MSA Event Calendar

Fódhla brings both high energy and stellar artistry to the traditional music stage. The trio’s sound is firmly rooted in the traditional Irish melodies and ornamentation that fiddler Ellery Klein and flute player Nicole Rabata honed during years spent abroad in Ireland’s cities Cork, Limerick, and Ennis. Fiddle and flute tunes are superbly supported by guitarist Bethany Waickman, whose inventive, tasteful chords unfold with driving rhythm perfected from years of playing in the New England contradance scene. 

Cognizant of their North American roots, Fódhla appeals to a broad audience by bringing variety, inventive harmonies and unique arrangements to traditional music. A typical concert starts off with high-energy traditional sets of Irish reels and jigs. Fiddle and flute then trade melody and harmonies on a Québécois waltz paired with an elegant French bourrée. A joyful and toe-tapping pair of barndances soar out on a high note. Finally, the soft notes of guitar bring in a melancholy, exquisite slow air – music that brings out audible sighs from a rapt audience. 

“Fódhla just played to a packed house in my concert series. They sent a hall full of people home with big smiles on their faces.” – Paul Wells, producer, Concerts in West K.

Fódhla can be heard at festivals, concert series, folk clubs and house concerts throughout the northeast and beyond. Recent appearances include the iconic Celtic music series at Portland’s Blue, Fiddle Hell, One Longfellow Square, Bangor Celtic Crossroads, Meetinghouse Arts and The Backroom at the Burren in Somerville, MA.  The trio has been well received at festivals such as Portland, Maine’s Saltwater Celtic Festival, the Maine Celtic Celebration, KVMR Celtic Fest in Grass Valley, CA, and Boston Celtic Music Festival.

Featuring Special Guest Irish dancer Kieran Jordan.

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Fiddler Ellery Klein toured nationally with the Billboard-charting Irish music group Gaelic Storm from 2003-2007 and was a founding member of the all-female ensemble Long Time Courting. In 2015 she was invited to be a featured soloist with Duluth, MN’s Lake Superior Chamber Orchestra, performing Nickitas Demos’ Double Concert for Celtic and Bluegrass Fiddle. She earned an MA in Traditional Irish Music from the University of Limerick. Ellery teaches private fiddle and violin lessons at her home studio and Powers Music School, as well as early childhood music at preschools in the Boston area. http://www.elleryklein.net

Irish flutist Nicole Rabata is highly regarded in traditional Irish, classical, and Brazilian choro music circles. She has toured America and Europe. In 2014 she spent two months in India where she performed and taught music at the Gandhi Ashram School in the Himalayas. She spent four years in the west of Ireland where she immersed herself in the local music and was influenced by the playing of many great musicians. She is on the music faculty at Colby College and the University of Maine Augusta, and has an active private home studio in Portland. http://www.nicolerabata.com

Bethany Waickman is a guitarist based out of Portland, Maine. She grew up in a musical family in the Adirondack Mountains of northern New York state. After college she spent some time traveling, hiking, and playing music in Ireland. Upon returning, she moved to Boston to focus on music. She co-founded the contra dance trio, Anadama, and is the guitarist for Vermont- based fiddler and singer Lissa Schneckenburger. She’s toured across the US, Canada, Sweden, Denmark, Belgium, and Germany. A resident of Maine since 2013, Bethany is a mainstay of the Portland session scene and a guitarist in demand on the New England contra dance circuit. http://www.bethanywaickman.com

Kieran Jordan, based in Boston, brings a lyrical and expressive style to the rhythm and percussion of traditional Irish dance. She has been dancing since she was five years old, and has performed and taught locally and internationally for more than 30 years. Regarded as “one of America’s premier dancers and instructors” (Irish Echo), she is known especially for her creative contributions in sean-nós and old-style step dancing. In Boston, she fostered a vibrant non-competitive dance community through her company, Kieran Jordan Dance, which was active in the region for more than two decades. Kieran is currently the Dance Director for the Acadia Festival of Traditional Music and Dance, held annually in Bar Harbor, Maine. She is also Board Certified in Polarity Therapy — a trauma-informed approach to energy healing. She practices Polarity Therapy in Dorchester, MA and in Kennebunk, ME.

Dirty Gerts is a delightful story of growing up in Vermont during the mid-1960s rendered in a groovy blend of historical fiction, 60s pop culture, and colorful confetti. Using paper pop-ups and old style paper dolls, PuppetKabob shows the challenges a young middle schooler, Carol Lee Bell, confronts about fitting in, creativity and acceptance.

Have you ever heard the phrase: “She thinks she’s Queen Elizabeth, but she’s Dirty Gerts to me!” No? Well now that you have, come and explore the story behind the saying in PuppetKabob’s latest pop-up creation “Dirty Gerts” – a show about growing pains. Made entirely out of re-purposed paper products!

PuppetKabob’s latest creation “Dirty Gerts” is a paper pop-up extravaganza! A groovy blend of historical fiction, 60s pop culture and colorful confetti! Come on get happy with middle schooler Carol Lee Bell – as she finds the fold to fitting in – and discovers the best way is to not actually fit at all!

In this full-day workshop, participants will learn how to incorporate various mechanisms and rigging points into paper pop-ups to turn them into animatable or puppeteer-able, hand-held (also known as: direct contact), and/or table-top puppets.

Sarah will also demonstrate how to direct intention, concentration, and energy from within oneself, down the arms, into the hands, and through a paper puppet to give it its own independent focus and breath – the two elements that give any object life.

