70 The Green Bird, a Steven Epp translation of the Carlo Gozzi story dir Nic Dimond for Strawdog Theatre. The Green Bird is an Italian Fairy Tale about two royal children who are kidnapped by their evil Grandmother and end up being raised by a sausage maker and his wife, and of course the king falls for his own daughter and gets dangerously close to Greek Tragedy, rather than Comedia, but in the end it all works out. I played an ancient talking statue named Calmon, who had been reduced to a head and a hand. This, I believe, is where my informal puppetry training began. Michelle Caplan and I designed and built the puppet around me, using a backpack, PVC pipe, chicken wire, newspaper and spray styrofoam. The only articulation was the eyes and we mounted a microphone in front of my mouth on the inside. Two people would lift up the head (not that far because of low ceilings) and I would climb in, strap myself into the backpack and go to town. Of course, when you are a big giant head you discover a) how small entrances and backstage actually are and b) the necessity for complete stillness when not on stage. Also at the end of every show, it would take me so long to get backstage, because I had to let everyone else go first and then cross the entire stage, that I had to make a bit out of it by dispensing some sage advice as I left like “Remember kids, if you shake it more than twice, you’re playing with it!” And of course since I needed help getting out of it, and I was the last person offstage, my “friends” would often forget and just go straight to changing and drinking in the Green Room. I think the longest I waited to be let out was 25 minutes. Thunder. Earthquake. #retrospective #2002 #thegreenbird #stevenepp #carlogozzi #nicdimond #calmon #thebiggianthead #ninjaband #ninjex #nowheremountain #ithinkitscuba (at Chicago, Illinois) https://www.instagram.com/p/B6ipj6gJ430/?igshid=1pkocb3sikmjg
