puppet KafKa
[more press from the most recent performances coming soon!]
“The subject of Franz Kafka is eminently suited for puppets… Drama of Works’ workshop production
skilfully weaved together Kafka’s life history with some of his better-known stories…
What came across strongly in this puppet production was the pliability and permeability
of the frames of fiction and reality… Voices, accents, and contrasting characters were masterfully deployed.”
— Dr. Matthew Isaac Cohen, Professor, University of London
“Kafka would have LOVED it!”
— Maria Luise Caputo-Mayr, Director, Kafka Society of America
Sleepy Hollow
“Sleepy Hollow is, in part, an homage to hand shadows cast on the sides of tents by the light of campfires and flashlights…
This is not to suggest a lack of sophistication, however. While many contemporary companies inspire ‘oohs’ and ‘ahhs'
from their audience, the focus is sometimes so exclusively on craft that the end result feels a little shallow.
I have often left productions impressed by technique but wishing the technique had been applied to something with
more narrative and thematic depth. Van Lente and Drama of Works, however, consistently produce work that satisfies on multiple levels.”
— Frank Episale, Performing Arts Journal
WARHOL™
“Andy was quoted as saying, ‘Why should I be original?’ Well, luckily the folks at Drama of Works don’t hold to the same belief…
Everything from the pace to the props and setting are consistently imaginative and simple…
it is what it is and doesn’t care what we think of it. As a piece of art, it does its job not pretending that we need it
but rather acting as if it is something that the creators just wanted to give us. I’ll take it. Thanks.”
— Richard Hinojosa, nytheatre.com
“WARHOL™ becomes a dreamlike sort of ballet whose dancers are Campbell’s Soup cans…
The show attempts to (literally) unpack Warhol, with poetic concision.”
— Bill O’Driscoll, Pittsburgh City Paper
“A haunting and sometimes ghostly piece… Much of what the viewer takes in of this show is not handed to [them] in a
traditional straightforward fashion through dialogue. The audience is communicated with, very effectively, in a different way…
This piece succeeded in exploring the art and complex, disjointed world of Andy Warhol…this was no easy task.”
— Nicole Bournas-Ney, Hi5
curiouser & curiouser
“If [an] image is strong and bright it will [make] a lasting impression, like the impression made by these images from [the] O'Neill conference:
…A small doll with its face partially crushed, representing Lewis Carroll's Alice: a puzzling and bizarre image…
These images still remain burned on my memory after almost two months. Why? Granted, the imagery was strong,
but the themes behind the images were even stronger. [They] were handled in a mature and intelligent manner by
puppeteers who understand how to explore these themes using puppetry.”
—Donald Devet, The Puppetry Home Page
“Gretchen Van Lente’s curiouser and curiouser is a wonderful deconstruction of the Alice in Wonderland story,
illuminating the complex and mysterious relationship of its author Lewis Carroll/Reverend Charles Dodgson and his muse
Alice Hargreaves. With actors and puppets Gretchen has created a theatrical production that is extremely engaging,
insightful and ultimately very entertaining!”
—Richard Termine, former artistic director, The O’Neill Puppetry Conference
WARRIOR
“Gretchen Van Lente, Director of Drama of Works, assembled a stellar cast of puppeteers and actors in the highly
comical and well-timed puppet work. The story is superbly written by Crystal Skillman. The audience strongly
responded to the dramatic story and the humor of the work. The piece definitely left images lingering in my mind.
I can still hear the puppets chanting 'Yamato, Yamato...'”
— Michelle Moskowitz, BRIC producer, Brooklyn
The Sid & Nancy Punch & Judy Show
“Short but not-at-all sweet, The Sid & Nancy Punch & Judy show is frayed, violent and hilarious in all the right places.”
— Mike Wolf, TimeOut NY
TITUS!
“The six-year-old Drama of Works company and director Gretchen Van Lente are on to something with TITUS!…
Van Lente’s choice beautifully shows Titus’ fall from victorious hero to cog in a machine of bloody destruction and madness…
Other images from the production that resonate include the various, and sometimes ingenious,
ways in which the characters die—sand falling from insides, a piece of red cloth pulled from the puppet, etc.”
—Andy Propst, American Theater Web
The Ballad of Phineas P. Gage
“With this story, Drama of Works has found an ideal subject for their ongoing project of exploring and subverting the distinction
between actor and puppeteer…This high-energy, carefully crafted show is thought-provoking and entertaining.
There are some beautiful moments and some silly moments, even a few shocking ones. Mostly, though, the excitement
of this production is in the puppetry itself, and in being allowed to witness the man behind the curtain; more than a few times,
my guest and I quietly said, ‘Oh, cool!’ Drama of Works invites the audience to re-examine their notions of theatrical
structure and method without seeming self-important or compromising accessibility. Innovative techniques playfully
applied to a straightforward yarn of a narrative made for good-natured and imaginative entertainment.”
—Frank Episale, offoffoff.com
“The Ballad of Phineas P. Gage is an ambitious undertaking, tackling a profound subject—the human brain and our relationship to it.
Van Lente has already proven that she’s got the right stuff to make a valuable contribution to the art of puppetry.
She was ambitious and reached high, and her experience proved rewarding.”
—Donald Devet, Puppetry Journal
Doctor Faustus
“Heavy on fantastic production design—Drama of Works provides a hell of a show indeed.”
—Alexis Soloski, Village Voice
“Drama of Works performs Christopher Marlowe’s [Faustus] dutifully, in puppet form…darkness laced with wry,
sometimes sardonic humor…interesting storytelling technique…Altogether, this is a very dynamic and efficient work,
with an impressive use of an array of props, lights, actors, ideas and talents.”
—Jason Johnson, PuppetMaster
DoubtingDorothy
“New York’s tightly organized satirists.”
—Manny Theiner, In Pittsburgh
“I knew I wasn’t in Kansas anymore when Dorothy introduced herself as ‘boring.’…
Whatever it is supposed to be, it isn’t ‘boring.’…I look forward to seeing more of [Gretchen’s] work in the future.”
—Donald Devet, PuppetMaster
