2024 PROJECTS:
THE JUXTAPOSE TENEMENT
with Happenstance Theater!
ONGOING: NOW PLAYING ONLINE
​Join us HERE for this unique online experience.

Happenstance has launched an interactive website called THE JUXTAPOSE TENEMENT. This virtual shadow-box tenement building, inspired by the works of Joseph Cornell, features portals through which visitors glean poetic glimpses of characters, environments, and fantasias.
Juxtaposer Tenement video trailer HERE.
Photo by Carlos Gonzalez-Fernandez
A Documentary Film Available Now!
People | Things Episode 17: Alex and Olmsted
by Carlos Gonzalez-Fernandez
Watch Carlos' film: HERE.

"People | Things" is a project by Carlos Gonzalez-Fernandez that profiles artists and their creative processes. 
Over the past 6 months, we've had the unique pleasure of getting to work with Carlos and our film shoots often waxed philosophical as we chipped away at the Why and How of making art. 
Ryan Maxwell Photography
Chicago Premiere!
​MAROONED! A Space Comedy
by Alex and Olmsted
at the Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival
Chopin Theatre (mainstage)
1543 W. Division St. Chicago, Illinois, USA
​MAROONED! video trailer.
Monday, January 22 at 7 pm
Tuesday, January 23 at 7 pm
Wednesday, January 24 at 5 pm & 8pm (additional show just added!)
Tickets: HERE
​​
​Alex and Olmsted's Jim Henson Foundation grant awarded MAROONED! A Space Comedy* is an innovative new puppet show, featuring music from the Voyager Golden Record, that takes place at the outer reaches of space. An astronaut crashes on an uncharted planet. Will she be able to survive strange creatures, anomalous atmosphere, and isolation in order to find her way home? See for yourself… in MAROONED!
​
*MAROONED! was awarded a 2020 Jim Henson Foundation grant and a 2024 UNIMA-USA Citation of Excellence.
Glenn Ricci Photography
Just back from the triumphant Off-Broadway run​!
ADRIFT: A Medieval Wayward Folly
by Happenstance Theater
at Baltimore Theatre Project
45 W Preston St, Baltimore, MD 21201
​​ADRIFT video trailer.
February 22 – March 3, 2024
Tickets: HERE
​​
Happenstance Theater is developing a new work inspired by medieval imagery and archetypes collected from the works of Hieronymus Bosch, Pieter Bruegel, the Tarot, and reinterpretations of religious art. Drawing parallels between our current moment and the "dark ages," the ensemble will explore and exploit buffoonery, magic, notions of good, evil, and absurdity with angelic music, devised and existing text, puppetry and movement. Like a ship of fools, this pod of eccentrics will drift into the world to bring delight, share hopes and fears, find a way forward, and then parade away. 
Featuring Mark Jaster, Sabrina Mandell, Gwen Grastorf, Sarah Olmsted Thomas, and Alex Vernon. 
Ryan Maxwell Photography
NYC Premiere!
​MAROONED! A Space Comedy
by Alex and Olmsted
at the HERE Arts Center
145 6th Ave, New York, NY 10013
​MAROONED! video trailer.
March 5-10, 2024
​Tickets: HERE

​Alex and Olmsted's Jim Henson Foundation grant awarded MAROONED! A Space Comedy is an innovative new puppet show, featuring music from the Voyager Golden Record, that takes place at the outer reaches of space. An astronaut crashes on an uncharted planet. Will she be able to survive strange creatures, anomalous atmosphere, and isolation in order to find her way home? See for yourself… in MAROONED!

*MAROONED! was awarded a 2020 Jim Henson Foundation grant and a 2024 UNIMA-USA Citation of Excellence.
Glenn Ricci Photography
EXTENDED! BY OVERWHELIMG DEMAND!
ADRIFT: A Medieval Wayward Folly
by Happenstance Theater
at Baltimore Theatre Project
45 W Preston St, Baltimore, MD 21201
​​ADRIFT video trailer.
March 15-17, 2024
Tickets: HERE
​​
Happenstance Theater is developing a new work inspired by medieval imagery and archetypes collected from the works of Hieronymus Bosch, Pieter Bruegel, the Tarot, and reinterpretations of religious art. Drawing parallels between our current moment and the "dark ages," the ensemble will explore and exploit buffoonery, magic, notions of good, evil, and absurdity with angelic music, devised and existing text, puppetry and movement. Like a ship of fools, this pod of eccentrics will drift into the world to bring delight, share hopes and fears, find a way forward, and then parade away. 
Featuring Mark Jaster, Sabrina Mandell, Gwen Grastorf, Sarah Olmsted Thomas, and Alex Vernon. 
Ryan Maxwell Photography
Back by Popular Demand!
HUBBA HUBBA
by Alex and Olmsted
at Baltimore Theatre Project
45 W Preston St, Baltimore, MD 21201
​Hubba Hubba video trailer.
March 21 - 31, 2024
​March 21 @ 8pm (Pay What You Can)
Tickets: HERE
​
Created and performed by the Jim Henson Foundation grant award-winning Alex and Olmsted (Milo the Magnificent®​ and MAROONED! A Space Comedy) comes HUBBA HUBBA*, a new show about romantic love that is “...equal parts awkwardness and side-splitting laughter” (Broadway World). Using puppetry and physical comedy, from the sublime to the ridiculous, Alex and Olmsted present love and all its quirks. Suitable for all ages!

