When the Show Comes Home … Performance Artifacts: Delaware Contemporary Art Center

Photo Credit: Jauhien Sasnou

History / Description

From the exhibition wall-text: This exhibition includes more than 55 artifacts including puppet and props from performances spanning 20 years of Mundheim’s career. Objects are made from paper, wood, fabric, and a lot of trial and error.  These characters and stories have been performed in places including:  Kimmel Center, Theatre Exile, Ballet X, the Arden, the Lantern, Clark Park, on the stage of the Mann Music Center, Philadelphia Museum of Art, MassMOCA, the Stonington Opera House, Baltimore Theatre Project, even on small stages in Ireland. They have been performed by ballet dancers, puppeteers, actors, adults and children. They bring us through the Henri Rousseau’s Paris, Guna’s World War Two Latvia, Gilgamesh and Mesopotamia, Dylan Thomas’s Wales, Giorgio DeChirico and the Myth of Ariadne, and Siddhartha’s encounter with his petulant and materialistic son … and much, much more. In addition to the objects installed, there is video of past performance work, and a thoughtful, delightful audio tour. (which you can also experience below). 

Delaware Scene: When The Show Comes Home.

Philadelphia Inquirer: A band of magical puppets are moving out of their South Philly home.

Events

Opening Reception: February 2, 2024: 5pm-9pm
Artist’s Talk: April 28, 2024: 2pm
Studio Performance and Talk: Kea and the Ark: May 18, 2024: 11pm, 2pm, 4:30pm

Media

Video Credit: Fox News

Video Reels

Compilation Reel of Performance Work 2005-2024

First Interdisciplinary Work: The Chess Set 1984

Audio Tour

This audio tour was created to accompany the exhibition.
The general reflections can be listened to anywhere.
The sequential tour reflections are connected to specific object clusters.

GENERAL REFLECTIONS

INTRODUCTION: What's in the Room (0:46)
Caitlin Thompson
INTRODUCTION: Why Share the Work (0:18)
Caitlin Thompson
INTRODUCTION: When the Puppets Leave Me (0:51)
Caitlin Thompson
ON CRAFT: How I Make a Story (1:14)
Caitlin Thompson
ON CRAFT: I Crumple Paper (0:41)
Caitlin Thompson
ON CRAFT: Making Knees: A Willfulness to Be (1:07)
Caitlin Thompson
ON CRAFT: How Does a Puppet Sit: The Craft of Teaching Movement (1:57)
Caitlin Thompson
ON CRAFT: Something About Puppetry You Aren't Expecting to Hear (1:54)

SEQUENTIAL TOUR REFLECTIONS

GILGAMESH

The Bull of Heaven, Wingless Birds, Shamat the Harlot (1:53)
Caitlin Thompson
The Epic of Gilgamesh a Brief Introduction (1:15)
Caitlin Thompson

JEENU AND THE UNDERSTUDY

On Skinny Legs (1:36)

THE SIDDS

The Story of Siddhartha (1:36)
Caitlin Thompson
Three Puppets (0:36)
Caitlin Thompson

THE ARCHIVE

THE ARKHIVE: The Book Costumes (2:07)

SEA OF BIRDS

Introduction to Installation (1:04)
Caitlin Thompson
Leaving Latvia: Guna the Storyteller and the Story (0:37)
Caitlin Thompson
Relating Her Story and Mine Using the Sea as a Transition (0:38)
Caitlin Thompson
Making Boots Changed the Story (4:01)
"This is my favorite recording." - Sebastienne
Gregor and the Dog and the Running Flowers (1:41)
Caitlin Thompson

PARIS WHEELS AND THE READY MAIDS

Paris Wheels and the Ready Maids (2:04)

THE JUNGLE BOOK

JUNGLE BOOK: The Elephant (0:26)

THE MISERABLE CHILDREN

The Miserable Children from Paula Vogel's Play (1:47)
Caitlin Thompson

THE TRUCK, THE DOGS, ANEMIC TREE…

The Truck, The Dogs, Anemic Tree, Warthog and Dog (0:55)
Caitlin Thompson

KEA AND THE ARK

Kea the Belligerent Puppet, The Packrat, The Ark and Newark (2:05)

THE CHESS SET

THE CHESS SET: A Video I Made in 1984, When I was 16 (1:58)

DE CHIRICO

DE CHIRICO (1:36)

A CHILD’S CHRISTMAS IN WALES

A Child's Christmas in Wales (1:59)

JEREMY PUBLIC AND PRIVATE

Jeremy Public and Private (1:05)

Stills

Photo Credit: Jauhien Sasnou

Photo Credit: Peter Jacobs