ThreeChairsTheater

In 2010 we began development of a new work called Mr. Bad’s Revenge, a piece based loosely on the combination of Samuel Beckett’s End Game and the personality of Mr. Bad a real life, large, foul tempered, hilarious, cat and an unofficial company member of Three Chairs Theater. We have big hopes for this piece and we have continued developing it into a new expanded version, The Revenge of Mr. Bad’s Revenge. This new version is bigger and “badder” with new scenes and characters and worlds within the world of Mr. Bad.

In late October of 2011 we will be touring this new and expanded show up to Ashland Oregon to premier there at a Midnight Show at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.

Directed by: Evan Drane
Featuring: Cristina Bercovitz, Devra Golden, Daisuke Tsuji
Sound Design and Original Music By: Jonathan Snipes

This piece is the second in our folksong series, a collection of works derived from collaborating with musicians to re-imagine and stage some of our favorite classic folk songs. She Moved Through the Fair, is based off of the folk song of the same name and was first performed at Sancho Gallery as a part of LA’s Got Talent – Craft Night presented by Sean Carnage. This piece uses a combination of shadow and projection puppetry and is performed with live music.

Music and Sound by Jonathan Snipes; Puppetry by Cristina Bercovitz and Devra Golden.

[Show as slideshow]

The Shadow of Heaven was created in collaboration with the Los Angeles electronic band Captain Ahab as a prologue to their typical live set. We traveled this mostly shadow puppetry show all over the US with Ahab on their April 2011 US tour. Along our travels we stopped in the WFMU studio with DJ Marty McSorley and taped a live performance for WFMU radio and we videotaped the performance to be aired on their website. We like to think that this was perhaps the very first puppet show preformed on the radio… if not, it was definitely a first for us!

Video: The Shadow of Heaven on Vimeo

Directed by Cristina Bercovitz; Music by Jonathan Snipes; Puppetry by Cristina Bercovitz and Jim Merson.

Click here to listen to an audio interview with Ahab from that same show.

Little Hands is a music video for the Captain Ahab song of the same name.

Starring Mr. Fingers and a talented cast of 3CTC artists (you die-hard Three Chairs fans may remember Mr. Fingers from our show at The Actors’ Gang in 2009). The visual effects were done almost exclusively by hand using simple puppetry techniques. We hope you will enjoy the video.

Video: Little Hands on Vimeo

Directed by Cristina Bercovitz; Music by Jonathan snipes; Guitars by David Rothbaum; Piano/Orchestrations by John W. Snyder; Featured performances by Daisuke Tsuji, Devra Golden, Jonathan Snipes, Jim Merson, Narin Dickerson, Evan Drane, Kristin Erickson, Jessica Erskine, Andrew McKenzie, and Eleanor Van Hest.

Here are some photos of the process behind the video.

Here we see the man behind Mr. Fingers, Daisuke Tsuji, rehearsing his steps during the Little Hands shoot. We made a translucent dance floor and made it light up using a projector mounted underneath and a carefully animated sequence choreographed to match every step.

On set with Mr. Fingers.

Here are some very patient and skilled puppeteers resting as we shoot the turning circles portion of the water ballet. We used gator board cut into concentric circles and covered in velvet to help with spacing. The performers ran around underneath with the camera operator perched up on a ladder looking down on them. This was one of the more physically demanding shots for everyone and it required many takes to get the choreography precise.

Behind the scenes look at the final sequence.

Puppets, Clowns and a Big Fat Cat was created as a touring show comprised of several of our short format pieces. We brought this show up to the world famous Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, Oregon to support our longtime 3CTC member (and current OSF member) Daisuke Tsuji. During our trip, we performed four short pieces as part of their Midnight Show Project: Flyswatter, The Golden Vanity, Sole Mate and Mr. Bad’s Revenge.

Mr. Bad’s Revenge made it’s debut at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival on September 19, 2010. It was performed at the Black Swan Theater as part of the OSF Midnight Show Project. This piece is loosely inspired by the relationship between Hamm and Clov from Beckett’s End Game.

Mr. Bad’s Revenge tells the story of a fat cat, “Mr. Bad”, who is perpetually suffering and refuses to do anything about it.  He philosophizes, bosses around, hisses, and most of all, stays right where he is.  Accompanying Mr. Bad is his dutiful and plucky servant, his tail.  When not cleaning, cooking or attempting to medicate Mr. Bad, Tail tries his luck at growing miracles out of the ground.  The two clashing personalities – one hopeful and earnest, the other existential and violent – are forced to work together in order to survive, creating moments in which love and hate often co-exist.  Emphasized by the show’s design – in which actor, puppet and set are one in the same – “Mr. Bad” is an absurd exploration of the push-pull nature of attachment and dependency.

Featuring Cristina Bercovitz, Evan Drane, Jessica Erskine, Devra Golden Jonathan Snipes and Daisuke Tsuji.