PROGRAM A

Juana and the Missing Mayan Book - Chio Cabrera-Coz

Performance: Jacob Cabrera-Coz, Lindsey Ball, Alexander Ferguson, Daniela Kreidler, Ceasar

Fabrication: Chio Cabrera-Coz, Kerry Ozima, Alejandro Cabrera, Rocio Isabel Cabrera

Writing: Chio Cabrera-Coz and Jacob Cabrera-Coz

Special thanks to Gina Pacheco-Gamboa for her incredible library full of indigenous culture and modern chicano resistance. Conceived, written, and directed by Chio Cabrera-Coz

In the midst of the Spanish invasion of what is now Yucatan, México, the Mayan people battled for peace, independence, and cultural preservation. Follow Juana, a 9 year old girl, as she sets out on a journey to save the few lasting remnants of the ancient Mayan society. Poetry, hope, and nature are explored the Missing Mayan Book will transport you to another world where mythology and hope clash against oppression.

The Thing With Wings - Gretchen Hasse

Performance: Alonso Galué, Wendy Madrigal

In a story of hope for the deep future, told with giant cardboard puppets, an expectant mother dreams of her children's future. The future has different plans.

Tryptic in MOVE - Jacqueline Nann Wade

Performance: *Tracey Christmas, *Amandatron5000, Claude Fethiere, Rachel Hartmann, Abby Palen, *Efren Paderes, *Shaylynn Scales, *James Williams

Fabrication assistance: Amy Gorelow, Abby Palen, Felix Mayes, Rachel Hartmann, Lauren Elision, Alexis Willis, Claude Fethiere

Illustration: Lauren Elision
Artistic Consultation and Set Design: Torry Bend
Media Advisor: Sarah Forance

Special thanks: Blair Thomas, Sam Lewis, Noah Lewis, Jerrell Henderson

Tryptic in MOVE, conceived, written, and directed by Jacqueline Wade, is a moving piece about an African American woman's journey through MOVE, a back-to-nature activist group from Philadelphia and the system.

*These performers are members of Red Line Service, a unique art organization led by people experiencing homelessness and extreme housing insecurity. redlineservice.org

Eve of a Great Remembering Practice of Imagination - Rachel Singer

Performance: Rachel Singer, Dorian Taylor, Sojourner Zenobia, Mak Scheel, Callum Grant

Puppet and Set Design and Construction: Rachel Singer
Sound Design: Dorian Taylor and Rachel Singer
Multiplane Construction: Richie Schiraldi and Rachel Singer
Access and Disability Consultation: Genevieve Ramos
Special Thanks: Valerie and Howard Singer, Eve Ilsen, and Rabbi Charna Rosenholtz

On the Eve of a Great Remembering you are invited to sit inside of the place where memory meets imagination. Living with chronic fatigue from neuroinvasive West Nile virus for almost a decade, Rachel travels in place as she reaches into imaginal worlds and reveals hidden stories of ancestors and hope in the past, present and future. Through dance, shadow and tabletop puppetry, concealed worlds begin to take form to wash away the illusion of separation.

Eve of a Great Remembering was produced during the artist-in-residency program at Access Living, an independent living center for people with disabilities.

BIOGRAPHIES

Rachel Singer - Rachel recently graduated from Wilbur Wright College and is beginning a career as an occupational therapy assistant. She enjoys integrating the arts and wellness to create meaningful experiences. In her fieldwork placement at the Midwest Brain Injury Clubhouse she collaborated with individuals with brain injuries to devise a theatrical production with puppetry called Why the Sky is Far Away: A Nigerian Folktale. Over the last decade, Rachel has taught dance combined with social and emotional learning in the Chicago Public Schools. Currently, she is teaching dance, yoga, and movement classes for people with disabilities. She is passionate about puppetry and began exploring her interest in puppetry at Redmoon Theater in 2007. Her puppetry work and dance practices are rooted in breath, body awareness, communication and interconnection. Jewish mysticism and rituals have a strong influence on her visual artwork. Rachel grew up in Colorado and was raised to see Judaism through the lens of nature. Each Shabbat she walked to synagogue on a trail next to a creek while her mom told her stories of nature, Torah, and family.

Gretchen Hasse -Gretchen is a Chicago-based storyteller working in comics, video, animation, murals, and installation. She co-founded Agitator Artists' Co-operative in 2017, and since then curation has also been a crucial part of her practice.  Gretchen's documentary videos for social justice campaigns have educated policy makers, informed the general public, and inspired new activists. Her narrative videos have screened nationally and internationally. She publishes her ongoing graphic novel, Freaks' Progress, in monthly installments online and in print through Activator magazine out of Springfield, Illinois. In 2021, she published the first two volumes of Agitator Comics!, an open-theme compilation.

Gretchen received her MFA in Film, Video and New Media from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. In the summer of 2022 she completed a two month residency at Buinho Fab Lab in Messejana, Portugal, where she focused on fabrication and robotics. She is the recipient of a 2021 Make A Wave nomination-based grant from 3Arts in Chicago; a 2022 VIDA: Women in Literary Arts Fellowship for Writing Residency at Sundress Academy for the Arts in Knoxville, Tennessee; and a 2022 Esteemed Artist Grant from Chicago's Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE). She teaches drawing and writing at Saint Xavier University in Chicago.

Jacqueline Wade - Jacqueline is a native of Philadelphia who has recently moved to Chicago. Jacqueline Wade's goal is to create works of art as an activist artist that deal with the human condition, race, and social justice issues. She wants to make positive changes and actions through her work. She wants to empower others. Jacqueline comes from an extensive theater background of acting, directing, playwriting, puppetry, teaching, producing, and film work. She combines theater with documentary and narrative filmmaking, animation along with interactive media and puppetry. Jacqueline is a graduate of Temple University Theater Department, has attended Circle in the Square Two Year Certificate Actor's Training Program in New York City, holds an MFA Degree from the City College of New York and an MFA from Hunter. Jacqueline Wade has performed in many plays at various regional theaters throughout the country, including Milwaukee Repertory, Wilma Theater, Williamstown Theater Festival, LaMaMa E.T.C., Classical Theater of Harlem, and many other theaters. She has also written 20 plays, including "Black Panther Women," and directed over 35 plays and performance art pieces. Jacqueline's 18ft Mumia puppet has gone on marches and demonstrations for Mumia Abu-Jamal, and her Giant 20 ft Mother Earth Puppet that has been used for Veterans for Peace. She has published and lectured widely. She is a member of AEA and SAG-AFTRA. She was a semifinalist for Fulbright 2021.

Rocio Cabrera - "Chio" is a director, puppeteer, puppet designer, prop designer, and marketer from the West Side of Chicago. She is a Mexican-American artist seeking to share new and traditional Hispanic stories through puppetry. She is interested in clashes with bureaucracy, exposing history, and exploring Truths. In her current work she explores the cultural influences and relationships between Spain, Mexico, Pre-Hispanic Indigenous Peoples, and the United States. Chio has worked with Strawdog Theatre, Rough House Theater, the Chicago International Puppet Festival and Opera-matic