John Bell Talks About the Uncanny

In the Valley of the Uncanny: Humans and Humanoids

Saturday, January 12 at 7:30pm. Suggested donation $9

We are located at 322 Union Avenue in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

 

Artist Laurie O'Brien, filmmaker Allison de Fren, neuroscientist Asif Ghazanfar & artist John Bell will be in attendance for presentations and a discussion following moderated by Cabinet editor D. Graham Burnett. This event was organized by Toby Lee.

Puppets, robots, cyborgs, sex dolls, automata. These not-quite-human beings alternately – sometimes simultaneously – attract, move and repulse us, populating the social landscape as our toys, our tools, our companions and our fantasies.

In the 1970s, Japanese roboticist Masahiro Mori first used the term “The Uncanny Valley” to describe the profoundly unsettling sense of the non-human in these human-like beings. Building on Freud’s definition of the uncanny as the feeling of strangeness in something familiar, Mori’s theories have since become influential in fields as diverse as puppetry, psychology, animation and video games.

Our guests take us on a tour of the Uncanny Valley, exploring the horrors as well as the pleasures of the not-quite-human. John Bell traces a history of the uncanny in puppetry; Allison de Fren shares her short documentary on robot fetishists; Asif Ghazanfar discusses his research on the Uncanny Valley effect among monkeys; and Laurie O’Brien introduces us to Toby the Puppet. Together, they examine and indulge in the enduring human fascination with the humanoid.

Union Docs Website:

http://www.uniondocs.org/2013-01-12-the-uncanny-valley-humans-and-humanoids/

December 30th Spaghetti Dinner

GREAT SMALL WORKS SPAGHETTI DINNER

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 30, 7:30 PM

JUDSON MEMORIAL CHURCH

55 Washington Square South, New York, NY

Suggested Donation:  $5-20 (pay what you can)

Info:  917-319-8104

Great Small Works and friends welcome in the New Year with

Music! Words! Puppets! Light! Glitter! Pasta, and maybe a little champagne!

featuring:

Sandy! Sandy! Sandy! (episode 2)

An oral history-based soap opera performed by NYC water creatures dealing with the aftermath of the mega storm, with Daniel Rosza Lang/Levitsky, Alma Sheppard-Matsuo, Hannah Temple, Turtle Garaufis, Meredith Holch, Sarah Blust, Eleonore Weill, Lee Frisari, Stephen Kaplin. Directed by Jenny Romaine.


Plate Tiptonics
The big-band inspiration of Tiptons Sax Quartet members Tina Richerson and Jessica Lurie, a collaboration with a stellar roster of NYC musicians, performing Tiptons' tunes as well as originals penned by ensemble members, covering genres from micro-Big Band to Gospel, Bluegrass to Balkan, Whimsical Jazz to Nocturnal Funk.
With: Tina Richerson, Jessica Lurie, Matt Darriau, Katie Down, Art Baron, 
Pam Fleming, Stefan Zeniuk, Ben Syverson, Sarah Ferholt, Rebecca Buxton and more! You can dance, you can listen, you can sing along! 

Members of the Heels on Wheels Glitter Roadshow bring you a few queer cabaret acts with a femme-inist edge, including videographer/puppeteer Adelaide Winsome, theatre performer Heather Acs, and multimedia artist Damien Luxe. www.facebook.com/heelsonwheelsroadshow

  

Amour Obscur is a Brooklyn-based gypsy punk band that offers a theatrical performance that draws from the striking visual aesthetics of the Weimar cabaret and American sideshow. Mixing unique instrumentation—vocals, accordion, upright bass, trombone, mandolin, tenor banjo and percussion—and original composition that draws upon such eclectic influences as traditional Romani music, Kurt Weill, Americana, and klezmer…to contemporary dance music—Amour Obscur creates a sound that reflects the experience of the underground for artists, hobos, neo-gypsies and revelers everywhere.

With:  Dee Dee Vega (Vocals), Matt Dallow (Accordion), Yoni Benshlomo (Upright Bass), Fabio Colombo (Drums, Percussion), Sebastian Isler (Trombone), Jeff Paris (Trumpet)

Some words from Debbie Yorizzo, cab driver and aspiring poet.

AND

A brief talk by Mark Sussman about Toy Theater.

Dec.30th Spaghetti Dinner, Dec. 22nd Concert--and, Hanukah!

SAVE THE DATE!

GREAT SMALL WORKS SPAGHETTI DINNER

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 30^th

JUDSON MEMORIAL CHURCH

Great Small Works and friends welcome in the New Year with music, puppets, pasta, and maybe a little champagne!

With guests Heels on Wheels, a new installment of Sandy Sandy Sandy, and other musical and theatrical delights to be announced.

