News
L.E.M. Project in Bulgaria Summer 2009
Wednesday, Aug 19, 2009 07:32 PM
New Work at the Rhodopi International Theatre Lab with collaborators Jared Stein, Jeff Burke, Johnathan Snipes, Matt Acheson, Tom Lee. Puppeteer Erik Finck w/ Kaloian Paterkov & Djani Achmedova (not pictured)
Working with Matt on Windup Bird - Asia Society
Wednesday, Aug 19, 2009 07:28 PM
Disfarmer
Saturday, Feb 7, 2009 09:17 PM
Tom performed in Dan Hurlin's Disfarmer at St. Ann's Warehouse In Jan/Feb 2009. Photo courtesy of SAW.
Rehearsing Trouble at the Met 08-09
Tuesday, Jan 6, 2009 10:26 PM
KO'OLAU at La MaMa
Saturday, Aug 9, 2008 08:54 PM
La MaMa Experimental Theatre and Yara Arts Group present
KO'OLAU
September 18 - October 5, 2008
Opening night Thursday, Sept 18 at 10pm
Runs Fridays and Saturdays at 10pm, Sundays at 5:30
LA MAMA EXPERIMENTAL THEATRE
74A East 4th Street between 2nd & 3rd
tickets $18 212-475-7710
lamama.org
puppets and direction by Tom Lee
music by Yukio Tsuji & Bill Ruyle
lighting Miranda Hardy
costumes Kanako Hiyama
additional projection design by Caren Loebel-Fried
assistant director Nao Otaka
company Matthew Acheson, Marina Celander, Frankie Cordero, Miranda
Hardy, Yoko Myoi, Nao Otaka, Tom Lee
understudies Takemi Kitamura, Kiku Sakai
This production made possible by The Jim Henson Foundation, Yara Arts
Group, Rhodopi International Theater Collective, Chocolate Factory Theater,
TCG/ITI Travel Grant Program and individual donors.
Wind Up Bird in Japan
Thursday, Jun 12, 2008 11:51 AM
At the end of May 2008, I worked with director Stephen Earnhardt and video designer Aaron Harrow on incorporating puppetry into an theater adaptation of Haruki Murakami's WIND UP BIRD CHRONICLE. Below are some stills from our developmental workshop at Morishita Studios in Tokyo with some talented Japanese actors.
Built a puppet with Dan Hurlin
Monday, Dec 17, 2007 10:35 PM
Dan Hurlin directed "AN AUTHENTICK RELATION OF THE MANY HARDSHIPS AND SUFFERINGS OF A DUTCH SAILOR OR THE JUST VENGEANCE OF HEAVEN EXEMPLIFY'D" this fall at Sarah Lawrence College. We built the puppet together and here's a picture: 
KOOLAU: a true story of Kauai
Friday, Oct 5, 2007 07:43 AM
KO'OLAU has opened and tickets are going fast. Please note that
there is an added matinee on Saturday Nov 17 at 4pm. Please visit
www.chocolatefactorytheater.com for more info!
The Chocolate Factory Theater presents
KO'OLAU a true story of Kaua'i
conceived and directed by Tom Lee
music by Yukio Tsuji with Bill Ruyle
company Matt Acheson, Marina Celander, Frankie Cordero,
Miranda Hardy, Kanako Hiyama, Yoko Myoi & Nao Otaka
Based on the true story of Kaluaiko'olau, a Hawai'ian who
fought the colonial government to save his family in the 1890s.
with kuruma ningyo-style puppets, shadowplay and animation by Tom Lee
THURS-SAT NOV 8-17, 2007 8PM
TICKETS $15 CALL 212 352 3101
CHOCOLATE FACTORY THEATER
5-49 49TH AVE, LONG ISLAND CITY
www.chocolatefactorytheater.org
supported in part by a Jim Henson Foundation Seed Grant,
the Rhodopi International Theater Collective, The TCG/ITI
Travel Grant Program and Yara Arts Group
Meeting Koryu-san in Amherst, MA
Friday, Oct 5, 2007 12:15 AM
I drove to the University of Massachusetts at Amherst to watch Hachioji Kuruma Ningyo perform. After the show, we met Koryu Nishikawa, the headmaster of the theater and kuruma-ningyo tradition. Here's a photo of Kanako Hiyama, puppeeter Ryuhe Nishikawa, me, Koryu-san and Yoko Myoi. Perry Yung and Maura Donohue were our gracious hosts in Northampton. Go Kuruma Ningyo!
Metropolitan Opera Debut
Thursday, Oct 4, 2007 07:51 AM
This October, I will perfom as a principal puppeteer in Anthony
Minghella's MADAMA BUTTERFLY at the Metropolitan Opera,
with puppetry by Blind Summit Theatre.
Performance dates October 8,12,15,19,23 8pm Oct 27 2:30pm
A puppet is Interviewed
Sunday, Jun 3, 2007 11:15 PM
Toni Schlesinger interviewed Hoplite for the 10th Anniversary of the St. Ann's Puppet Lab. Solvej crawled into the toy theatre for Punch of the Dead at the gallery show of past participants.
