Kickstarter

   Welcome to our  newly relaunched Kickstarter campaign for ‘The Green Gold Tree’; a new multimedia/marionette show and performance piece inspired by Goethe's Faust.  Thank you again for giving your time to viewing this project which is so personally meaningful to us and which will hopefully result in a show for all to enjoy. So far we have received seed grants from the Henson Foundation, the Vermont Arts Council, Scott Elliott, and a donation of gold from a mysterious woman.

 For the past 8 months, The Bluebird Theater, has been developing this show; reading, writing, making marionettes, shadow puppets, lantern slides, editing film and creating music. As painters, we were drawn to segments of the story which we found to be visually compelling as well as to some of the larger themes, such as that of the redemptive power of nature. It is important to us to convey that what we are planning to present is inspired by Goethe's Faust - it is our misinterpretation!  To simplify, one could say that we are interpreting the second act as the “inner” story, mirroring, in many ways, the external story of the first act. Our goal is to create a multilayered, rich and entertaining experience, and still retain that spirit of ‘shoestringiness’, which is inherent in our puppet shows.

 We are hoping to raise $7,500. We plan to put this money towards  paying musicians and puppeteers for rehearsals, for the creation of the remaining puppets, the writing of the music, the building of the stage, and technical gear. This money would successfully help our project find it's way to it's world premier at The Brattleboro Museum, where it will be presented as a 'work in progress.'

Along the way we have enlisted the help of many talented people.  Michelle Ratte who, with her patented printing process, is helping to clothe the puppets with real gold.  Duke Johnson and Rick Contino of the Bluebird Orchestra, are helping with musical collaboration. Oliver Schemm, is constructing our new stage, and Julie Jensen is working on a multiple of puppet making tasks.                                          

Thanks so much for taking the time to read this. Every donation helps, no matter how small.