Participants will experiment with one of the following: immersive experience, forced perspective, or symbolism—to recreate a moment in the form of a short story, knowing that each of these provides different information that shapes and directly influences how their story or memory unfolds.

Finally, participants will present their projects to each other. For some, this will be a new challenge and like stepping outside their comfort zone; however, everyone should feel supported during this brave step so it feels both personally and creatively fulfilling, as well as productive. Each artist needs to gather information individually to continue developing their puppet pieces and to feel empowered outside the classroom.

Ages 15+

$80 (Price includes materials and one ticket to Sarah Frechette’s performance of Dirty Gerts at Mayo Street Arts on Fri 3/27.)

Dirty Gerts is a delightful story of growing up in Vermont during the mid-1960s rendered in a groovy blend of historical fiction, 60s pop culture, and colorful confetti. Using paper pop-ups and old style paper dolls, PuppetKabob shows the challenges a young middle schooler, Carol Lee Bell, confronts about fitting in, creativity and acceptance.

Have you ever heard the phrase: “She thinks she’s Queen Elizabeth, but she’s Dirty Gerts to me!” No? Well now that you have, come and explore the story behind the saying in PuppetKabob’s latest pop-up creation “Dirty Gerts” – a show about growing pains. Made entirely out of re-purposed paper products!

PuppetKabob’s latest creation “Dirty Gerts” is a paper pop-up extravaganza! A groovy blend of historical fiction, 60s pop culture and colorful confetti! Come on get happy with middle schooler Carol Lee Bell – as she finds the fold to fitting in – and discovers the best way is to not actually fit at all!

Just in time for Good Friday, Tophat Productions is bringing back its one-man miniature stage production of the powerful rock opera, Jesus Christ Superstar. Experience this epic score that really put Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice on top of the pop charts. In this secular retelling, Jesus Christ Superstar tells the story of the last week in the life of Jesus, as seen through the eyes of the one who betrayed him, Judas Iscariot. This show includes such classic hits as “Heaven On Their Minds”, “Everything’s Alright”, “I Don’t Know How To Love Him”, “Gethsemane” and of course, “Superstar”. The live vocals of David Worobec, with his action figure cast, will bring this rock opera masterpiece to you, as you have never seen it before!

The inspiration for Jesus Christ Superstar came about from a Bob Dylan lyric, “Did Judas Iscariot have God on his side?”, which fascinated the amazing lyricist, Tim Rice. Jesus Christ Superstar is not without its fair share of controversies. It challenged traditional religious narratives by not including the resurrection. The portrayal of Jesus was more humanized, making him capable of feeling all human emotions. The show makes Judas more sympathetic while making him the central narrator. And simply that it was a biblical story set to a rock score. Despite all of this, it became a worldwide success and popularized the rock opera genre.

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Tophat’s founder and principal artist, David Worobec, is a classically-trained Opera singer and a talented pianist. A graduate of the Boston Conservatory, David has performed in a wide range of settings and ensembles. He has an exceptional vocal range, and has trained across a broad spectrum of musical genres. His repertoire includes opera, showtunes, standards, and more. He is also Maine’s premier expert in miniature theater productions, and has staged hundreds of full stage shows in miniature form, complete with advanced lighting, stage sets, a miniature cast and props, and recorded orchestral accompaniment. David’s work with miniature theater has been widely featured in print publications and video documentaries alike.

A resplendent evening of music, puppets, and dancing! Come listen and celebrate as Windier presents their new album, “Let the Blue Air In,” with the help the Broken Telescope Choir, Mudmist Puppets, and DJ DHERT. 

Performances will feature live projections, funny hats, local celebs, and a foreboding tower. “Let the Blue Air In” is a collection of lyric-forward songs about home, dreams, mystery, jelly, and the churning at the base of the mountain.This album and event are made possible by the Sonic Visions Grant.

Note: Simple, hearty dinner offered at no charge. Cake, too!

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Windier is an electric folk band from Portland. They’ve toured the US extensively over the past five years and have found a home in the backyards, basements, and living rooms of the New England music world. Windier is Asa Shadis, Emma Page, Annie Dodson, and Simi Kunin. The band is joined by the Broken Telescope Choir, a scrappy bunch of singers who’ve come together from the far corners of the Peninsula to learn the music of “Let the Blue Air In.”

Caroline James of Mudmist lives in Portland and likes to paint and play with puppets.

DJ DHERT was born in the subterranean muck with the dragons and ants and such. She says everything will be okay.

Tinariwen are the grandfathers of what we know today as Taureg guitar music. Started in refugee camps in Algeria and Libya in 1979, Tinariwen created a new sound of Taureg music that pushed the tradition into a new direction. Ahmoudou Madassane, Souleymane Ibrahim, and Mikey Coltun all came to Tinariwen in different ways throughout our life and there is no doubt the importance the music has on all three of them. Just as much as Tinariwen pushed what Tuareg music is, that was the idea with TAKAAT – to push the tradition even further, create something new, create something fresh that blends our love for bands like Tinariwen but also their love of heavier more chaotic bands.

Is Noise Vol. 2 includes the TAKAAT versions of a couple of our favorite Tinariwen tunes. Unlike the original Tinariwen versions, these songs are unedited shredding jams recorded live to tape in Washington D.C. This is raw, this is noisy, this is TAKAAT.

For this performance, TAKAAT will be in a two-piece formation of Ahmoudou Madassane and Mikey Coltun, featuring blown out drum machines to create a sound that blends the Tinariwen sound with the drone metal stylings of bands such as Sunn O))).