Lee Frisari, Jenny Romaine, Alma Sheppard-Matsuo. The Drunken Sailor, Salty the Castaway and Coral reflect on Hurricane Sandy at an underwater relief hub. an oral history-based soap opera about Sandy from the perspective of water spirits and creatures who live in the waters of NYC. Photo by mornography.

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And - Family, because you are so awesome and deserve some serious Hanukah fun, we offer this holiday happiness latke -- YES! It's...

A Blue Mime Khanike

a mixed media fantasy exploring the history of Hanukah through the eyes of Mimes (!?). Featuring Jenny Romaine, Sam Wilson, Michael Winograd's Infection, mornography, Stephen Kaplin, Jennifer Miller, Sarah-Mina Gordon, Alicia Gerstein, and others. For screenings at your parties, solo moments, or slow shifts. The Light is coming back!!!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=if6-cn4KXls

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Also, mark your date books for:

A Kholem/Dreaming in Yiddish: A Concert in Tribute to Adrienne Cooper

Saturday, December 22, 2012

Kaye Playhouse, Hunter College

Tickets: $18, $36, $54

http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/303476

Or, visit

http://kayeplayhouse.hunter.cuny.edu/tickets.shtml

for details on how to buy tickets by phone, fax, mail or in person.

Featuring: Michael Wex, Michael Alpert, Joanne Borts, Sarah Gordon, Dan

Kahn, The Klezmatics, Psoy Korelenko, Shura Lipovsky, Frank London, Zalmen

Mlotek, Mikveh, Eleanor Riessa, Jenny Romaine, Basya Schaechter, Lorin Sklamberg

SoCalled, Theresa Tova, Veretski Pass, Michael Winograd

Orchestra: Richie Barshay, Dave Licht, Jon Singer - drums; Brian Glassman - bass;

Marilyn Lerner, Dan Rosengard - keys; Avi Fox Rosen, Yoshie Fruchter - guitars;

Patty Farrell, Lorin Sklamberg, josh Horowitz - accordions; Matt Darriau - winds

Dan Blacksberg, Susan Watts, Ben Holmes - brass; Cookie Segelstein, Lisa Gutkin - strings

Special guests: Marsha Gildin, Tine Kindermann, Susan Leviton, Avram

Mlotek, Michelle Miller, Andrea Pancur, Mark Rubin, Miryem Khaye Seigel, Ilya

Schneyveys, Eve Sicular, Josh Waletsky

SPAGHETTI DINNER FINALLY RESCHEDULED for NOVEMBER 19th

YES! It's really happening!

GREAT SMALL WORKS SPAGHETTI DINNER
presents

SPOOKY SEASON! 

Monday, November 19, 2012, 7:30pm
Teatro SEA  [new location!] 107 Suffolk St, NYC
tix: $5-15 (sliding scale) | info: 917-319-8104

Join us for a post-storm, post-election, post-Halloween evening of spaghetti, songs, banners, crankies and puppets!

Puppet shows by Great Small Works and friends, Spybird Theater, Rachel Schragis, and Greg Corbino

Music by Villa Delirium
 

VILLA DELIRIUM
Inspired by eerie traditional folk songs of Germany, Ireland and the Balkans as well as murder ballads of the American South, New York band Villa Delirium writes and performs their own startling compositions, as well as choice covers including "Crystal Ship" by The Doors (sung in German and hailed as "Very Brechtian" by Doors' drummer John Densmore) and Warren Zevon’s classic "Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner" done up as a haunting Celtic waltz. http://www.facebook.com/pages/Villa-Delirium/202478256482598

Tine Kindermann: Voice, saw and violin. A German chanteuse/ visual artist, Tine’s recent credits include performing in Germany with Iggy Pop and Marc Ribot. John Kruth: Voice, guitar, mandolin, banjo, sitar, harmonica and flutes. Kruth has 9 solo albums, co-leads the world music ensemble TriBeCaStan and has worked with Allen Ginsberg and Violent Femmes. Kenny Margolis: Accordion and keyboards. A member of Cracker and TriBeCaStan, Kenny played in the late great Willy Deville’s band. Christopher Morrow: Trombone. A member of TriBeCaStan and Kokolo Afrobeat Orchestra. (Subbing for Doug Wieselman) Steve Bear: Pots, pans, boxes and assorted batterie. Steve played drums in the legendary Wisconsin band Swamp Thing.

JANA ZELLER, Spybird Theater, excerpts from “Eye of the Storm”

An excerpt of our new full-length piece which will premiere in 2013, involving an elegant woman who is waiting for the return of her sailor son on a shrinking island that faces a storm. She is a rod puppet haunted by shadow visions, and her only neighbors are a set of grotesque hand puppets in their puppet booth.  This excerpt features the two hand puppets Kasper and Gretel as they bang around their domestic obstacles.  www.spybirdtheater.com

Full-length piece performed with Zak Grace.  

