morganfitzp

Wed, 13 Feb 2008 21:52:28 -0500

Thanks for the thoughtful review and the challenging critique regarding the piece's focus. I think that Beth Nixon realizes that she doesn't have the solution to the gentrification puzzle and maybe that's why the show never got to where you wanted it to go. Instead, the gauntlet lies in the lap of each audience member as they walk out the door: "Where do we go from here?" In reality the show started before Mite We?'s bugs took the stage, and it doesn't stop when we've all packed up and gone home.Regarding the question of intended audience, most people in the U.S. today regard puppet shows in the same way that people regarded graphic novels a decade ago: as being for kids. While bestselling books like Art Spiegelman's Maus and Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis have broadened the public mindset toward comics, puppets for grown-ups a still a bit more of a novelty. A lot of "adult" puppetry that I've seen falls back on base humor that both feeds and feeds upon an appetite for rudimentary violence and stupid sex(ist) jokes. Beth's work, and the work of other artists that Puppet Uprising hosts, is refreshing in that it presents serious issues through the medium of puppetry in an intelligent creative voice. For more examples check out Puppet Uprising's upcoming performance at the I.C.A. on March 19th.

Phillyist: Termites, Genies and Gentrification: Phillyist Reviews Puppet Uprising's Mite We?

morganfitzp