#inspiringfellows: January/February

 

Hey, y’all, sorry we missed January! We were busy making the movie Coyote Girl, or hadn’t you heard? While we garnered much inspiration from the expansive Heartland and the howling coyote friends, we didn’t get out to see much. Luckily, we were tipped off to a very cool puppet happening that took place at the Woolly Mammoth Theatre in DC by DCist contributor Anya VanWagtendonk (read her article here) while we were half-way across the country making our cool puppet happening. Over the holidays, Woolly Mammoth hosted our #inspiringfellow of January & February: The Old Trout Puppet Workshop:

January/ February

Old Trout Puppet Workshop (Source: http://www.theoldtrouts.org)
Old Trout Puppet Workshop (Source: http://www.theoldtrouts.org)

 

 

We feel particularly inspired by this odd and fantastic self-proclaimed: “motley gang of artists churning out ideas for a whole heap of unlikely things: puppet shows for adults and children, sculptures, films, music, books, plays, paintings, and pedagogy.”(source) The show that VanWagtendonk shared with us, Famous Puppet Death Scenes, is a celebration and exploration of the fears, anxieties, and curiosities we have about death through the safe and illuminating medium of puppetry. In a very puppet-y way, the show turns these horrors on their heads and into joy and amusement… the ups and downs of which we at Outcast Cafe know well from our work on The Dick and The Rose

Famous Puppet Death Scenes now touring (Source: http://www.theoldtrouts.org)
Famous Puppet Death Scenes now touring (Source: http://www.theoldtrouts.org)
Still from FPDS (Source: http://www.theoldtrouts.org)
Still from FPDS (Source: http://www.theoldtrouts.org)

 

Still shot from FPDS (Source: http://www.theoldtrouts.org)
Still shot from FPDS (Source: http://www.theoldtrouts.org)

But we also feel akin to the Old Trout folk, in their beautiful exploration of puppets on film, their ambitious world travels, and of course, their broad exploration of the light and dark, the holy and bawdy, the ins and outs, the passage through the veil.

Still from Old Trout's "Ignorance" (source: http://www.theoldtrouts.org)
Still from Old Trout’s “Ignorance” (source: http://www.theoldtrouts.org)
Still from Old Trout's "The Erotic Anguish of Don Juan" (source: http://www.theoldtrouts.org)
Still from Old Trout’s “The Erotic Anguish of Don Juan” (source: http://www.theoldtrouts.org)
Still from Old Trout's "ignorance" (source: http://www.theoldtrouts.org)
Still from Old Trout’s “ignorance” (source: http://www.theoldtrouts.org)
Still from Old Trout's " The Erotic Anguish of Don Juan" (source: http://www.theoldtrouts.org)
Still from Old Trout’s ” The Erotic Anguish of Don Juan” (source: http://www.theoldtrouts.org)

Old Trout Puppet Workshop, we salute your detailed and gorgeous bravery in storytelling and look forward to taking in a show down the road! Thanks for the inspiration, #inspiringfellows !

Still from Old Trout's "Ignorance" ...love this guy.  (source : http://www.theoldtrouts.org)
Still from Old Trout’s “Ignorance” …love this guy.
(source : http://www.theoldtrouts.org)

Check out this stunning music video they made for Feist’s song “Honey, Honey”:

 

Can’t get enough of them…Although we may have missed the U.S. leg of the run, if you are interested in catching Famous Puppet Death Scenes, the show is still touring in Canada and here are the dates I pulled from their website:

February 3 – 22, Majestic Theatre, Eastglen High School, Theatre Network, Edmonton, AB

March 13 – 28, Flanagan Theatre, Theatre Junction GRAND, Calgary, AB

March 31 – April 19, York Theatre, The Cultch, Vancouver, BC

Find out more about their past and present work, and about where to see it at their website: http://www.theoldtrouts.org/index.html

and join us following them on twitter: @theoldtrouts