SUMMER SERIES
Sandglass presents a series of special appearances and public workshops by stellar artists working in exciting interdisciplinary performance techniques. This series celebrates the crossroads of art forms and development of new works by professional and emerging artists.
All performances and workshops are at Sandglass Theater, 17 Kimball Hill in the heart of Putney, VT, just off of Exit 4 from I91.
No one will be turned away from Summer Series performances for lack of funds.
ABOUT THE EVENT
A LOOK AT THE 2026 SERIES
The City That Slept
Floating Shadow Puppets, Lantern Puppets, and Large Scale Marionettes
by Tom Tuke/Paloma Puppet Theatre
Performances: June 5th and 6th at 7pm
What happens when Sleep arrives in New York? We listen, as the city falls asleep, and folks retell dreams. Through shadow puppets, lanterns and large-scale marionettes, we see these dreams as they weave through the towers, avenues and city blocks. Using interviews recorded in Union Square, and soundscapes from around the city, puppeteer Tom Tuke creates a tableau of New York. The City That Slept incorporates fusions of traditional puppetry forms, which Tuke has developed while studying at The University of Connecticut’s Puppet Arts Program. These include an original design - floating shadow puppets, which glide through a pool of moving water.
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Tom Tuke is an artist, educator and puppeteer from Aotearoa / New Zealand. He found puppetry as a classroom teacher in 2018. Soon he was making driftwood marionettes and touring a show throughout the country. Tuke applied to the University of Connecticut’s Puppet Arts Program, and relocated to the US in 2022. Since arriving he has performed with Bread and Puppet, and with the Pulavar family of Kerala, as well as developing hand puppet, lantern and shadow shows for audiences around the North East. Tuke has developed a full length puppet show “The City That Slept” as a capstone project at UConn, and is touring it to venues around the North East in the first half of 2026.
Floating Water Puppet Workshop
With Tom Tuke
Workshop: June 6th, 11am- 12:30pm
Capacity: 12 people
Workshop cost: $40
In this workshop, Tom Tuke will teach water-shadow puppetry. It is a unique style of puppetry he developed for The City That Slept at the University of Connecticut's Puppet Arts Program. In this workshop, each participant will make at least one floating shadow puppet, and have the opportunity to experiment how the puppets work, using a pool of swirling water.
This workshop is suitable for adults and teenagers.
Penelope in First Person
Theater and Magical Realism
by Keely Eastley and Eric Bass
Performances: June 19th and June 20th at 7pm; June 21st at 5pm
Penelope In First Person is a project that Keely Eastley (performer) and Eric Bass (director) have been developing for over two years. It is adapted from the book by Sue Goyette, former poet laureate of Nova Scotia, in which Penelope tells her own version of The Odyssey, a version filled with the Magical Realism in which she can see her husband’s infidelity, speak with imaginary guardians, and wrestle with her impulses through a text filled with wry humor and raw openness.
Music by Julian Gerstin, Set design by Maria Pugnetti.
This project is supported by funding from Martha Richards and WomenArts, The Fund for Women Artists.
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Keely Eastley is a Linklater Designated voice teacher who apprenticed with Master Teacher Kristin Linklater. She began teaching in 1987 and has been on the faculty of Yale School of Drama, NYU, Syracuse University, Emerson College, Circle-in-the-Square, Classic Stage Co., Trinity Rep. and Shakespeare and Company. Internationally, she was head of Voice and Movement at Toi Whakaari – New Zealand Drama School. While in Aotearoa (New Zealand), she also worked with the students at Takitimu, the school for traditional Maori performing arts. As a voice and text coach, she has coached shows at Yale Rep, The New York Public Theater and Shakespeare and Company. Currently she is on the faculty at MIT.