Opening performances by MSHR and NOISE CIRCLE

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TAKAAT (pronounced tuh-cot), meaning “noise” in the Tuareg language Tamashek, is the trio of Ahmoudou Madassane, Mikey Coltun, and Souleymane Ibrahim, also known as the rhythm section of Mdou Moctar. TAKAAT is sonic chaos, improvisation, freedom of exploration, and the punk styles of bands such as Fugazi and Unwound, all mixed together with the guitar music from the Sahel.

TAKAAT started during soundchecks while on the road with Mdou Moctar when the trio indulged their shared love for amps cranked to 11 and the sound of blown out speakers. Towards the end of 2023, the three started writing music together, inspired by their shared experiences with the sounds and energy of Hausa bar bands, gritty soukous, and 2000s post-punk. The music of TAKAAT is intense, dark, and energetic. Deeply inspired by the DIY ethos of punk, Ahmoudou, Mikey, and Souleymane capture that thrill of the new and the ecstasy of togetherness in these heavy rockers. TAKAAT follows in the spirit of the independent music culture that birthed hardcore basement shows, bedroom tape labels, and generator-powered pick-up wedding bands.

MSHR is an art collective that collaboratively builds and explores sculptural electronic systems. Their performances and installations integrate electrical signals and human presence, weaving dense networks of causality to form audiovisual environments that babble with life-like current. They explore intuitive and technical gradients between sonic and sculptural forms, using analog circuitry and open-source software to sculpt mutually resonant hyperobjects. MSHR was founded by Brenna Murphy and Birch Cooper in 2011 in Portland, Oregon. The name MSHR is a modular acronym designed to hold varied ideas over time. It can be pronounced as an acronym or like one who meshes.

NOISE CIRCLE is an improvisational collaboration of local noise producers that surround the audience in a malformed circle.

CO-PRESENTED WITH FLOR

ALBA MUSIK is flamenco mixed with a rich variety of musical influences like pop, jazz, funk, Latin and world music. The dynamic duo is based in NYC and is led by powerhouse vocalist Bárbara Martínez and virtuoso guitarist Albert Alabedra. They compose their songs together and tour nationally and internationally, joined by a team of world-class musicians and dancers that include the saxophonist from The Rolling Stones Tim Ries, three-time-Grammy-nominated multi-instrumentalist Gonzalo Grau, Sony producer Arturo Soriano, to name a few. They have made it to the first round for a GRAMMY nomination in Latin Pop and Global Music three years in a row for “Dawn” (2023), “Alma” (2024) and “‘ALMA’ Live at Drom” (2025). They have performed at The United Nations, Berklee College of Music, the World Economic Forum, The US Conference of Mayors and for the President of Spain! ALBA songs are poems and stories crafted in Spanish woven into a rich landscape of emotions whose expressiveness captivates audiences of all cultures. ALBA makes you want to listen all day and clap and move and shout OLE!

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Bárbara Martínez (Vocals/dance/compositions)

Bárbara Martínez grew up performing in New York City. Originally from Venezuela, she is the grand-niece of famed Argentine tango singer Libertad Lamarque. For more than 20 years she has worked as a dancer and singer with numerous flamenco dance companies and world music ensembles, and danced with the Metropolitan Opera, where she also sang as a child. In 2010, Bárbara performed at Carnegie Hall/Weill in a solo concert to a sold out house.

She appears in the documentary “Sobre Las Olas – A Story of Flamenco in the U.S.” by Carolina Loyola-Garcia and the photography exhibit entitled “100 Years of Flamenco in New York” at the NY Performing Arts Library. She is an honors graduate of Brown University and just completed a Masters program in Songwriting at Berklee College of Music. Bárbara teaches music at the Ethical Culture Fieldston School. One of the biggest joys of her career has been launching the ALBA Musik project with guitarist Albert Alabedra, co-composing songs that pull from a lifetime of work in flamenco and a rich variety of other musical styles. (www.BarbaraMartinez.com)

Albert Alabedra (flamenco guitar/compositions)

A native of Barcelona, Spain, Albert Alabedra has self-taught guitar since the age of 14. Albert was exposed to flamenco at an early age, with a mother from Córdoba and grandparents from Sevilla, the southern Spanish province of Andalucía where flamenco originated. In addition to the traditional flamenco, popular throughout Spain, Albert grew up with the global influences characteristic of cosmopolitan Barcelona, especially the rumba Catalana.

Later formally trained in classical and electric guitar and then in jazz and flamenco, Albert has used his versatile repertoire to create his own unique “fusion” style. His musical career consists of performances with various pop, rock, jazz, funk, acoustic, and flamenco bands throughout Spain and New York. Everything changed when we had the idea to write music with Bárbara Martínez, resulting in the birth of ALBA Musik! (www.albertalabedra.com)

Join us for a dynamic flamenco workshop led by flamenco singer Bárbara Martínez and guitarist Albert Alabedra.

🎤 Singers will learn a traditional flamenco verse.
🎸 Guitarists will learn how to accompany the verse.
🎶 Then, both groups will come together to sing and play in unison!

No singing experience required.
Basic guitar skills highly recommended.
All ages welcome – Children should be accompanied by an adult and be able to focus for the full 90-minute session.

The Low Budge, No Budge Film Fest was created to discover and showcase the power of creativity in film making, regardless of budget. Focusing on celebrating short films made with limited or no financial resources.

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Bret Woodard is a photographer & artist based out of Portland, ME.

Graduated from the Massachusetts College of Art & Design in 2010 with degrees in Photography & Sculpture.

His artwork is most often displayed in bathrooms and bathroom adjacent hallways.

