Wednesday, June 11, 2025

HAPPY SUMMER FROM GREAT SMALL WORKS



Happy summer!

We are sending love, respect and grounding…don’t give up hope! We were made for these times. 

Our company will be in two residencies this summer getting our fully staged "Myceliad" show ready for 2026. A week in June in Craftsbury, Vermont. And a week in August in Trois Rivieres, Quebec, hosted by puppet company Les Sages Fous.

On July 13th, see us in a revival of our classic street show, "Three Graces."
We’ll be performing at Clark Institute of Arts' Community Day in Williamstown, MA

Save the date for our next Spaghetti Dinner -- Spaghetti Karevan, co-hosted with Fihi Ma Fihi, on August 24th at La Plaza Cultural Community Garden on East 9th Street

And if you are in town check out the work of our colleagues and friends:

Puppets Come Home, a puppet slam for the whole family
June 24th, 12 - 2PM  in Brooklyn Commons Park

The Lunatic Fringe Society Orchestra -- Lily Pink and Allison Sniffin
June 21st and 22nd at the Westbeth Community Room
An intimate evening of animal songs for adult audiences

Tuesday, April 22, 2025

Save the date. Spring Spaghetti Dinner

 



Great Small Works' Spring Spaghetti Dinner
"When We Are Among the Trees"
(with a tip of the hat to Mary Oliver - see below)
Puppet shows in the garden!
Featuring --
New work by
Jenny Romaine (GSW) and Keri Egilmez (Whirling Imaginarium)
with special song bird Luisa Muhr
"The Caged Bird's Escape"

And a collection of peep shows, lambe-lambe shows and other tiny gems:
Samantha Sing
“Keep Swimming”
Bark and Branch Theater
“Family Trees”
Stephen Kaplin
“On the Pulse of Morning” by Maya Angelou
Tom Cunningham, Boxcutter Collective
“Opinion Man”
Tom Tuke
"Oracle / Coracle"
Patrice Escandon
“Man in the Moon”
Erika MarLand
“Al Otro Lado”
Emmanuel Elpenord
“The Amazing Cosmo!”
Alicia Gerstein
"Cranky Town"
Kim Fraczek, Sane Energy Proect
“Turn the Crank, Shut it Down! From Toxic Past to Justice Found!”
About NYS largest fossil fuel facility in the heart of North Brooklyn

-- PLUS, TO CAP IT OFF --
Hearts of Steel Jouvert Pan Band!
Suggested donation: $20
Info: 917-319-8104

WHEN I AM AMONG THE TREES
by Mary Oliver

When I am among the trees,
especially the willows and the honey locust,
equally the beech, the oaks and the pines,
they give off such hints of gladness.
I would almost say that they save me, and daily.
I am so distant from the hope of myself,
in which I have goodness, and discernment,
and never hurry through the world
but walk slowly, and bow often.
Around me the trees stir in their leaves
and call out, “Stay awhile.”
The light flows from their branches.
And they call again, “It’s simple,” they say,
“and you too have come
into the world to do this, to go easy, to be filled
with light, and to shine.”


Great Small Works is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts.

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




Friday, April 4, 2025

Spaghetti Ramadan 2025 Resource Guide

As we take a pause from Spaghetti Ramadan this year, we express our spiritual solidarity with the following resource guide: 

Spaghetti Ramadan 2025 Resource Guide 

Nowruz & Ramadan Edition
Published by Fihi Ma Fihi Worlds

For the next 35 years, this has been the last Ramadan to fall during Nowruz. Let’s honor that convergence with depth, beauty, and clarity of direction. Spaghetti Ramadan has always been about weaving unlikely connection -- Muslim, Jewish and non-Muslim -- across ethnicities and generations, the spiritual and political, dinner and du’a. 

This guide is an extension of that spirit. It’s a call to connect with people, places, and practices that nourish the soul and serve the world -- from sufi circles to Palestine organizing hubs, from healing spaces to gatherings that remind us we’re not alone. 

 🌍 Spiritual & Cultural Gathering Spaces 

🕌 Jerrahi Dergah (Chelsea, NYC) Instagram @jerrahidergah Thursday night zikr gatherings, rooted in Ottoman Sufi tradition. Music, prayer, and loving presence. → A sanctuary of remembrance. 

 ☕ Barzakh Café (Brooklyn) Instagram @barzakhcafe A spiritual-cultural community space with nightly programming: poetry, study, prayer, arts, and dialogue. → Heart-centered, creative, rooted in liberation. 

 🪩 Spiritual-Cultural Nightlife (NYC) 

Disco Tehran — Diasporic joy and music rooted in Iranian heritage. 

Laylit — Celebrating SWANA nightlife, Arab musical heritage, and cultural pride. 

🇵🇸 Palestine-Centered Organizing 

Plug into justice-centered, people-powered resistance: 

🔺 Within Our Lifetime 

🔺 Decolonize This Place 

🔺 Palestinian Youth Movement – PYM USA 

🔺 Students for Justice in Palestine – National 

🔺 Jewish Voice for Peace NYC 

🔺 Jews for Racial and Economic Justice – JFREJ 

🔺 If Not Now 

🔺 The People’s Forum – Weekly Palestine gatherings & programming 

📩 Want to add to this list?
Email: salam@fihimafihi.worlds