WHEN I PUT ON YOUR GLOVE
A piece about belonging, memory and inter-generational dialogue.
When I Put On Your Glove is a puppetry, dance and spoken word piece that explores a daughter’s relationship to her father’s work building upon a premise that puppets are containers of memory. In it, a daughter explores what it means for her to slip into her father’s art – and not just the form, but the actual pieces. This work addresses universal questions of belonging, childhood, fear of loss, death and the complicated nature of navigating generational artistic legacy. The passing of these puppets into new hands marks a pivotal moment of generational transition for Sandglass Theater. It is an engagement with what legacy means in the field of puppetry; how an art form endures and transforms as it is handed to the next generation; meeting the voice of the past with the voice of the present, and singing it into the future.
Shoshana Bass, performer and creator
Eric Bass, concept and creator of the original Autumn Portraits
Gerard Stropnicky, director
Alison Mott, choreographer
Maria Pugnetti, technical direction and sound design
Ines Zeller Bass, additional design and construction
Music by GlassDuo: https://shop.glassduo.com/
This project is supported in part by the Vermont Arts Council and donations from all those who generously contributed to the GoFundMe Campaign.
THANKS TO OUR FUNDERS
The History of When I Put on Your Glove
In 2015, artist Shoshana Bass experienced an unimaginable fall from the trapeze. Not only did the fall result in the immediate end of her circus career, but it significantly limited her movement, which had been her trusted means of expression her whole artistic life.
While struggling with questions of identity in the face of physical inability, Shoshana’s father, Eric Bass, decided to teach her Autumn Portraits, his signature puppet vignettes. The pieces deal with the themes of identity, loss, mortality, and surrender and they became the framework for Shoshana’s newest work, When I Put On Your Glove.
In this new context, the original Portraits became answers to moments of spiritual crisis, and are tied together by Shoshana’s own reflections, questions and memories, spoken and danced. Lifetimes of memory are contained in these puppets: Shoshana’s, her father's, and countless others who have met these evocative characters. The show layers Shoshana’s own journey of recovery with these memories. When I Put On Your Glove
honors the art of puppetry and it’s legacy, as well as the capacity for truth, love, and transformation that puppets embody. The show layers Shoshana’s own journey of recovery with the memories of her childhood, and her relationship to her father and his art. When I Put On Your Glove speaks honors the form of puppetry and it’s legacy, as well as the puppets capacity for truth, love, and transformation.
The passing of these puppets into new hands marks a pivotal moment of generational transition for Sandglass Theater.