Sandglass Theater’s New Vision Series Presents Shoshana Bass, ‘When I Put On Your Glove’
Join Sandglass in a process of transformation.
On April 1st -3rd Shoshana Bass will be performing her first work-in-progress showing of When I Put On Your Glove, which navigates the landscape of generational, artistic inheritance through puppetry, dance and spoken word. The piece explores Shoshana’s relationship to her father’s Autumn Portraits vignettes, and investigates past and present through the memories living within the puppets. Through engaging with the puppets, the piece addresses universal questions of belonging, childhood, fear of loss, and death. This piece will be presented as part of Sandglass Theater’s New Visions Series, which serves as a laboratory for new works by artists in the field of puppetry and movement-based theater.
Eric Bass has performed Autumn Portraits since 1981. The show has traveled around the world and won awards on several continents. It has been performed in three languages. And it has often been performed here in Putney on Thanksgiving weekend. This performance marks the passing of these puppets into new hands. Shoshana will be performing the complete pieces in a new context. Together with director Jerry Stropnicky, she is creating a work of theater that explores what it means for her to slip into her father’s art – not just the form, but the actual pieces. Through the lens of these pieces she is looking at her relationship with her father, at her own history, and at the act of transformation.
“The piece explores something of great emotional and artistic significance to me, as this creative transformation in my life and art comes at a pivotal time of institutional transition of Sandglass Theater, the theater my parents founded and the place I grew up,” says Shoshana. This is not a restaging of Autumn Portraits, but rather an engagement with what legacy means in the field of puppetry; how an art form endures and transforms as it is handed to the next generation; meeting the voice of the past with the voice of the present, and singing it into the future.
Shoshana is an interdisciplinary performing artist, with a background in physical theater, dance and circus. Though she has grown up enveloped in puppetry, this will be her first solo work in the field. Eric Bass first envisioned the concept for this piece, and director Gerard Stropnicky has joined the team as director and devising expert. Ines Zeller Bass has added her expertise to the additional design and construction, and Maria Pugnetti brings in the sound design.
The New Visions series presents innovative, adventurous, and socially relevant pieces, that cross-pollinate between genres and disciplines, from dance to puppetry, circus to storytelling. Sandglass presents professional artists, who often rehearse in the Sandglass theater space and then culminate their residency in performances for the local public to receive feedback and engage in dialogue. The New Visions series is a great opportunity to engage intimately with the artistic process, actively be included in the inception of a new work, and join a community of enthusiastic theater allies in Southern Vermont.
Show times for When I Put On Your Glove are Friday and Saturday, April 1st and 2nd at 7:30pm and on Sunday, April 3rd at 4pm. Friday night will be a special fundraising Gala performance and event with $30 tickets to cover the costs of developing this delicate and important work. If you cannot come that evening, but would like to support the production, please consider purchasing tickets for someone else. Tickets for all other performances will be $15 and are available online at http://sandglasstheater.org. Reservations can also be made by calling the theater at (802) 387-4051. Tickets are payable by cash or check at the door. Getting tickets in advance is highly encouraged as seating is limited. Sandglass Theater is a wheelchair accessible theater located in the heart of Putney, VT.