High flying trapeze artists, friendly creatures, and colorful clowns all come to life before your very eyes to perform tricks and charm you in this marionette show led by Puppet Pants. This children’s show is filled with jokes, stories, and audience interaction. A blend of humor and skillful marionette movement, all performed to an original instrumental soundtrack, make this a one of a kind show for all that should not be missed!

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Founded in Atlanta in 2024, Puppet Pants is committed to providing top quality marionette entertainment for audiences of all ages, and has performed at the New Orleans Giant Puppet Festival, Puppeteers of America 2024 South East Festival, DragonCON, Asheville and Atlanta Fringe, as well as music festivals, private events and independent tours of the United States.

Recommended ages 16+, mature themes, shadow puppet representation of violence and blood in one segment

Shadow Cult Girls – “UNRAVELING”

Henson Grant-awarded duo Shadow Girls Cult presents their newest series of shadow vignettes, “UNRAVELING.” Using a mind-bending blend of light techniques, old-school overhead projectors, shadow masks and hundreds of intricate and layered shadow puppets, SGC creates short animated films (live!) for audiences around the U.S.

Infused with elements of sci-fi, film noir, classic horror, and surrealism, “UNRAVELING” explores the inexplicable moments in time when we, or the world around us, seem to come apart. The show begins with themes of yearning, curiosity and wonder, moves through fractured identity and grief, and ends with a dream sequence. Seamlessly blended, “UNRAVELING” touches on the echo of a question: is the world (and by extension, are we) destined to always, always come apart at the seams?

Director’s Note:

“UNRAVELING” explores themes of isolation, longing, and fractured identity through a surreal lens. These vignettes were created to be genre-bending: sci-fi, film noir, horror, poetry, shadow puppetry, animation. Every story is connected by a thread, and the thread is unraveling.

As queer creators, we see ourselves in these characters: tragic, powerful, full of potential. UNRAVELING is a reminder that even the most broken parts of ourselves are stories unfolding, and they deserve to be told.

Opening performance by Puppet Pants:

A wordless marionette variety show with a slightly odd feel featuring clowns, monsters, and other mysterious creatures that perform tricks and interact with the audience to an all original soundtrack. The Atlanta Fringe Festival called it “weird, whimsical, and oddly moving.”

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Shadow Girls Cult is an award-winning queer shadow puppetry and projections duo based out of Seattle, WA. Using overhead projectors, adapted camera irises, 2-D shadow puppets, human silhouettes, and other analog technology, they create puppet magic for audiences all over the U.S. Their full-length shadow show “UNRAVELING” was awarded the 2025 Henson Foundation Workshop Grant & 4Culture’s 2025 Project Grant, and was recently voted “Most Surprising Performance” & “Fan Favorite” at the 2025 Asheville Fringe Festival. In 2025, SGC also made their debut at The Center for Puppetry Arts, and were teaching artists in residency at Kennesaw State University in Atlanta, and the Bright Ideas Project in Vermont.

Founded in Atlanta in 2024, Puppet Pants is committed to providing top quality marionette entertainment for audiences of all ages, and has performed at the New Orleans Giant Puppet Festival, Puppeteers of America 2024 South East Festival, DragonCON, Asheville and Atlanta Fringe, as well as music festivals, private events and independent tours of the United States.

Puppetry artists Cassandra Bray & Zane Exactly of Shadow Girls Cult will lead participants through a 80-minute workshop, using old-school overhead projectors and a projection screen to explore human silhouettes and shadow masks as tools for storytelling. Participants will create large-scale masks using cardboard, feathers, faux fur and other repurposed materials to transform their bodies into expressive shadow characters. 

This hands-on workshop is designed for all ages and experience levels! Join us as we channel our creativity to create bold shapes and designs, and build transformative, larger-than-life shadow selves. We encourage all participants to bring fun costume and/or prop elements, and to wear comfortable clothing that is easy to move in.

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Shadow Girls Cult is an award-winning queer shadow puppetry and projections duo based out of Seattle, WA. Using overhead projectors, adapted camera irises, 2-D shadow puppets, human silhouettes, and other analog technology, they create puppet magic for audiences all over the U.S. Their full-length shadow show “UNRAVELING” was awarded the 2025 Henson Foundation Workshop Grant & 4Culture’s 2025 Project Grant, and was recently voted “Most Surprising Performance” & “Fan Favorite” at the 2025 Asheville Fringe Festival. In 2025, SGC also made their debut at The Center for Puppetry Arts, and were teaching artists in residency at Kennesaw State University in Atlanta, and the Bright Ideas Project in Vermont.

The Bread and Puppet Theater was founded in 1963 by Peter Schumann on New York City’s Lower East Side. Besides rod-puppet and hand puppet shows for children, the concerns of the first productions were rents, rats, police, and other problems of the neighborhood. More complex theater pieces followed, in which sculpture, music, dance and language were equal partners. The puppets grew bigger and bigger. Annual presentations for Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving and Memorial Day often included children and adults from the community as participants. Many performances were done in the street. During the Vietnam War, Bread and puppet staged block-long processions and pageants involving hundreds of people.

In 1974 Bread and Puppet moved to a farm in Glover in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont. The 140-year old hay barn was transformed into a museum for veteran puppets. Our Domestic Resurrection Circus, a two day outdoor festival of puppetry shows, was presented annually through 1998.

The company makes its income from touring new and old productions both on the American continent and abroad, and from sales of Bread and Puppet Press’ posters and publications. The traveling puppet shows range from tightly composed theater pieces presented by members of the company to extensive outdoor pageants which require the participation of many volunteers.

