Wake Up, You're Dead! October 29, 2010

"Wake Up, You're Dead!" by Brooklyn Art Department
October 29 thru November 7, 2010
La Mama E.T.C. (The Club),
74A East 4th Street, Manhattan
Directed and Designed by Aaron Haskell
Fridays and Saturdays at 10:00 PM, Sundays at 5:30 PM; $15
Tickets: www.lamama.org, (212) 475-7710
Running time: 45 minutes.

What puppeteer doesn't wonder what will happen to him as he impersonates the creator? In "Wake Up, You're Dead!," Aaron Haskell of Brooklyn Art Department, one of the original designers of Nightmare: NYC's Haunted House, gives us a Halloween-flavored creation myth. It's performed as a dark ceremony by a weird tribe. The Ancestors--Haskell's own version of the Greek Titans--are life-sized skeleton creatures that create great balls of light (the life force). Mankind is born by sliding down a Jungian sluice to the earth. There are black light effects, dancing skeletons (that show the cyclical nature of life), primal movement (costumed creatures locomoting on all-fours, animal-like), bass-heavy loud music, Butoh and technical modern dance. Puppets bring puppeteers to life and vice-versa. Following this spectacle of evolution, an ultimate being is created at the end of the show.

"Wake Up, You're Dead!" is part of "La MaMa Puppet Series IV --Built to Perform," a series of five adult puppet theater productions and a popular children's attraction, all of which explore the artistic and creative possibilities of puppetry in all its forms. The series will run from October 14 to November 28, 2010.

Related events will include a Gallery Exhibit at La MaMa's La Galleria, 6 East First Street, from October 21 to November 7 and La Mama's fall gala, October 25, celebrating its 49th season by honoring Cheryl Henson of the Jim Henson Foundation.

The series is supported by the Jim Henson Foundation, the Trust for Mutual Understanding, NYSCA and New York City Department of Cultural Affairs.

To encourage audiences to see multiple productions during the festival, La MaMa will offer a Festival Pass subscription and incentive pricing for the Series (to be announced). Tickets can be purchased online at www.lamama.org. The phone number for audience information is (212) 475-7710. La MaMa is located at 74A East Fourth Street, between Second Avenue and Bowery, in the East Village.

Official Website: http://www.lamama.org