Directed by Kali Quinn and Ines Zeller-Bass.

Hand puppet coach: Alice Boehm

Music: Anna Patton

Created with support from the Jim Henson Foundation and a commission from Sandglass Theater funded by the NEA.

RACHEL SCHRAGIS, “One Question"

A mini-cranky from the studios of Occupy Wall Street Puppetry Guild

GREG CORBINO, “The Story of Otto Pit-Sling,” a cantastoria

JOHN BELL and TRUDI COHEN, "Living Newspaper" toy theater

and

GREAT SMALL WORKS & FRIENDS, "Sandy Sandy Sandy"

An underwater interpretation of hurricane events from the perspective of mermaids, seaweed serenaders, and the rest of us, with Mary Feaster, Lee Frisari, Turtle Garaufis, Meredith Holch, Daniel Lang-Levitsky, Ben Meyers, Jenny Romaine, Alma Sheppard-Matsuo, Hannah Temple, and more!

###

SPAGHETTI DINNER UPDATE

SPAGHETTI DINNER is NOT happening on November 5th.  Stay tuned for updates as soon as we have them!  Regrets.

Spaghetti Dinner postponed to November 5th

GREAT SMALL WORKS SPAGHETTI DINNER HAS BEEN POSTPONED.
New date:  MONDAY, NOVEMBER 5th.
Now the season is really getting spooky...
Thank you, Teatro SEA!!

Great Small Works Spaghetti Dinner

GREAT SMALL WORKS

SPAGHETTI DINNER

Spooky Season!!

MONDAY, October 29, 2012

7:30 PM

TEATRO SEA, Clemente Soto Velez Cultural Center

107 Suffolk Street, New York, NY

Admission:  $15 (sliding scale)

Info:  917-319-8104

Join us for an evening of spaghetti, songs, banners, crankies and puppets!

VILLA DELIRIUM
Inspired by eerie traditional folk songs of Germany, Ireland and the Balkans as well as murder ballads of the American South, New York band Villa Delirium writes and performs their own startling compositions, as well as choice covers.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Villa-Delirium/202478256482598

Tine Kindermann: Voice, saw and violin. 
John Kruth: Voice, guitar, mandolin, banjo, sitar, harmonica and flutes.  
Kenny Margolis: Accordion and keyboards. 
Christopher Morrow: Trombone. 
Steve Bear: Pots, pans, boxes and assorted batterie. 

YAEL RASOOLY, excerpts from “Paper Cut”
The language of black and white cinema is transformed to the “low–tech” universe of paper cut-outs and object theater, creating a tension that is absurd, painful and humorous.

Born in Jerusalem 1983. Yael was trained primarily as a classical singer, and went on to study theater design at the foundation program at Central St. Martins college of Art and Design, London. She began developing her unique theatrical language at the School of Visual Theater In Jerusalem, where she specialized in direction, puppetry and design during four years, graduating with excellence and awards by the city of Jerusalem.  Since 2006, Yael has been creating independent theater work and performing at International festivals throughout Europe, USA, South America, and the Far East. Her solo production Paper Cut has won several International awards and is currently on an extensive tour in festivals worldwide.  www.yaelrasooly.com

"'Paper Cut' is one of those artfully quirky solo performances that make the New York International Fringe Festival worth checking out. . . »
The NY Times, August 23, 2011

JANA ZELLER, Spybird Theater, excerpts from “Eye of the Storm”
The full-length piece will premiere in 2013, involving an elegant woman who is waiting for the return of her sailor son on a shrinking island that faces a storm. She is a rod puppet haunted by shadow visions, and her only neighbors are a set of grotesque hand puppets in their puppet booth.  This excerpt features the two hand puppets Kasper and Gretel as they bang around their domestic obstacles.  www.spybirdtheater.com

Full-length piece performed with Zak Grace.  
Directed by Kali Quinn and Ines Zeller-Bass.
Hand puppet coach: Alice Boehm
Music: Anna Patton
Created with support from the Jim Henson Foundation and a commission from Sandglass Theater funded by the NEA.


RACHEL SCHRAGIS, “One Question
A mini-cranky from the studios of Occupy Wall Street Puppetry Guild

GREG CORBINO, “The Story of Otto Pit-Sling,” a cantastoria

SAM WILSON, “Ned Talk: A Few Questions About the Newest and Most High-End Technology of the Police State,” a cantastoria

AND—underwater boat rides and creepiness by GREAT SMALL WORKS’ Seaweed Serenaders!!