ChiIL Live Shows On Our Radar
Chicago Puppet Fest presents:
Laura Heit: The Matchbox Shows
Laura Heit's unmatched!
We adored this wonderfully weird production. Think that late night, tiny, tabletop puppet fun might be your jam? This show has fire, wind, human created foley noises, and even puppet porn worthy of a 12 year old boy in a bathroom stall. She even becomes her own sequined backdrop with a delightful interplay of light, motion, and projection.
Portland, Oregon based Heit has 25 years of practice making miniature magic and has perfected her niche craft in a big way. Not one to be boxed in, this microcosm contains dreams, odd stories, and wickedly creative, delightful absurd scenarios. The art is so bad it's good. And her DIY vibe is also inspiring and makes me want to go home and make an entire mini world of oddities in the service of storytelling. Worth the admission price to see the teeny news helicopter with the pinwheel propellor! Recommended.
Laura Heit also has two nights of shorts playing at Music Box Theatre, which I was unable to get press tickets to review, and a free looping exhibition on the 4th floor of The Fine Arts Building which we loved. Check her out.
Exhibitions at The Puppet Hub
“Two Ways Down” by Laura Heit
An immersive shadow puppet and hand-drawn animated installation, by visiting puppet artist Laura Heit. Taking inspiration from the Hieronymus Bosch work, Garden of Earthly Delights, this fantastical piece reflects on the momentary nature of life using thrown shadows from tabletop dioramas and reflected and refracted animated projections to create a fleeting world where human-animal hybrids, specters, and body parts morph and flit across the walls.
Laura Heit: The Matchbox Shows
* 25th Anniversary of The Matchbox Shows *
Laura Heit walks on stage with a glass of wine wearing a sequined tube top. She takes her place behind a table and begins to bring to life her miniature cabaret. Playing the part of Miniature raconteur, sequined pyromaniac, Laura Heit performs teeny tiny puppet shows inside matchboxes.
A dead boyfriend, a sausage fairy, a tiger whisperer, a perfectionist, a bath-loving ghost, and many others play their parts in these uncanny micro plays. The miniature stages come to life with crankies, fire, and pop-up paper engineering. The puppet shows are simultaneously projected on a screen behind the table making the little tiny details of this portable variety show larger than life.
Event Details
Dates/Times:
Thursday, January 22 at 8 p.m.
Thursday, January 22 at 10 p.m.
Friday, January 23 at 8 p.m.
Friday, January 23 at 10 p.m.
Saturday, January 24 at 8 p.m.
Saturday, January 24 at 10 p.m.
Sunday, January 25 at 8 p.m.
Location:
Constellation
3111 N. Western Ave.
Cost:
$25 Regular
$20 Students and Seniors
Ages: 13 and up
Running Time: 50 mins
Event Details
Dates/Times:
Thursday, January 22 at 8 p.m.
Thursday, January 22 at 10 p.m.
Friday, January 23 at 8 p.m.
Friday, January 23 at 10 p.m.
Saturday, January 24 at 8 p.m.
Saturday, January 24 at 10 p.m.
Sunday, January 25 at 8 p.m.
Location:
Constellation
3111 N. Western Ave.
Cost:
$25 Regular
$20 Students and Seniors
Ages: 13 and up
Running Time: 50 mins