As an actor Keely is a member of the Barrow Group in NYC, shows include Tales From Hollywood, Walking the Blonde, and Split. With Shakespeare and Company shows include, Hamlet (Gertrude), Othello (Emilia), The Custom of the Country (Laura Fairford). Locally with Apron Theatre, August Osage County (Violet), W;T (Vivian Baring) Doubt (Sister Aloysius), Top Girls (Pope Joan). She is delighted to premiere Penelope in First Person with Eric Bass and to be on the beautiful Sandglass Theatre stage.
Eric Bass has worked for over forty years as a director, playwright, performer, presenter, producer, and puppet maker. In 1982, Eric co-founded Sandglass Theater in Munich, Germany, with his wife, Ines Zeller Bass, and they moved to Vermont in 1986. As a director, he has worked on four continents. His international collaborations include The Girl Whose Father Was a Rabbit in Australia, The Story of the Dog, in Cambodia, BlackBirds in Poland, The Glass Menagerie in Germany, and Nathan the Wise in El Salvador.
In 1991, Eric was awarded the Figurentheater Prize of the City of Erlangen, Germany for his contributions to the field of Puppet Theater. Eric served on the board of the Jim Henson Foundation and on the first board of the Network of Ensemble Theaters. He was the Festival Artistic Director of Sandglass’ first ten international Puppets in the Green Mountains Festivals. In 2010, Eric and Ines received the Vermont Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts. His production with Sandglass Theater of Babylon: journeys of refugees, was created in association with the US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants Vermont and supported by New England Foundation for the Arts’ National Theater Project and the Doris Duke Building Bridges program. That production is now a film, which has been shown on PBS and is soon to tour with the French Amnesty International Film Festival. Eric has also directed eight productions for New England Youth Theater.
Working with Keely on this project is the realization of a long-held dream. He is also grateful to Sandglass Theater for its support in developing this work over two years.
Death and the Fool
Comedy, Puppetry, and Music from the Middle Ages
by Happenstance Theater
Performances: June 25th and 26th at 7pm
Physical Comedy Workshop with Happenstance: Friday June 26th 10am - 4pm (lunch break 12:30-1:15); Ages 16+
Death and the Fool is a Tarot-inspired mystery play full of slapstick comedy, music from the middle ages, puppetry and whimsy to drive away fear and offer relief from impending doom, just as folly brought light to the Dark Ages. As the Fool faces Death and seeks guidance, you too can consult the Oracle, be comforted by the High Priestess, trust in the Doctor if you dare, and give your troubles to the Crone.
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"Transcendent and provocative…Happenstance provides immeasurable entertainment with its comedy, music, and artistry…A characteristically compelling, intelligent, and thought-provoking hour of unique, outstanding, must-see theater." - DC Theater Arts
DEATH and the THE FOOL was originally adapted from Happenstance Theater’s ADRIFT | A Medieval Wayward Folly for the Maryland Renaissance Festival and then expanded to become this charming new touring show.
Featuring Happenstance Theater’s Ensemble:
Gwen Grastorf, Mark Jaster, Sabrina Mandell, Sarah Olmsted Thomas, and Alex Vernon.
Physical Comedy Workshop
With Happenstance Theater
Workshop: June 26th 10am - 4pm (with lunch break 12:30-1:15)
Capacity: minimum 6 people, maximum 16 people (In the event the workshop does not run, participants will receive a refund.)
Workshop cost: $75
This workshop explores physical techniques that support comic performance, with exercises in stillness, reaction, focus, clarity of mimetic gesture, illusion, physical characterization, status in the duo and trio, the inclusion of the audience, and clown.
For Ages 16+
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Mark draws on his training with Étienne Decroux and Marcel Marceau. Sabrina draws on her training with Dody DiSanto in the LeCoq pedagogy and almost two decades of experience as a theatrical clown. Their complementary approaches combine to address nuts-and-bolts physical, technical and structural skills and the more esoteric issues of honesty, presence and accessibility. It will be a super-charged, slam-dunk laboratory where folks can get down to the nitty-gritty of what it means to “take the stage” and PLAY.