The book Nalah and the Pink Tiger was inspired by Anne and Jemiah’s lively little niece. Sawyer-Aitch wrote the story over two years ago, then developed a style which she calls Illuminated Illustration, featuring multiple layers, cut-outs, and backlighting. In February, 2012, she delivered the last pages to the publisher, Scarletta Press.  The launch for the book is on March 17th, 2012 at In the Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theatre.  Anne has also created a puppet show based on the book, and will be performing it around the metro area in libraries and local independent book stores. Visit the Nalah and the Pink Tiger website to order the book and view the performance schedule.

This spring Anne will be performing and teaching color shadow puppet residencies at three Ramsey County Schools, thanks to an Arts Learning Grant from the Metropolitan Regional Arts Council. In April, she’ll work at Parkview Elementary School in Roseville. Oakhill Montessori follows in May, and she finishes up with Harambee Elementary for the entire month of June. Each residency is kicked off by a performance of Nalah and the Pink Tiger, and culminates with student shows.

The Hennepin County Libraries will also be seeing a lot of Anne this spring. She will be touring the Nalah show in English and Spanish at various libraries and teaching ELL students at various schools how to make a Topsy Turvey Puppet. See www.nalahandthepinktiger.com for complete schedule of performances.

In fall, 2011, Anne was commissioned by the Minneapolis Institute of Arts to create a shadow puppet piece based on their Edo-Pop exhibit. According to Dr. Matthew Welch, ukiyo-e refers to a type of “pop” imagery produced in Japan …“from the late seventeenth century through the nineteenth century, which reflected the tastes and proclivities of a rising class of urban commoners.” The 20-minute piece that Sawyer-Aitch created – called “Shadows from the Floating World” – was performed with Soozin Hirschmugl and Kaori Kenmotsu on November 13th at the MIA as part of their free Target Family Day series. Anne is looking for other opportunities to develop and expand this piece.

Other projects in this past few months included creating postcard art and color shadow puppets for May Lee Yang’s Confessions of a Lazy Hmong Woman. Anne borrowed heavily from Hmong tapestry art (Paj Ntaub) to create the look for these pieces.

Anne also directed a street puppet pageant based on the Finnish Kalevala for the New York Mills Cultural Festival this past August. This included teaching some of the townspeople (children and adults) to stilt. It definitely gave the pageant some heightened visibility. The participants built the puppets with her guidance and performed the pageant, backed by the thoroughly delightful folk musicians, Curtis and Loretta.

Performed at Open Eye Figure Theater in June 2011.

• June 9-11, 2011
• Open Eye Figure Theatre
  506 East 24th Street, Minneapolis
• ASL Interpretation Friday, June 10 by Gretchen Toay

“Wry, emotionally intense, humorous… above all delicately presented.”
-Wayne Krefting, Henson Foundation Review

“Incredibly rich visuals, acting, & music.”
-Krista Post, Licensed Psychologist, Postpartum Support International, MN Co-coordinator

In October, 2010, Magic Lantern received an Arts Activity grant from the Metropolitan Regional Arts Council (MRAC) to re-envision its original production, Children and Other Optical Illusions. Children and Other Optical Illusions is a multi-media puppet show, featuring shadow animation, a unique sound score, live-feed video, and puppets.

The new production will be at Open Eye Figure Theatre in South Minneapolis June 9-11, 2011, and will incorporate new visual layers such as 3-D shadow puppetry. MRAC panelists were especially pleased by Sawyer-Aitch’s request for funding to hire Arist Zaraawar Mistry to mentor her as a director as she re-visits the piece. Zaraawar Mistry is the owner of Dreamland Arts, where the first version of the show premiered in June of 2010.

Why do the show again?

Sawyer-Aitch’s goals for this production are not simply a “re-mount”. True, the re-staged version of Children will be performed by the original cast: award-winning puppeteer Janaki Ranpura, Jennifer Weaverling,Reid Knuttila and Patricia Gage. The original score will again be created and performed by visiting New York Artist Lisa Abbatomarco and Matt Larson. But by working with Mistry, Sawyer-Aitch hopes to deepen the work, both in content and presentation. Mistry’s style of mentorship is asking a series of questions. “Why is that visual there?” or “What does your gut tell you about why you are doing this show now?” “Sure, okay, 3-D shadow puppetry, but what are you trying to communicate viscerally here?”