Today, Bread and Puppet continues to be one of the oldest, nonprofit, political theatre companies in the country.

The Bread and Puppet Theater was founded in 1963 by Peter Schumann on New York City’s Lower East Side. Besides rod-puppet and hand puppet shows for children, the concerns of the first productions were rents, rats, police, and other problems of the neighborhood. More complex theater pieces followed, in which sculpture, music, dance and language were equal partners. The puppets grew bigger and bigger. Annual presentations for Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving and Memorial Day often included children and adults from the community as participants. Many performances were done in the street. During the Vietnam War, Bread and puppet staged block-long processions and pageants involving hundreds of people.

In 1974 Bread and Puppet moved to a farm in Glover in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont. The 140-year old hay barn was transformed into a museum for veteran puppets. Our Domestic Resurrection Circus, a two day outdoor festival of puppetry shows, was presented annually through 1998.

The company makes its income from touring new and old productions both on the American continent and abroad, and from sales of Bread and Puppet Press’ posters and publications. The traveling puppet shows range from tightly composed theater pieces presented by members of the company to extensive outdoor pageants which require the participation of many volunteers.

Today, Bread and Puppet continues to be one of the oldest, nonprofit, political theatre companies in the country.

The Bread and Puppet Theater was founded in 1963 by Peter Schumann on New York City’s Lower East Side. Besides rod-puppet and hand puppet shows for children, the concerns of the first productions were rents, rats, police, and other problems of the neighborhood. More complex theater pieces followed, in which sculpture, music, dance and language were equal partners. The puppets grew bigger and bigger. Annual presentations for Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving and Memorial Day often included children and adults from the community as participants. Many performances were done in the street. During the Vietnam War, Bread and puppet staged block-long processions and pageants involving hundreds of people.

In 1974 Bread and Puppet moved to a farm in Glover in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont. The 140-year old hay barn was transformed into a museum for veteran puppets. Our Domestic Resurrection Circus, a two day outdoor festival of puppetry shows, was presented annually through 1998.

The company makes its income from touring new and old productions both on the American continent and abroad, and from sales of Bread and Puppet Press’ posters and publications. The traveling puppet shows range from tightly composed theater pieces presented by members of the company to extensive outdoor pageants which require the participation of many volunteers.

Today, Bread and Puppet continues to be one of the oldest, nonprofit, political theatre companies in the country.

The Bread and Puppet Theater was founded in 1963 by Peter Schumann on New York City’s Lower East Side. Besides rod-puppet and hand puppet shows for children, the concerns of the first productions were rents, rats, police, and other problems of the neighborhood. More complex theater pieces followed, in which sculpture, music, dance and language were equal partners. The puppets grew bigger and bigger. Annual presentations for Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving and Memorial Day often included children and adults from the community as participants. Many performances were done in the street. During the Vietnam War, Bread and puppet staged block-long processions and pageants involving hundreds of people.

In 1974 Bread and Puppet moved to a farm in Glover in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont. The 140-year old hay barn was transformed into a museum for veteran puppets. Our Domestic Resurrection Circus, a two day outdoor festival of puppetry shows, was presented annually through 1998.

The company makes its income from touring new and old productions both on the American continent and abroad, and from sales of Bread and Puppet Press’ posters and publications. The traveling puppet shows range from tightly composed theater pieces presented by members of the company to extensive outdoor pageants which require the participation of many volunteers.

Today, Bread and Puppet continues to be one of the oldest, nonprofit, political theatre companies in the country.

Welcome to Holland!? A theatrical experience like no other

Is it possible to find meaning when life lead us down an unexpected path? 

Life does not always go as planned. Unexpected turns can radically change our course and reshape who we are. “Holland” becomes a metaphor for those moments; the ones that interrupt the life we imagined and invite us to create meaning within a new reality.

Welcome to Holland!? is a moving multidisciplinary performance that blends flamenco, spoken word, poetry, humor, and film. A danced monologue that invites audiences into a deeply human journey of discovering who you are within a reality you never chose.

This 75-minute experience follows the story of an immigrant mother navigating her own “Holland!?”, a life-altering situation after the birth of her second child. Rather than focusing on what was lost, the piece celebrates what emerges — resilience, creativity, connection, and the ability to find joy and gratitude in places we never imagined.

Welcome to Holland!? challenges preconceived ideas about identity, caregiving, disability, and belonging, inviting audiences to reflect, connect, and see the world — and one another — through a more inclusive and compassionate lens. This immersive theatrical experience reminds us that we all carry our own version of “Holland,” and that none of us are meant to move through these journeys alone.

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BOOK TALK with Laura Sánchez

Tulip Skin is a journey of self-discovery through art.

A true story of resilience told by a Spanish woman who emigrates to the United States chasing a dream and, after facing unexpected turns — including her daughter’s irreversible brain injury at birth — loses herself to the point of no longer knowing who she is.

Through dance, words, the body, and creation, she finds her way back home — to that intimate and safe place that lives within her.

What if the true work of life wasn’t about reaching perfection, but daring to be… and to become the most authentic version of ourselves?

This book invites us to explore who we truly are.

To let go of masks and demands.

To live in alignment with the soul.

To embrace life — even in darkness.

To stop fighting… and start flowing.

Because only from the truth of being yourself can you walk in freedom.

And shine with your soul uncovered, wearing your true Tulip Skin.

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Laura Sánchez is a multidisciplinary artist and stage creator — a dreamer at heart and an artist by vocation. After more than ten years of experience in the marketing world, she transformed her career to fully dedicate herself to her true mission: using art as a vehicle for personal transformation and social change.

