s community choir from Terce ; puppeteers Rowan Magee and Takeme Kitamura, Chinese Theatre Works and Boxcutter Collective; and a world polka dance band led by trumpeter Frank London;

            2) February: the NYC premieres of two Great Small Works Toy Theater productions at Jalopy Theatre – “We Love Trees” by John and Trudi with musicians Marji Gere and Dan Sedgwick, “Ten Sentences: On the Life of Robert Walser” by Mark, and a screening of “Living Objects in Black,” Jacqueline Wade/Women of Color’s film about African American Puppeteers;

            3) April: "What Would Rumi Do?," the 7th iteration of Spaghetti Ramadan co-hosted with curator Arian Nakhaie of Fihi Ma Fihi Worlds that drew its material from the teachings of Persian poet and great thinker Jalaluddin Rumi. Musicians from across the Muslim world performed, and Jenny partnered with Keri Egilmez of the Whirling Imaginarium puppet company on a daytime program which allowed many families with kids to share the meal, participate in the craft tables, and take part in the anti-genocide pageant; 

            4) November: another evening at Jalopy Theatre of shadow puppets, projection and paper movie shows responding to the news of the day.

 Naming the Lost Memorial Project: Company member Jenny Romaine played a leading role in conceiving, designing and organizing the 2024 edition of Naming The Lost Memorials – a yearly city-wide mobilization of communities to create and erect memorial artwork in honor of the thousands lost to the Covid epidemic since 2020. Great Small Works has been a core partner on the project since its inception, together with City Lore, Mano a Mano: Mexican Culture Without Borders, Green-Wood Cemetery and the New-York Historical Society, exhibited in outdoor public spaces such as the perimeter fence of Green-Wood cemetery in Brooklyn and St. Mark’s Church in the Bowery, to invite collective reflection on the enormity of the pandemic. This year’s memorial, “A Big Slow Majestic Covid Memorial of Murmurs and Testimonials,” was on view at Green-Wood Cemetary from May 3-June 3.

Touring:-

“Three Cookbooks in the Garden,” a magic act (in Yiddish) created by Jenny about the arrival of eggplant to the cuisines of co-vivencia medieval Islamic Spain, continues to tour to communities and festivals, speaking across traditions where "divide and conquer" is used to keep us demobilized, alienated and depressed.

“We Love Trees” was performed for seniors, students and residents at a series of public housing and senior residential centers in Somerville, MA.

“Ten Sentences: On the Life of Robert Walser” premiered at the 2024 Casteliers Festival in Montreal.

Building Stories Studio: Great Small Works continues to anchor Building Stories, LLC, the multi-use creative space anchored by an interracial, intergenerational crew of arts practitioners - film makers, puppeteers, graphic designers, and radical visual artists and technicians providing support to grassroots organizing. Over the past year, the studio has been used by hundreds of cultural workers and activists in this serious moment of increased movement need. We have ongoing pride that the infrastructure we have fought for and nourished since the 1980s can enable so many to hold and build the energies they need to fight and win!

From our collaborators: “Building Stories is a space to make things which can be visible in the street and claim power.”

(sigh of relief) “There is a space set up with all the tools and materials you need, an infrastructure of hosts who can make sure you can find the key, and/or welcome you in?”

Please donate here: www.greatsmallworks.org/donate

From Top: Naming the Lost Memorial Project, photo: Erik McGregor;  We Love Trees; What Would Rumi Do?, Spaghetti Ramadan 2024, photo: Erik McGregor;  Ten Sentences: On the Life of Robert Walser  

SPAGHETTI RAMADAN VOL. 7

 

SPAGHETTI RAMADAN, VOL 7:  WHAT WOULD RUMI DO?

A Ramadan Decompression Garden Party

SUNDAY, April 14, 2PM-5PM
La Plaza Cultural Community Garden
9th Street and Avenue C, New York City

Suggested donation $11-$33, pay what you can

Advance tickets here: 

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/great-small-works-and-fihi-ma-fihi-worlds-present-spaghetti-ramadan-vol-7-tickets-872956204507

Also available at the door.

Info: 917-319-8104

Rain cancellation will be announced by 11AM on April 14th. Notification will be posted here: 

An outdoor celebration of Ramadan and spiritual kinship, with music, puppets and a shared meal.

