Past Productions
MAUDIT
Highways Performance Space, 2012
Set during the tumultuous years of the Paris art circle, MAUDIT explores the life of Jeanne Hébuterne, wife of Amadeo Modigliani, and how her brilliant artistic talent was hidden away for seventy five years. She is only remembered for her violent end, but was she more than a poor woman trapped in the shadow of a destructive and famous husband?
Cast and Crew
Written and directed by Leslie K. Gray
Set Design: Naomi Kasehara
Lighting Design: Francois-Pierre Couture
Costumes: Madeline Keller
Sound Design: Joseph "Sloe" Slawinski
Puppet Design: Leslie K. Gray
Featuring:
Gabrieal Griego
Joshua Lamont
Adrien Rose Leonard
Waewdao Sirisook
Brownie Sibrian
June 22, 23, 2012 at Highways Performance Space, Santa Monica. Our thanks to everyone at Highways, especially Leo Garcia, and our wonderful cast and crew that made this a standing-room-only success!
in English and Spanish
En La Noche
The Electric Lodge (premiere), Skirball Puppet Festival, and Mercado La Paloma, 2012-2014
Based on a short story by Uruguayan writer Horácio Quiroga, EN LA NOCHE tells the story of one woman's harrowing journey on a treacherous river in the middle of the night to save her dying husband. What is the value of an extraordinary act of courage if the same person could never accomplish it again?
Artists
Cast
Brownie Sibrian
Adrien Rose Leonard
Joshua Lamont
Gabrieal Griego
Diana Tanaka
Sound Design: Joseph "Sloe" Slawinski
Original music: Michael A. Gray
Written, Directed and Designed by Leslie K. Gray
International Collaboration
Sideshow Angel/Theptida Bahi
Ma Chere ArtSpace, Chiang Mai, Thailand 2012
A puppetry & dance performance piece with live music, this collaboration with renowned Thai artists Waewdao Sirisook and Ronnarong Kampha was a sold out run. A reinterpretation of the Thai fable of the Bird Princess, (Genneri) the show explored the tragedy of human trafficking and the desperate struggle to be free.
Artists
Waewdao Sirisook
Ronnarong Kampha
Concept, story, direction by Leslie K. Gray and Waewdao Sirisook
with additional support by Ronnarong Kampha,
DOES HE KNOW...?
An original adult experimental puppetry performance piece
Electric Lodge, 2009
A woman journeys into her past to locate what she might have lost along the way.
"...remarkable puppets, the likes of which you have not seen on any stage in Los Angeles..."-----Culver City News
"This is not the Muppets. This is not even Avenue Q. This is something very different..." -----SoCal.com
"Visual Music...!"-----Real Talk LA
Artists
Written and directed by Leslie K. Gray
Starring Nina J. Silver
with Chie Saito and Rosalie Tucker
Set by Lena Garcia
Lighting by Dan Weingarten
Sound by John Nobori
Costumes by Soojin Lee
Puppet Design by Leslie K. Gray and Lena Garcia
Crew: Michael A. Gray, Jonathan Alvarez, John Nobori
March 21-29, 2009, The Electric Lodge, 1416 Electric Ave., Venice, CA 90291
Kitsune No Chochin or
The Fox Lantern
A family puppet theatre production, performed as part of Hiroshima/Nagasaki Remembrance Day and the annual Nisei Week Festival, Little Tokyo, Los Angeles
"...a contemporary subtext about the true cost of war: There's nothing childish about Tri-Pi Theatre Company's modest but effective family puppet play." --- LA Times
Premiered at Centenary UMC, Little Tokyo, Los Angeles July 29-August 20, 2006
Artists
Story by Leslie K. Gray and Sam Koji Hale
Directed by Leslie K. Gray
Puppet Design by Sam Koji Hale, Leslie K. Gray with additional design by Mirna Lozano
Puppeteers: Sam Koji Hale, Eli Presser, Michael Oosterom, Janet Song
Original Score: George Abe
Musicians and Foley: George Abe and Leslie K. Gray
Sets: Leslie Gray and Michael Gray
Costumes by LK Gray
Children's Puppet Production
The Pink Dress
Based on a true event, this puppet production for young children tells a story from the Japanese American Internment about a young girl's courage to stand up against discrimination. Tsuki wants to wear her sister's beautiful pink dress to her graduation, but in Camp, decisions are not so simple.
Premiered at the Japanese American National Museum, 2005, traveled to Minneapolis, 2006. Touring to schools with the Music Center on Tour, 2007-2014.