About the script:

The piece explores the questioning and grief that two couples experience in their quest to become parents. The show was written by Anne Sawyer-Aitch, and is based in part on her own and others’ real experiences.
Optical illusions are often about missing information – what the eye is drawn to, instead of what it should be looking at – or a simple lack of available data. For couples struggling with unknown causes of infertility, this metaphor can be a very poignant one.

Children and Other Optical Illusions also depicts rituals and customs from around the world surrounding the topic of miscarriage. The script was born from the playwright’s own quest to become a mother, and is in part autobiographical. It is our hope that it can both entertain and raise awareness of a subject which is still somewhat “taboo” and misunderstood.

Because of its subject matter, this show is not recommended for children. This activity is made possible in part by the Metropolitan Regional Arts Council through a grant from The McKnight Foundation and an appropriation from the Minnesota Legislature.

Additional sponsorship by Cryogenic Laboratories, www.cryolab.com.

“Cryogenic Laboratories, Inc (CLI): with over 40 years of service, is the world’s oldest and most experienced sperm bank, offers extensively screened anonymous, ID Options donors, and storage services for sperm and embryos. We provide the highest quality in the industry as one of the few sperm banks fully accredited by the American Association of Tissue Banks (AATB). Extensive donor Information is downloaded FREE for ALL sperm donors. Searching for a donor is fun, easy and free of charge. Most other sperm banks require you to pay for each donor information product you view. So look and listen for free 24/7. Childhood photos, donor essays, staff impressions, audio clips, medical and personal profiles are all free. Monthly specials are also there to make the process easier. We are the sperm bank where value meets quality.”

Take in a great animated flick at the cozy Trylon, and help support an original piece of theater!

Sita Sings the Blues

• Thursday, May 12, 2011 at 7:00 and 8:45 PM
• Trylon Microcinema, 3258 Minnehaha Ave. S, Minneapolis
• Pay what you can, $10 – $25. To pre-order tickets, purchase on-line.

Three hilarious shadow puppets narrate this beautifully animated interpretation of the Ramayana. Set to 1920′s jazz vocals, Sita Sings the Blues is “the Greatest Break-Up Story Ever Told.” Animation by Nina Paley. Length 82 minutes.

All proceeds benefit Magic Lantern Puppet Theater’s upcoming production, Children and Other Optical Illusions at Open Eye Figure Theater.

Sawyer-Aitch’s giant swallow puppets are now hanging in Wadena’s An Open Book.

On the weekend of October 24, Anne and her husband Jemiah trucked seven of her large swallow puppets up to Wadena, MN to hang in An Open Book. Resident Artist Jamie Houts – who is creating a series of charming Alice in Wonderland paintings for the independent book store – directed the installation of the birds, assisted by Jemiah Aitch, Chris Houts, and many helpful kids.

The swallow puppets, which Sawyer-Aitch created for the In the Heart of the Beast’s May Day Parade in 2008, are made of bamboo, cardboard, and batiked agricultural fabric. For the previous three months, they had been hanging in the 801 gallery in downtown Minneapolis, as part of a show that Anne co-curated with Art Car Maven Jan Elftman.

“We’ve been getting rave reviews about the birds,” says An Open Book owner Gillette Kempf. Kempf is also a board member of the New York Mills Cultural Center, where Sawyer-Aitch recently enjoyed an Artist in Residence Retreat.

If you happen to be in the area, An Open Book is located in downtown Wadena, and shares a roof with the delightful Harvest Thyme Bistro. Harvest Thyme focuses on serving healthy local food. One can easily spend the afternoon floating between the bookstore – with its fine selection of new and used classics, science fiction, and fantasy – and the bistro. If you do, look up, and you will see the birds barnstorming the place.

2010 has been a busy year. These are just a few of the projects Anne has been involved in:

January, 2010:

• Organized fundraiser “Pasta for Puppets” for Magic Lantern Puppet Theater and raised the matching funds for the Metropolitan Regional Arts Council Award to stage new play “Children and Other Optical Illusions.”

February, 2010:

• MN State Arts Board shadow puppet residency in Mora, Minnesota.