PERFORMANCES BY:

Iranian-Balkan Silk Road Crossover Vibes
*Senavazi (Mehrnam Rastegari, Daro Behroozi, Matt Moran)

Iranian
*Mitra Khorsandi

West African
*Salieu Suso

Americas (Hip Hop)
*Legendary Cyphers
*Public Housing NYC

Puppet/spectacle by Jenny Romaine/Great Small Works & Keri Egilmez/The Whirling Imaginarium **Featuring master Arabic drummer, singer and dancer, Ramzi Edlibi **

Bedazzled “spoons of liberation” craft table for everyone interested in freedom for all captives and political prisoners

This year we are trying to figure out what time it is on the Spaghetti Ramadan clock of the world? by delving into the poetry and teachings of Jalaluddin Rumi, the thirteenth-century Persian poet,  scholar of the Qur’an, Sufi mystic, and great thinker.  We'll ponder Rumi's journey to look for subtle approaches to love and resilience that resonate with the needs of our current moment.

About: 

Spaghetti Ramadan began in 2017 when two NYC cultural workers, a Muslim (Arian Nakhaie) and a Jew (Jenny Romaine), conceived of a spiritual kinship celebration to bring people together at a time of increasing polarization.  Nakhaie and Romaine met through political organizing and art-making in NYC in 2013. Jenny and Arian’s bond has strived to cultivate an open shared space that allows for the free exchange of ideas. 

 

We built this container between Jews & Muslims because we predicted there would be moments like this where “divide and conquer” would be used to keep us demobilized, divided and depressed. We wanted to make sure we had the relationships and socio-cultural art making practices in place to address divisive propaganda. Our solidarity of years is why we’ve been able to work in tandem in collaborative satire and storytelling that will counter militaristic narratives.

 

Rumi Continued

As we delve into Rumi's teachings and navigate the complexities of our world, we'll harness the power of art to ignite dialogue, foster empathy, and envision a more just and compassionate future.

Exploring Emotional Depths:

Reflect on heart hardening amid societal turmoil. How can Rumi's emphasis on communal love and compassion guide us through these challenges?

Drawing from Rumi's Wisdom:

Consider Rumi's metaphysical identity and its relevance to contemporary struggles. How can his teachings inform our resilience and creative expression in adversity?

Navigating Injustices:

Contemplate the complexities of historical and present injustices. How do we reconcile admiration for Rumi's wisdom with societal realities?

Cultivating Love and Compassion:

Delve into the transformative power of love and compassion amidst conflict. How can Rumi's poetry and Islamic tradition inspire forgiveness, courage, and faith?

Confronting feelings of complicity, and accountability in societal injustices.

How do we navigate shame and guilt, drawing from Rumi's teachings on introspection and ethical engagement?

 

This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts.

Additional thanks to: the Puppet Slam Network, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, the Scherman Foundation, and the Constance and Jarvis Doctorow Family Foundation.

Spaghetti Dinner

Sunday, February 25th, 7:30 PM

Jalopy Theatre

315 Columbia Street, Brooklyn

Savor the flavors of new work by Great Small Works and Friends

and... Spaghetti To-Go!

$20 suggested donation, no one turned away for lack of funds.

Tickets available at https://www.viewcy.com/e/great_small_works_spa
or at the door

Out of Covid safety concerns, we will not break bread (or spaghetti) together. but **Everyone will go home with a container of R. Rossi's special pasta!**

Masks required.

Featuring:

"Ten Sentences: On the Life of Robert Walser"

by Mark Sussman
A native of Biel, Switzerland, Robert Walser has been described as “a clairvoyant of the small.” A writer of keenly detailed observational prose, he published feuilletons, stories, and short novels in the early years of the 20th century. With limited means of support and suffering from a mental breakdown, he later moved to a sanitarium where he walked the countryside, producing no further writing. A collection of microscopic texts, written on the backs of visiting cards, envelopes, and matchbooks, was found in a shoebox after his death in 1956. Using a “cranky” – a hand-cranked moving scroll – with flat paper puppets and rear-projected video to evoke this solitary and contemplative life.

"We Love Trees"

by John Bell, Trudi Cohen, Marji Gere and Dan Sedgwick
A paper theater play with live music by Gere (violin) and Sedgwick (piano) featuring a magnificent copper beech tree which grew in Somerville, MA, on the same land where the musical Hadley family lived in the early 20th century. It celebrates trees, and what we can learn from them. With texts from Peter Wohlleben, Robin Wall Kimmerer and Jill Jonnes, and music by Henry Kimball Hadley and Stevie Wonder.

Excerpt from "Living Objects in Black," a film written and directed by Jacqueline Wade

A spiritual hybrid documentary film about various Black puppeteers who took part in the historical Living Objects: African American Puppetry exhibit at the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry at UCONN.

Info: 917-319-8104

Great Small Works programs are made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature. Additional thanks to: Puppet Slam Network, Scherman Foundation, and the Constance and Jarvis Doctorow Family Foundation.