Drama of Works and the
New Orleans Giant Puppet Festival present...
The Grand Guignol
Theater for Children*
(*not actually for children)
STARRING: Amy Carrigan, Emmanuel Elpenord, Kevin P. Hale,
& Gretchen Van Lente
With Meghan Williams, Taylor Harrison & Jennifer Linn Wilcox
DIRECTOR: Gretchen Van Lente
PUPPET DESIGN: Taylor Harrison & Gretchen Van Lente
NARRATOR: John Ardolino
COMPOSER: James Walton
COSTUME DESIGNER: Taylor Harrison
STAGE MANAGER: Meghan Maureen Williams
LIGHTING DESIGNER: Jennifer Linn Wilcox
PUPPETS & SETS BUILT BY: Curtis Flees, Taylor Harrison,
Luna Martin, Gretchen Van Lente, and the cast.
Lion hand puppet by Nina Cooke!
SHADOW SCREEN SEWN BY: Beth Van Lente
Come see Grand Guignol at the
New Orleans Giant Puppet Festival
April 10, 11, or 12 at the Den of Muses!
Don't live in NOLA?
Help us out by giving your support!
SCENE LIST
1. Annabel Lee by Edgar Allan Poe
2. Introduction inspired by Cautionary Tales for Children by Hilaire Belloc
3. Robert inspired by Heinrich Hoffman
(from “Struwwelpeter”)
4. Augustus (also from “Struwwelpeter”)
5. The Raven by Poe
6. Rose inspired by Edward Gorey (from
“The Listing Attic”)
7. Harriett (also from “Struwwelpeter”)
8. The Black Cat by Poe
(with additional music by Meghan Williams)
9. Conrad (also from “Struwwelpeter”)
10. Pierre inspired by Maurice Sendak
11. The Tell Tale Heart by Poe
12. Bill Junior inspired by the Dead Milkmen (from the song “Stuart”)
13. Epilogue, original text
BIOGRAPHIES
JOHN ARDOLINO (Narrator) has been working with Drama of Works as an actor/puppeteer/voice over artist for the past 24 years, starting with the role of Mephistopheles in DOW’s production of Doctor Faustus. John has also traveled and performed abroad with DOW to Istanbul, Finland, and Prague, where he was part of the troupe that won Best Ensemble at the International Festival of Puppetry in 2004. He has been working with DOW on the “Poe Stories” since their inception in 2007. John is proud to lend his voice recordings for this final version of The Grand Guignol Theater for Children, and truly hopes that everyone has a “bloody good time!” John would like to thank UltraWy for being such a creative inspiration, and for always having his back.
AMY CARRIGAN (Smarm) is a founding member of Drama of Works. She is a teacher, vocalist and performer (puppetry, acting and movement). She has been in over ten DOW productions as a lead puppeteer and actor. She sings regularly with such artists as BALK, Aaron Dugan, Eléonore Weill, and Ali Dineen, among others. Her movement and vocal improvisation has been seen at Carnegie Hall and with artists such as Meredith Monk. Her artistic administration acumen has been utilized by the KlezKamp Music Festival, David Byrne, and the Highline. She received her BA from Eugene Lang College and is a lead facilitator for Brooklyn Apple Academy.
EMMANUEL ELPENORD (Harm) is a Brooklyn-born, Haitian-American actor, puppeteer, and voice-over artist. Highlights from his distinguished body of work: puppeteer in El Niño (Met Opera); original cast of Disney’s “Winnie the Pooh: A New Musical Adaptation” (Rockefeller Prod.); original cast of “The Very Hungry Caterpillar Show” (Rockefeller Prod.); puppeteer at Swedish Cottage Marionette Theater (10+ years). Recipient of Haiti Cultural Exchange’s 2023 LakouNOU Artist Residency Grant, Puppet Showplace Theater’s 2023 Creative Residency for Black Puppeteers Grant, and the Jim Henson Foundation’s 2024 Family Grant. He studied ancient traditional theater forms in India, Japan, and Greece with OYL's 2025 International Performance Residency, and is a proud recipient of the 2026 New York State Council of the Arts Grant.
KEVIN P. HALE (Charm) is a NYC–based theater artist and puppeteer who creates small-scale, often absurd performances. His work has appeared at the Object Movement Puppetry Festival, Dixon Place, and Coney Island USA, and he has performed with Evolve Puppets and Drama of Works. He has been a participant and resident company member at the Eugene O’Neill National Puppetry Conference. Most recently, he was a puppeteer in Footnotes at La MaMa, directed by Theodora Skipitares. In 2008, he co-founded Playlab NYC, a theater company dedicated to “taking fun way too seriously.”
