Productions featuring Mooney-Bullock puppets and notable reviews, awards and honors received:
2017
Brothers of Invention, a MoonBull Studio production in development. Artist in residence workshop at the UChicago Performance Lab as part of the 2017 Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival.
*Recipient of a Jim Henson Foundation Family Grant.
The Great and Terrible Wizard of Oz, at The House Theatre of Chicago. Reed, wood and fabric life-sized puppets representing wolves, crows and the Kalidah monster.
James and the Giant Peach, Drury Lane Theatre in Oakbrook Terrace, IL. Insect rod and shadow puppets.
The Death and Life of Billy the Kid, directed by Frank Maugeri. In development. Hand-carved Billy the Kid puppet.
Carnival of Animals, Madcap Puppets. Giant Tyrannosaurus Rex backpack puppet.
2016
A Comedical Tragedy for Mister Punch, The House Theatre of Chicago. Hand puppet and mask versions of the full set of Punch and Judy characters.
Disney's The Little Mermaid, Paramount Theatre. The undersea creatures of this classic story become dozens of puppets, large and small. Paramount is fully embracing puppetry to tell this musical story: even for the characters of Flounder, Scuttle and Sebastian, who are more typically played by costumed characters.
*Check out this review about the significance of puppets in this production by Chris Jones of the Chicago Tribune.
Luigi Bullooney's Circus Menagerie, a MoonBull Studio production. A hand and rod puppet show chronicling a circus filled with zany characters. Midwest tour included the Detroit Institute of Art, Flint Institute of Art and Cincinnati Art Museum.
2015
Hammer Trinity, House Theatre. Enormous dragon-head puppets with opening jaws and a ride-able full-sized elk stag. Assisted by Emily Breyer, who built many of the smaller puppets in the play (birds, eagle, foxes)
*Nominated for a Joseph Jefferson Award in Puppet Design
The Oldest Boy, Marin Repertory Theatre, California. Crafted the Tenzin character, a life-sized wooden boy, operated by three puppeteers bunraku style. The puppet interacted with live actors and had to be convincing in movement and appearance, so I trained the puppeteers and helped direct the puppet manipulation.
*Excellence in Theatre Award in "Specialties" from the San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle
*Award for Outstanding Creative Specialty: Puppetry Director from the Theatre Bay Area Awards 2016
Devil's Cabaret, Redmoon Theater. Over-sized skull hand-puppets with moving mouths and clapping hands, and removable noses.
The Little Prince, directed by Matt Foss at Idaho Repertory Theater. Found-object based puppets representing the fox, rose, flock of birds, planets hidden in suitcases.
2014
The Jungle, Oracle Theater. Created a large-scale rubber stamp of a cow diagram which made prints representing the cattle referenced in the show. Also a hand-held comedic chicken puppet.
A Kite's Tale, Blair Thomas & Company. The protagonist is represented by two identical puppets, a life-scale doll and a giant puppet worn as a costume. The giant girl has moveable eyes and eyelids which are operated by triggers inside the hands of the puppet.
Rikki Tikki Tavi, a MoonBull Studio production. A hand and rod puppet adaptation of the Rudyard Kipling story. Performed at venues around Cincinnati and at the Art Institute of Chicago as part of the 2015 Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival.
2013
Bear Boy, a Mooney-Bullock production. An original hand-puppet show about a boy who transforms into a bear when he gets angry. Title character was a trick puppet with two faces that could be flipped back-and-forth.
*Funded by an award from the City of Cincinnati's Art Ambassador's Fellowship program.
Three Songs by Nico Muhly, Tatiana Berman (Cincinnati). Shadow puppet animation to accompany live opera and violin performance.
A Christmas Carol, Goodman Theatre, Lionhead door knocker mounted on Scrooge's front door transforms into the haunting face of Jacob Marley.
The Seagull, directed by Matt Foss at Iowa State University. Wooden seagull puppet.
2012
The Feast: An Intimate Tempest, Chicago Shakespeare Theater and Redmoon Theater. Carved wooden heads and hands that were held in space. Some had moving eyes and eyelids, others had moving mouths.
Moby Dick, Blair Thomas & Co. Fully carved wooden figures -- bunraku style puppets, and gaint whale puppet worn by single puppeteer.
A Hamlet, directed by Matt Foss at Iowa State University. Wooden figure of the king's ghost worn on one shoulder.
2010
The Selfish Giant, Chicago Children's Theater and Blair Thomas & Co. Giant costume puppet with moving eyelids and mouth. Also smaller rod marionettes and a group of Jack-in-the-box head puppets.
2008
Boneyard Prayer, Redmoon Theater. Near life-sized carved wooden puppets. Operated bunraku-style by several puppeteers.
*Nominated for a Joseph Jefferson Award in Puppet Design
2006
Carnival! Papermill Playhouse. Life-sized puppets and rod puppets of four characters, a walrus, a fox, a dancer and a clown.
2002
Salao: The Worst Kind of Unlucky, Redmoon Theater. (An adaptation of Hemmingway's The Old Man and the Sea) Full-sized wooden figure of the Old Man, sharks worn on the arms (built by Spiro Dousias), and a Marlin whose skin could be removed.
*Joseph Jefferson Award in Puppet Design
Buster Keaton's Stroll, Blair Thomas & Co. One-man reconfigured-brass-horn section built into the stage.