UNSETTLING is a performance project dreamed into existence by Tracy Broyles and comprised of a corps of performers, puppeteers, musicians, storytellers, and educators. UNSETTLING is a personal, poetic history of North American roots and routes of immigration and migration, told through the family histories of the individual performers. The ensemble of UNSETTLING collaborators will be in residence at NACL from July 24th through August 5th, during which time the project team will create new material and build upon work presented during their prior residency at NACL in 2021.
UNSETTLING is a 2023 artist grant recipient from the Jim Henson Foundation.
On Friday, July 28th, you are invited to come share stories of arrivals and departures, an open rehearsal, and a meal. They'll be building puppets, listening, testing sets, and singing. Join the ensemble as they experiment with new ways of weaving history and hope. Help with your eyes and ears, your hands and hearts.
Members attend FREE and do not need to reserve. Find out about the benefits of MEMBERSHIP.
Come back on Saturday, August 5th, for a work-in-progress presentation, in which they will put the pieces together, deconstructed and reconstructed, to reveal to us and to themselves how far we’ve come on this journey, and how far we have yet to go.
THE ENSEMBLE
The UNSETTLING ensemble first coalesced through a workshop residency at The National Puppetry Conference at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center. Drawn to the project’s clarion call for a creative, compassionate, and collective response to rewrite “American” history through a personal lens of reclamation and reconciliation, puppeteers assembled and joined their myriad gifts to support one another in unearthing their personal stories of arrival, colonization, and decolonization. Core members elected to continue work on the project through the early stages of the pandemic, affirmed in the critical importance of the work.
Core ensemble members include:
Andrew Cano (lead puppeteer) is a Mexican American performer from Los Angeles. He began his training in Theatre at the Los Angeles County High School of the Arts and has continued training in object manipulation of every kind with a focus on large scale puppets. Most recently, he has worked in camera puppetry with The Jim Henson Company, Disney’s the Muppets, and Sesame Street.
Cindy Hartigan (lead puppeteer) received her MFA in Youth Theatre from the University of Hawaii at Mānoa. While on Oahu, she developed a performance group known as the Power of Play (P.O.P.) Project, devising shows for children’s hospitals and promoting the therapeutic use of dance, art, and creative play. She is the co-founder of Firefly Family Theater in the Chicago suburbs, a performance company which creates interactive educational content for schools and libraries, featuring original music and puppets. Cindy is an Associate Adjunct Professor of Dance at North Central College.
Evan Pritchard (performer, musician) of MI’kmaq descent, has been doing field interviews with Native American elders since 1990 and has been the director of Center for Algonquin culture for the last 24 years. A lecturer on native studies, Pritchard appears frequently on radio and television, including WBAI, WNYC, and on CNN, ABC, Discovery Channel and the History Channel. He has written over 50 books on native culture, history, and spirituality. His poems from Greetings were the basis of a portion of a Native American stage play called Cedars, which premiered at La Mama in New York.
Jess Rassp (puppeteer, lead puppet builder and designer) is a Theatre Artist, Producer, and Director who specializes in Puppetry and object performance. Inspired by nature, culture, and mythology, her work fuels environmentally centered narratives, inspires storytelling through the subtleties of creature expression, and encourages audiences to connect with our natural world. Jess has worked as an independent artist with various theatre companies as a leader, designer, and puppet creator. In addition to intensive studies in theatre and fine arts, she received her B.A. in English Literature from Brandeis University. jessrasspdesign.com
Lily Gershon (puppeteer, puppet builder) of LilySilly Puppets, is a puppeteer, singer, producer, and puppet maker. She has a M.A. in Education and has taught high school English, as well as Puppet Arts. She performs as part of a jazz duo and sings in a number of languages. She lives at the Dacha Project, a collective homestead that she co-founded.
Maria Ines Tripodi (performer, community workshop leader) is a dancer and educator with extensive experience in curriculum design, arts education, and community engagement. She holds a Montessori Teaching Certificate, a BA in Performance and Language Arts and a Masters in Teaching from Bennington College. Having grown up in Washington DC and Argentina, Maria is a native Spanish and English speaker who brings her bicultural experience to all her work as a performer and educator. She has developed education programs and curricula for Liz Lerman Dance Exchange, San Francisco Mime Troupe, Wolf Trap Institute, the Levine School of Music, and the Kennedy School for the Arts.
Ruth Burack-Lamberson, M. Ed. (performer, writer) loves to play. With over three decades of experience communicating with learners of all ages, Ruth uses her special mix of skills as an educator, writer, professional ski instructor, actor, and budding puppeteer to excite audiences. Ruth’s early performance work has been been reignited as a student at Sandglass Theater’s intensive training workshop and at the National Puppetry Conference at the Eugene O’Neill Theatre Center.
Tracy Broyles (Director) is a director, performance and installation artist, producer of processional theater, and cultural organizer. Tracy blends her devised theatre background rooted in the work of Jerzy Grotowski and the Odin Teatret with her love of traditional storytelling, puppetry, song, and folklore. She has produced and directed over 20 theater productions and parades. Tracy previously served as an Artistic Director and the Managing Director of North American Cultural Laboratory and served as the Executive Director of Spiral Q Puppet Theater.