Trained in Spanish Dance and Flamenco at the Conservatory of Madrid and in Expressive Therapies at Lesley University (U.S.), Laura is the creator of Expressive Flamenco©, a practice that fuses flamenco with authentic movement, art, and healing. Her research was published in 2021 in the American Journal of Dance Therapy, and she has shared her work at international conferences and workshops across Europe and the Americas.

She currently teaches at Harvard University and Lesley University, and tours the United States presenting her stage work Welcome to Holland!?.

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This event is co-presented by:

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Flier by Pixels & Pulp

This multicultural food festival will celebrate the dynamic influences of Portland’s immigrant cultures on the city’s nationally-lauded food scene.

The 12 featured food vendors will showcase a wide variety of world cuisines. The vendors are drawn from current entrepreneurs at Fork Food Lab, alumni of their incubator program, and local independent establishments.

Vendors at A Taste of Nations will include Amira Cuisine (Middle Eastern), Battambang Bistro (Cambodia), Burundi Star, Choma Zone (East African), Eduardo’s Brazilian Grill One, Flores Restaurant (El Salvadorian), Gunnar’s Icelandic Hot Dogs, Kili Organics (Tanzanian), Niyat Catering (Ethiopian), Oga Suya (Nigerian), Yardie Ting (Jamaican), and Young Nonna (Italian).

Attendees might find themselves dancing from booth-to-booth thanks to live DJ sets by Andrew Chang and Nick Robles, co-owners of Moody Lords Vinyl/Vintage in Portland.

Do not miss this delectable global journey at Mayo Street Arts!

This multicultural food festival will celebrate the dynamic influences of Portland’s immigrant cultures on the city’s nationally-lauded food scene.

The 12 featured food vendors will showcase a wide variety of world cuisines. The vendors are drawn from current entrepreneurs at Fork Food Lab, alumni of their incubator program, and local independent establishments.

Vendors at A Taste of Nations will include Amira Cuisine (Middle Eastern), Battambang Bistro (Cambodia), Burundi Star, Choma Zone (East African), Eduardo’s Brazilian Grill One, Flores Restaurant (El Salvadorian), Gunnar’s Icelandic Hot Dogs, Kili Organics (Tanzanian), Niyat Catering (Ethiopian), Oga Suya (Nigerian), Yardie Ting (Jamaican), and Young Nonna (Italian).

Attendees might find themselves dancing from booth-to-booth thanks to live DJ sets by Andrew Chang and Nick Robles, co-owners of Moody Lords Vinyl/Vintage in Portland.

Do not miss this delectable global journey at Mayo Street Arts!

Hear ye! Hear ye! King Friday, post-monarch, deposed and living in squalor beneath an old vaudeville house requests thy presence to witness the unveiling of new puppet works and puppet works in progress at an impromptu, after-hours, puppet-roadhouse show.

Mayo Street Arts’ semi-annual slam consists of 8-10 puppet skits that dance outside of the family-friendly mainstream puppet circuit, with live music from the Ideal Maine Social Aid & Sanctuary Band.

King Friday’s Dungeon Puppet Slam provides local emerging to present works-in-progress to a receptive audience. Established puppeteers from away enjoy engaging with our local community and often return with full-length performances.

Whether this is your first foray into the dungeon or you’re a veteran of depravity, you’ll be tantalized and tickled by spicy skits and other surprises devised for your viewing pleasure. It’s never the same sprawl twice!

King Friday’s Dungeon Puppet Slam is part of the national Puppet Slam Network created by Heather Henson and curated by local Maine puppeteers.

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Reverend Legs Malone (Emcee) is the Minister With The Thirty-Four and a Half Inch Inseam. She is a burlesque performer, producer, host and teacher originally from NYC and now based in Midcoast Maine. Legs got her start through London’s Whoopee Club in 2006 and has been a popular headline performer, producer and host on stages in her native New York City and internationally. She is the producer of Burlesque Beyond the Beach at the Leavitt Theatre in Ogunquit. ME.

Hear ye! Hear ye! King Friday, post-monarch, deposed and living in squalor beneath an old vaudeville house requests thy presence to witness the unveiling of new puppet works and puppet works in progress at an impromptu, after-hours, puppet-roadhouse show.

Mayo Street Arts’ semi-annual slam consists of 8-10 puppet skits that dance outside of the family-friendly mainstream puppet circuit, with live music from the Ideal Maine Social Aid & Sanctuary Band.

King Friday’s Dungeon Puppet Slam provides local emerging to present works-in-progress to a receptive audience. Established puppeteers from away enjoy engaging with our local community and often return with full-length performances.

Whether this is your first foray into the dungeon or you’re a veteran of depravity, you’ll be tantalized and tickled by spicy skits and other surprises devised for your viewing pleasure. It’s never the same sprawl twice!

King Friday’s Dungeon Puppet Slam is part of the national Puppet Slam Network created by Heather Henson and curated by local Maine puppeteers.

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Reverend Legs Malone (Emcee) is the Minister With The Thirty-Four and a Half Inch Inseam. She is a burlesque performer, producer, host and teacher originally from NYC and now based in Midcoast Maine. Legs got her start through London’s Whoopee Club in 2006 and has been a popular headline performer, producer and host on stages in her native New York City and internationally. She is the producer of Burlesque Beyond the Beach at the Leavitt Theatre in Ogunquit. ME.