March/April, 2010:

• Taught bilingual Latin American folk-arts workshops for the Hennepin County Library System at schools and libraries around metro area in honor of Día de los Niños. (Crafts included Cuna Molas, metal tooling, and papel picado.)

May, 2010:

• Stilting narrator for In the Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theatre’s Annual May Day Pageant.

June 2010:

• Debut of original multi-media play “Children and Other Optical Illusions” at Dreamland Arts. Sawyer-Aitch wrote, directed, and created the puppets for the piece. She also produced it.

July/August, 2010:

• Co-curated a visual arts show called “Puppetry of the Twin Cities” at the 801 Gallery in downtown Minneapolis.
• Mask-making classes at Steppingstone Theater and Latin American crafts for six weeks at Augsberg library.
• Hired by Artstart to teach painting at the MN Science Museum’s Camp Wabasha.

September, 2010:

• Awarded a New York Mills Artist Retreat to work on illustrations for Nalah and the Pink Tiger.

Dragon Puppet by Anne Sawyer-Aitch for Eco-Arts Festival

October/November 2010:

• Awarded Arts Activity Grant by the Metropolitan Regional Arts Council to re-stage “Children and other Optical Illusions” at Open Eye Figure Theater with the mentorship of Performer/Director Zaraawar Mistry.
• Arts residency at Mississippi Creative Arts Magnet. Made large dragon for Eco-Arts Festival and helped 90 second-graders make their own dragon masks.
• Performed with Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theater as stilter and puppeteer in the Minnesota Orchestra’s Spooktacular.
• Created shadow puppets for Theatre Unbound’s 10 Virgins.
• On-going installation of giant swallow puppets in Open Book store in Wadena, MN.

December, 2010:

• Teaching Saturday Matinee puppet workshops at In the Heart of the Beast.

What’s up in 2011?

• Children and Other Optical Illusions will be re-staged at Open Eye Figure Theater
• Continue to work on Nalah and the Pink Tiger
• Puppetry residency in Mora Minnesota, including building troll puppets for the Vasseloppet Race.
• Directing a pageant in New York Mills of the Kalevala, in collaboration with Artist Annie Rollins and the New York Mills Cultural Center.

To everyone who attended Pasta for Puppets, or wished us well from afar:

I am sending a very belated THANK YOU for a wonderful evening. Pasta for Puppets was a roaring success. Great food, great music, great people! You support meant so much to me.

For those of you who are curious, we met our budget goal to match the Metropolitan Regional Arts Council Community Arts Grant we received to produce the original work Children and Other Optical Illusions. The funds will help support seven artists, a theater technician, and the very worthy Dreamland Arts, where our show is being performed.

Children and Other Optical Illusions will run June 17-19 at Dreamland Arts in St. Paul.

Click here for more information about the show.

Special thanks to Tracy Yue of One Dish At a Time and the jazz trio Fermentation. Both graciously donated their time to this event.

With gratitude,
Anne

Save the Date!
Saturday, February 27, 7-10 pm

Pasta for Puppets Fundraiser

To support Magic Lantern Puppet Theater’s new multi-media puppet show Children and Other Optical Illusions.

Performances will take place at Dreamland Arts June 17-19, 2010.

Enjoy a delicious pasta dinner prepared by professional caterer Tracy Yue of One Dish at a Time! Silent Auction and live music by jazz fusion trio Fermentation. Drink wine and be merry!

We thank you for your support. This project supported in part by the Metropolitan Regional Arts Council.

• Saturday, February 27, 7-10 pm
• Anne & Jemiah’s House,
• 3131 17th Avenue South, Minneapolis, MN 555407
• $12 per adult, $5 per child, no one turned away.

Thanks to the following people and organizations who have already pledged their support by donating to our “Pasta for Puppets” Fundraiser:

Minnesota Children’s Museum
North Star Roller Girls
May Day Cafe
Maude Salon
Freewheel Bike Shop
Open Eye Figure Theater
Peace Coffee
Karmas Wheels
Bicycle Artist Mark Amboe
Krista Post, Licensed Psychologist
Steppingstone Theater
Dawn Wittenberg, Massage Therapist and Kettlebells Instructor
One Dish At A Time, Catering by Tracy Yue
Artist Chrys Laramy
Minneapolis Institute of Arts
In the Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theater
Hi-Lake Liquor
Janet Johnson
Midwest Mountaineering
Joel Walther

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