TAYLOR HARRISON (costume/puppet design) is a costumer with 16 years of experience in puppet building, wardrobe, and costume design. After receiving her BFA from NYU she began her career at Henson, where she won a 2008-09 Emmy for Sesame Street. In Austin, Texas she worked with Trouble Puppet, Glass Half-full, Teatro Vivo, and Zach Theater Company. Taylor joined DOW in 2018 designing costumes for Rent Party, premiering at the Tank and presented at the 66th National Puppetry Festival. She went on to receive critical acclaim for her costume design of The Grand Guignol Theater for Children. She’s currently working on Broadway in the wardrobe department of Stranger Things: The First Shadow. Future work includes Falcon King.
GRETCHEN VAN LENTE (director/puppet design/Stagehand)
is the Artistic Director of Drama of Works (DOW), a freelance theater director and full-time Special Education public school theater teacher. She has been working in the field of puppetry and visual theater since 1995. Since this time, outside of the over a dozen award-winning shows she has created with DOW, she has been a freelance director, designer, and teaching artist. She was the youngest president of UNIMA-USA since Jim Henson when she served previously on the board and also served as an international councilor. She received her BFA in illustration from Parsons School of Design, her BA in theater from Eugene Lang College, an MFA in directing from Brooklyn College, and an MS in Special Education from Pace University.
JAMES WALTON (Composer) toured extensively with live hip-hop groups Ordinary K and MC Frontalot; is continuously recording weird yet-to-be- officially-released albums; is a proud member of Drama of Works as composer for How The Earth Got Its Color (2010), Space Mask (2020), The Grand Guignol Theatre for Children (2021), and The Tempest (TBD); as a performer in the award winning WARHOLtm (2005) and PUNCH Puppet Slams (2004 - 2014); and as designer for Sleepy Hollow (2005). James founded Exploding Puppet Productions with John Ardolino where he co-wrote, composed, designed, and performed in their flagship production Die Hard: The Puppet Musical! (2007). James runs a small art gallery in Salt Lake City where he lives with his wife, the author Maggie Hawkins, his daughter Charlie, and a cat named Mabel.
JENNIFER LINN WILCOX (Lighting Designer) is a seasoned designer and puppetry artist whose work often explores humor, horror, and the surreal through object theater with DIY aesthetics. She recently performed in FIN-TASTIC ENCOUNTERS at the Object Movement Puppetry Festival and DEATH IN MY HAND at Drama of Works’ Punch Puppet Slam: 25th Anniversary. She’s produced and performed in various festivals and installations and her puppet work has appeared at St. Ann’s Warehouse, La Mama, The Tank, Coney Island USA, and FringeNYC.
MEGHAN MAUREEN WILLIAMS (Stage Manager) is a long-time DOW creative collaborator. She is a theater-maker and technical producer, and serves as President of the Board of Drama of Works. She has supported artists like David Byrne, Angelique Kidjo, Nick Cave, and currently works on several projects by South African artist William Kentridge. She has a BFA in Theater and BA in Art History from Southwestern University and an MA in Physical Theatre, jointly awarded by the University of Surrey and Royal Holloway, University of London.
DRAMA OF WORKS (DOW) was founded in 1999 and has been dazzling audiences in their home NYC and around the world ever since, with productions that blur the line between actor and puppet. They have received TEN HENSON FOUNDATION grants to date and many more accolades. They run Puppet Club and PUNCH puppet slam and truly believe in the puppetry community!
See more HERE / follow on Instagram @drama.of.works / and on Facebook @dramaofworks
THANK YOU to the New Orleans Giant Puppet Festival for giving us a place to remount this show and all the wonderful folks here. Thank you to Brendan Schweda and Puppets Come Home without whom there would be no show as we never would have made these beautiful pieces if it wasn’t for his slam. Thank you to everyone who donated to our "Get GG to NOLA!" campaign, especially the Godfather of DOW Dr. Fred Van Lente. Thank you to the DOW board for being a constant source of inspiration and wise advice: Scott and Molly and Andrea. Our hearts are with BWAC where this piece premiered and which suffered a devastating fire in their space recently. Thank you Elise Farrell-Pereira, our last stage manager, and to former cast member SCOTT WEBER for his artistic contributions to the piece!
Photos from the November 2024 production starring Amy Carrigan, Kevin P. Hale and Scott Weber, performed at BWAC in Red Hook, BK. All photos copyright Richard Termine.