Beautiful Without Consequence is a fantastical puppet performance about removing the prey mentality from the Queer Black identity and founding community in its absence. Mimicking the life cycle of a butterfly, this show follows the main character as they change through many physical forms in search of an existence outside of the grasp of their oppressors- liberating their body and mind alike. Exploring themes of yearning, belonging, internalized homophobia/racism, and self-image, Beautiful Without Consequence forges an intimate connection between the viewer and the material and invites all to release the harmful expectations that they uphold within themselves and become more engaged within their own communities.

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William PK Carter is a quilter and puppet artist based in Central Valley, New York. She bridges the puppet and fine art worlds by fabricating wondrous creatures that exist at the intersection of queerness and blackness. She received her Bachelor of Science in Studio Art from Skidmore College in 2023, and her work has been exhibited and performed in theaters, galleries, and museums across the country. Notable venues include Puppet Showplace Theater, Dixon Place, The Old Stone House of Brooklyn, The Ritz Theatre, The Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery, The Albany Institute of History and Art, and The Trout Museum of Art. Carter is the recipient of Skidmore College’s President’s Racial Justice Award (2021), the Van Dewater Memorial Award (2022), and the John P. Heins Award: Outstanding Senior Thesis Exhibition (2023). She has finished her time as a resident artist at La Mama Experimental Theatre Club and as a fellow in Ann Street Gallery’s Emerging Artist Fellowship, and has received a Jim Henson Foundation Workshop Grant for the development of Beautiful Without Consequence.

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Photos by Richard Termine

A Puppety Sketch Show Exploring Tradwives, Girlbosses, and the Existential AbyssThrough grotesque fantasy, irreverent satire, and adaptations of classical texts, Bitch Eat Dog offers a frenetic and pungent interrogation of the gendered ethics of pursuit.

A queen eats a baby, a tradwife breastfeeds the audience, and a gyno shoves a rat down a cervix. All while the flailing male host angers obtuse oysters, resurrects a racist suffragette, and castrates himself in a misguided attempt to demonstrate his allyship. Brought to life through puppetry by Seattlite, Mel Carter, this visceral comedy will leave you asking – what was in those eggs?

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Written by Mel Carter

Music by Camille Charlier
Performed by Mel Carter, Gail Bennett, & Camille Charlier

Stage Managed by Davis Keaney, Joei D’aloia
Set Design by Mel Carter & John Parmelee
Lighting Design by Mel Carter
Sound Design by Camille Charlier
Costume Design by Mia Carini
Puppet Design by Mel Carter, Ali Etesamifar, Maddie Shubeck, Max Kountz, Gail Bennett

Fabrication Assistance by Jerry Harney, Jack Collins, Tom Tuke, Aslan Hoffman, Isi Jabornik, Amy Carter, Kaz Strong, Dean Hernandez, Oliver Fisher, Joei D’aloia, Maddie Szymaszek, Aina Ysabel Ramolete, Tessa Beck Fey, Allison Carter, Lorelie Tindall, Nix Burns, Rosie Grunzke​

Script Edits by Mack Brown, Katie Ciszek, Natsu Onoda Power, Tyler Bunch, Liz Hara, Chris Sanderson, Jerry Harney, Tom Tuke, Lana Tleimat, Sadie Aiken, Lindsay Cummings, Megan Rivas, Rebecca Whitney Klein, Crystal Rae Wiley, Dylan Arredondo

Outside Eyes John Bell, Megan Rivas, Lindsay Cummings, Lillian Ransijn, Ulysses Jones, Matt Sorensen, Anatar Marmol-Gagne, Sadie Aiken, Max Kountz, Abigail Baird, Jerry Harney, Tom Tuke, Rosie Grunzke, Susan Tolis

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Photo by Richard Termine

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Recommended for ages 18+ 

TW: Violence, Sexual Assault, Puppet Nudity

The MIO Creative Ensemble presents a 2026 tour including a newly developed play + a new short documentary film (featuring the 2025 MIO Creative Ensemble’s “Broken Clock” tour.)

The tour: a series of film +theater events held across prisons, college campuses and Maine communities, will provide the chance for vital dialogue, connection and our collective reckoning with US mass incarceration.https://www.youtube.com/embed/5hXNY-0BTTA

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Maine Inside Out creates original theater in schools, prisons and in the community. MIO groups build connection and leadership across boundaries, identities and generations to engage the greater community in dialogue about social change. MIO’s Creative Ensemble is a group of staff and Lewiston community artists using theater to explore themes connected to our identities, life experiences and the world in which we exist together.

Maine Inside Out connects us through play, dialogue and the transformative power of art. These experiences help connect us across boundaries and dissolve the separation between audience and actor, supporting us to move and change together. To learn more about MIO, please visit www.maineinsideout.org.

All Ages

Alcohol will not be served at this event.

A Tarot-inspired mystery play full of slapstick comedy, music from the middle ages, puppetry and whimsy to drive away fear and offer relief from impending doom, just as folly brought light to the Dark Ages. As the Fool faces Death and seeks guidance, you too can consult the Oracle, be comforted by the High Priestess, trust in the Doctor if you dare, and give your troubles to the Crone.

“Transcendent and provocative…Happenstance provides immeasurable entertainment with its comedy, music, and artistry…A characteristically compelling, intelligent, and thought-provoking hour of unique, outstanding, must-see theater.” – DC Theater Arts

DEATH and THE FOOL was originally adapted from Happenstance Theater’s ADRIFT | A Medieval Wayward Folly for the Maryland Renaissance Festival and then expanded to become this charming new touring show.

