joe mazza

                                                              

                                                                              "Mazza works his puppets with sublime subtlety..."

                                                                                                                        --The Chicago Reader

 

             "With The Hyperbolist, he creates a world that feels complete and unique. His tiny puppet,

              a pontificating baldy who speaks as though he just arrived from elocution class, spouts off on

              the mysteries of love...and Mazza brings his puppet to life with the subtlest of gestures."

                                                                                                                       --The Chicago Tribune

                                                                                   

                           

     <---contact

             Puppets

             Pictures 

             Playwrighting (Eugene O'Neill semi-finalist, 2008)

             Video   (Go to my facebook page for many more videos than I have here.  And, go ahead and friend me while you're visiting.)

 

                               vimeo

                               youtube

                                                                                                         facebook

                               twitter

                                                                                           

                                       

 

                                                                  "One of the most inventive productions at this year's New York Fringe..."  Jon Sobel, blogcritics.org

 

          The Hyperbolist has been extended!  If you couldn't make it to the show at HERE,

      catch the show at HORSE TRADE this weekend. 

 

                      7pm

            September 2 -- 5, 2010

             The Red Room 

             85 E 4th St. NY, NY 

       

             Take a look at a couple of the reviews of the show... 

              Blogcritics, Jon Sobel 

              A Year of Plays, Anna Moore

 

 

            Check out The Hyperbolist in the NY Times multimedia slideshow 

 

 

 

              Thanks to everybody at FringeNYC and HERE Arts Center for all the kindness and hospitality!

 

 

The Hyperbolist is a grandiloquent farce of tiny proportion about one desperate human's search

for love in a world that offers mostly rakes to step on.  In what the Chicago Tribune called, "an archly conceived puppet show,"

Joe Mazza uses a gaggle of puppets, film, and interactive live performance to explore our collective definition of love.

 

The show is Leo Buscaglia meets David Lynch.  It's the Brothers Quay-- only live.  There's flea circus brutality, a puppet crucifixion,

and an assignment at the end to run into the streets to smile at strangers.  It's a fun and exhausting introduction into Joe Mazza's

phantasmagorically raucous world.

 

Greg Allen, Founding Director of The Neo-Futurists and creator of Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind

called the show, "Beautiful and funny and tragic all simultaneously.  He had my eyes welling up within three minutes of the start; right after I chuckled."

 

        Written and performed by Joe Mazza.  Puppets, sets, and films also by Joe Mazza.

        Directed by Dan Kerr-Hobert, Joe Mazza, and Susan Ask

                    

August

SAT 14 @ 2:30

SUN 15 @ 8:30

FRI 20 @ 8:45

SUN 22 @ 9:45

THUR 26 @ 6

FRI 27 @ 7

VENUE #18: HERE Dorothy B. Williams Theater

145 6th Ave, New York, NY

Running Time: 60 minutes Tickets: $15-$18

For tickets visit www.FringeNYC.org

                                                          

 

     past news...

 

      +   Phantasmagoric-- I was just invited to apply for a Jim Henson Grant!  The clay is moist, the sketches are on the board, 

          and my 1961 Singer Rocketeer is just back from the garage.

 

      +   Come and check out five of my new puppets in, "The Dolls of J" show at the Eyeporium Gallery 1543 N Milwaukee. 

           The opening is October 16 7pm-10.  The show runs until November 7. 

 

      +   November 7, I'll be doing a short piece, Fou-ha-ha!, at a benefit for the typhoon vittims of the Philippines, KAPWA, at The Rizal Center--

          along with egregiously talented folks like Taylor Bibat and Alex Balestrieri.  More details on the way.

 

      +   I'll be performing a new piece, Egad!  My Lips Are Moving!, at The Solarium-- a fantastic and intimate venue for new

          and edgy work-- on November 14. 

 

      +   Some of my short puppet films will be featured in the screening of "Short Sighted" which is part of the Heartland Exhibition

          at The Smart MuseumUniversity of Chicago, on December 3rd.  Admission is free and there will be live music-- and food!     

 

 

 

    + In Absurdum-- my new solo-show-- went up at the Building Stage's Summer Series for three weeks in August. 

          Thanks to all who joined us and also to my special guests-- Allison Daniel and her One Flea Circus.        

 

 

 

               + The Walls

 

           Come and see-- I created the puppets and choreographed the puppet sequences for

         Rivendell Theatre Ensemble's, The Walls, by Lisa Dillman which opened at the Steppenwolf Garage on May 13. 

         I'm also performing the preshow which takes place in the lobby of the theatre.  And-- The Walls is Jeff Recommended.

                                          

           The Walls is about a scholarly young woman who must confront the issue of her mother's untimely death and

         the possible consequences of her own complicated inheritance in this time-bending play about the elusive nature

         of madness.  This is a world premiere of a collaborative, ensemble based work exploring women and madness

         and the link to creative genius. Commissioned by RTE in 2005, it has been developed through ongoing workshops

         and retreats over the past four years.

                                                                                                        

           Go to Rivendell Theatre Ensemble

           Go to Steppenwolf

 

                                                                                           

          Chicago Sun Times                    Centerstage              The Reader

          "Stunning World Premiere"         "Must See Show"        "Full of compelling details conveyed with great nuance"

 

           Robertianish

           "sensational performances from a diverse and daring cast"

 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

 
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