A hovel for St. Francis
Wednesday, May 23, 2007 04:51 PM
I made a woven hovel out of bamboo, jute, wire and corrugated cardboard for Christopher Williams' dance piece about St. Francis of Asissi.
Photo by Steven Schreiber
Mothers Day performance at MoCA
Sunday, May 13, 2007 11:05 PM
I performed a solo piece for kuruma-ningyo style puppet at the Museum of Chinese in the Americas in Chinatown. Perry Yung provided accompaniment on shakuhachi. Below is a still from the short animation that accompanied the performance.
Once There Was a Village
Monday, Jan 8, 2007 10:45 PM
I'm designing the set for the Czechoslovak American Marionette Theatre at
the La MaMa Annex:
Once There Was a Village
An ethno opera with puppets and found objects...
about 400 years of the East Village
Music by Frank London & the Hungry March Band
Set Design by Tom Lee
Costume Design by Michelle Beshaw
Written and Directed by Vit Horejs
with: Deborah Beshaw, Michelle Beshaw, Jason Candler, Vit Horejs, Steven Ryan, Theresa Linnihan, Quince Marcum, Valois Mickens, Alan Barnes Netherton, Adelka Polak, Ronny Wasserstrom & Kat Yew
La MaMa E.T.C., 74A East 4th Street
January 25-February 11 2007
Thursday-Sunday evenings @ 7:30 pm & Sunday matinee @ 2:30 pm
Box Office 212-475-7710, lamama.org
Maya's shadow piece
Sunday, Nov 26, 2006 01:41 PM
A shadow play with Maya Lee
HOPLITE DIARY at Sarah Lawrence
Thursday, Oct 26, 2006 09:07 AM
Hoplite Diary will be presented at Sarah Lawrence College Nov 2,3,4, 2006, at 7:30 Thursday and Friday and 1pm on Saturday. This is a co-production with puppeteers from SLC, musicians Julian Kytasty and Mike Andrec and puppeteers Yoko Myoi and Alexis MacNab. Please send me an email regarding tickets for the performance. In the Cannon Workshop Theatre.
Madama Butterfly at the Met
Saturday, Sep 23, 2006 11:28 AM
I'm currently working as a cover puppeteer (understudy) for the bunraku-style puppets in Anthony Minghella's production of MADAMA BUTTERFLY at the Metropolitan Opera. The puppets are by Mark Down and Nick Barnes of Blind Summit Theatre. Check out their website at www.blindsummit.com
Puppets in Sweden
Wednesday, Aug 16, 2006 09:41 AM
Summer work on The Story of Kaluaikoolau continues
Puppets in a Chocolate Factory
Wednesday, Jun 7, 2006 12:10 PM
Performing kuruma ningyo style puppets with Yoko Myoi and Karen Elizaga for the Chocolate Factory benefit.
FIREWATER to be screened in NYC
Sunday, Apr 30, 2006 06:30 PM
The short film which I did animation for will be screened at the following
NYC festivals.
*40th BAC International Film and Video Festival
Sunday, Apr 30 at 5:35pm Brooklyn Museum of Art
*29th Asian American International Film Festival
Mid July at Asia Society
ODYSSEUS AND AJAX last weekend
Sunday, Apr 16, 2006 09:03 PM
There are 3 more performances of Odysseus and Ajax at La MaMa this weekend. The opening performances sold out so please call ahead for tickets! The final performances will be April 21, 22 and 23. Friday and Saturday at 10pm and Sunday at 5:30pm.
Odysseus and Ajax
La MaMa Experimental Theatre
74 E 4th Street (btwn 2nd & 3rd)
box office 212-475-7710
www.lamama.org
tickets $15
ODYSSEUS AND AJAX - a chamber opera with puppets
Friday, Apr 14, 2006 08:00 PM
The opera and puppet action all begins on April 14. SEATING IS LIMITED, so please call early!
My newest show, ODYSSEUS AND AJAX, will open April 14th at La MaMa. It's a chamber opera by Martin Halpern based on Sophocles' AJAX. The set and puppet design is heavily influenced by the time I spent in Japan this summer. The puppets are kuruma ningyo style, where a puppeteer sits on a small rolling stool and operates a single puppet with both hands and both feet. The costumes are by Kanako Hiyama and lighting is by Miranda Hardy.
Please be aware that the live opera singers will only perform April 14 and 15 at 10pm. Seating is limited, so please call ahead.
- - -
ODYSSEUS & AJAX : a chamber opera with puppets
with puppets inspired by Hachiouji Kuruma Ningyo -- wheeled puppet theatre of Japan
music and libretto by Martin Halpern
designed and directed by Tom Lee
costumes by Kanako Hiyama
lighting by Miranda Hardy
6 performances only! Friday through Sunday
APRIL 14, 15, 21, 22 at 10pm
APRIL 16 & 23 at 5:30pm
at La MaMa Experimental Theatre -- The Club
74 East 4th Street between 2nd & 3rd
TICKETS $15 - BOX OFFICE TEL 212 475 7710
more information at www.lamama.org