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Artist Bio:

Award winning Happenstance Theater is a professional company committed to devising and producing original, performer-created, visual, poetic Theater. Washington City Paper says, “Happenstance Theater’s ensemble comedy is a gut-busting kind of funny.” Talkin’Broadway says, “The members of Happenstance Theater are so adept at what they do that they turn tomfoolery into an art form” and The Washington Post calls Happenstance “DC’s leading peddler of whimsy.”

www.HappenstanceTheater.com

https://www.facebook.com/HappenstanceTheater

IG: @happenstancetheater

SABRINA SELMA MANDELL
Artistic Co-Director/Executive Director / Visionary Tornado / Ensemble Performer / Costume Designer/Visual Artist

Sabrina Mandell grew up in Nova Scotia beside 40 foot tides. Her family moved to Montreal where she began devising theatre with Children’s Creations under the direction of Clare Schapiro. Sabrina spent much of her twenties working on traditionally rigged schooners. She stopped for a spell to study Art History and created the solo street performance VentDeLaMer in which she dressed in 18th century costume and recited original poetry, sang songs and performed classical monologues. She studied the Lecoq pedagogy with Dody Disanto at the Centre for Movement Theatre. Then in 2006 she founded Happenstance Theater. As the company’s Artistic Co-Director and Visionary Tornado she has written, produced and performed prolifically since the company was established. She was nominated for a Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Actress in 2017. As the company’s Executive Director she has created and maintained a sustainable structure for operating the organization, and as the costume designer she has won two Helen Hayes Awards for Outstanding Costume Design. Sabrina performed for 10 years with the Big Apple Circus’ Clown Care Program in DC and Baltimore. She has also taught Theatrical Clown and Physical Comedy in a variety of places including at the Shakespeare Theatre, Everyman Theatre in Baltimore, Round House Theatre, Duke Ellington School of the Arts, and the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. She is also a visual artist, graphic designer and poet.

MARK LINDEN JASTER
Artistic Co-Director / Structure and Ground / Ensemble Performer / Builder

The Washington Post called Mark Jaster a “clown extraordinaire and one of the most graceful performers you will ever see on a stage.” The Baltimore Sun called him “immensely gifted.” In 2009 he received The Montgomery County Maryland Executive’s Outstanding Artist Award, and in 2016 Mark was honored by Washington Theatre’s Helen Hayes Awards with The Robert Prosky Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Play for his performance in Happenstance Theater’s IMPOSSIBLE! A Happenstance Circus. The show was also awarded for Outstanding Ensemble and Costume Design. With Sabrina Mandell, in 2007, he created The Seven Ages of Mime, for an extended, sold-out run at the Round House Theatre in Silver Spring. The Washington Post’s review said, “Jaster’s sturdy body, like Chaplin’s and like Marcel Marceau’s…is a jeweler’s tool, adroit and precise…each athletic movement is exquisitely controlled…”

Mark trained with 20th-century masters of mime Etienne Decroux and Marcel Marceau, along with careful observation of Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, and Harpo Marx. Jaster served as teaching assistant to Mr. Marceau in a series of seminars in Michigan, and he teaches frequently in Artist residencies, theatres, and academic programs. He was a presenter at the 2014 Mime & Movement Theatre Symposium at Ohio State University. He often serves as mime and movement consultant for DC area theatres, including Ford’s, Round House, Theatre J, Olney, Constellation, Adventure Theatre, and Center Stage in Baltimore.

In addition to frequent performances with the Washington and the Cambridge Revels, and over 30 years as a featured stage act at The Maryland Renaissance Festival (A Fool named ‘O’), he has enjoyed numerous collaborations with world-class musicians like Piffaro, Celtic Harper Sue Richards, Hesperus, and the late, great jazz bassist, Keter Betts. For 20 years Mark was a proud member of The Big Apple Circus’ Clown Care Program, performing as “Dr. Baldy” at the Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, DC.

Mark’s long career of solo performances continues along side his work with Happenstance….

GWEN GRASTORF
Company Member / Ensemble Performer / Social Media Maven

Gwen Grastorf is an actor and performer in the DC metro area. She has collaborated with Happenstance Theater since 2007 and is a proud company member, as well as the official Social Media Maven. Gwen has worked with many companies in the DC metro area, including Constellation Theatre, Faction of Fools, The Hub Theatre, Source Theatre, Taffety Punk, Rorschach Theatre, Forum Theatre, and Washington Revels. Gwen grew up in Frederick MD, and got her theatre degree from the University of Maryland, College Park.

SARAH OLMSTED THOMAS
Company Member / Ensemble Performer / Puppeteer/Visual Artist

Sarah Olmsted Thomas is a fifth generation artist. She has been with Happenstance Theater since 2012. Other collaborations include The Kennedy Center, Center Stage, and Bread and Puppet Theater. Sarah is one half of the puppetry duo Alex & Olmsted which was awarded a 2017 Jim Henson Foundation Workshop Grant. Alex & Olmsted has played The Puppeteers of America Festival, Black Cherry Puppet Theatre, La MaMa NYC, among others. Sarah trained with the Pig Iron Theatre Company in Philadelphia and Le Samovar, Ecole de Clowns, in Paris.

ALEX VERNON
Company Member / Ensemble Performer / Puppeteer/Builder

Alex Vernon is an actor, puppeteer, and builder who has been with Happenstance since 2012. Other area credits include Imagination Stage, Adventure Theatre, and Submersive Productions. Additionally, he makes original puppet shows with his wife Sarah (see above), under the name Alex and Olmsted. They received a grant from The Henson Foundation to create their full length puppet show, Milo the Magnificent.