*HUBBA HUBBA was awarded a 2023 Creativity Grant from the Maryland State Arts Council
Alex U. Griffin Photography
Milo the Magnificent® 
by Alex and Olmsted
at Port Discovery
in Baltimore, Maryland, USA
Milo video trailer.
April 13 at 1pm
Tickets: FREE with admission to the museum.
​
Alex and Olmsted's Jim Henson Foundation grant awarded Milo the Magnificent®​ is a highly engaging puppet show about an aspiring magician. This wordless comedy, inspired by turn of the century vaudeville entertainers, is as highly physical as it is charming. Using stunningly innovative puppetry, Milo presents a variety of magic tricks which don’t always go as planned.
Photo by Leslie Swan Photography
Ride the Carousel on its opening day​!
PREPOSTEROUS! A Happenstance Circus
with Happenstance Theater
​PREPOSTEROUS! video trailer.
at the Spanish Ballroom in Glen Echo Park
7300 MacArthur Blvd, Glen Echo, MD 20812
Saturday, APRIL 27 at noon.
Tickets: FREE! More information here.
A sophisticated, family-friendly, pocket-sized theatrical clown circus! These charming vintage clowns play circus animals, sing as a human calliope, do the classic circus mirror routine, invent a number of ridiculous "entrées," perform live music, and execute a very satisfying slow motion number involving a PIE!
Featuring Mark Jaster, Sabrina Mandell, Gwen Grastorf, Sarah Olmsted Thomas, and Alex Vernon. 
Poster by Maya Lawrence.
An evening of Puppetry & Performance for Grown-ups!
Black Cherry Puppet Theater's
Spring Puppet Slamwich
outside at Current Space!
421 N Howard St, Baltimore, MD 21201
Saturday May 18th at 5pm & 8pm
Tickets: $12-15 available HERE 

Baltimore legend Aaron Henkin will host w/ Musical Guest Orchester Praževica!

Performances by:
Alex & Olmsted
Chuck Nesci
Kevin Sherry
The Lantern Sisters
Mable Bucannon Palmer
Mike Bace
Natthew Marvan

And Lambe Lambe performers:
Cecilia Cackley & Kara Turner
Photograph by H. Armstrong Roberts
World Premiere!
Happy Birthday, Mon Ami
by Alex and Olmsted
at Black Cherry Puppet Theater
1115 Hollins St, Baltimore, MD 21223
May 30 - June 2, 2024
Thursday, May 30 at 7:00pm
Friday, May 31 7:00pm
Saturday, June 1 at 2:00pm &
Saturday, June 1 at 6:30pm
Sunday, June 2 at 2:00pm
Tickets: HERE!

Class, cultures, and expectations clash when Jacques' American cousin Sam visits him in Paris for a birthday celebration. Winner of a 2024 Jim Henson Foundation family grant award, Happy Birthday, Mon Ami will premiere at Baltimore's renowned Black Cherry Puppet Theater.
Ryan Maxwell Photography
Tennessee Premiere!
​HUBBA HUBBA
by Alex and Olmsted
at the Tennessee Governor's School for the Arts
​Hubba Hubba video trailer.
Murfreesboro, TN, USA
June 9, 2024 at 7:00pm
This is a closed performance for the students of the Governor's School.

Created and performed by the Jim Henson Foundation grant award-winning Alex and Olmsted (Milo the Magnificent®​ and MAROONED! A Space Comedy) comes HUBBA HUBBA*, a new show about romantic love that is “...equal parts awkwardness and side-splitting laughter” (Broadway World). Using puppetry and physical comedy, from the sublime to the ridiculous, Alex and Olmsted present love and all its quirks. Suitable for all ages!

*HUBBA HUBBA was awarded a 2023 Creativity Grant from the Maryland State Arts Council
Alex U. Griffin Photography
Pennsylvania Premiere!
Alex and Olmsted's 
Milo the Magnificent®​
at Gretna Music at the Mt. Gretna Playhouse
200 Pennsylvania Ave, Mt Gretna, PA 17064
Milo video trailer
Saturday, June 15 at 7pm
Tickets: FREE! More info here.

​
Leslie Swan Photography
The Triumphant Return of the Famous Variety Show!
Clown Cabaret
​with Happenstance Theater
at The Writer’s Center
4508 Walsh St, Bethesda, MD 20815
Monday, June 17 at 8pm
​Tickets: HERE
A FREE performance in the Park!
PREPOSTEROUS! A Happenstance Circus
with Happenstance Theater
PREPOSTEROUS! video trailer.

Saturday, June 22 at 10am
at the Cabin John Regional Park
7400 Tuckerman Lane, Bethesda, MD 20817 
Tickets: FREE! More info here.​

NOTHEAST TOUR with Happenstance Theater

Leslie Swan Photography
A sophisticated, family-friendly, pocket-sized theatrical clown circus! These charming vintage clowns play circus animals, sing as a human calliope, do the classic circus mirror routine, invent a number of ridiculous "entrées," perform live music, and execute a very satisfying slow motion number involving a PIE!
Featuring Mark Jaster, Sabrina Mandell, Gwen Grastorf, Sarah Olmsted Thomas, and Alex Vernon. ​
PREPOSTEROUS! A Happenstance Circus
with Happenstance Theater
PREPOSTEROUS! video trailer.

Sunday, June 23 at 1pm
at the Waterfront Museum in Brooklyn, New York
290 Conover St, Brooklyn, NY 11231
Tickets for the Waterfront Museum HERE.

Sunday, June 23 at 7pm
at The Pines in the Catskills
5327 Route 212 Mount Tremper, NY 12457
Tickets for The Pines: FREE! More info HERE.

June 28 at 11am & 2pm 
at Stepping Stones Children' Museum​ in Norwalk, CT
303 West Ave, Norwalk, CT 06850
Tickets for Stepping Stones HERE.

June 29 at 3pm
at The Foundry in West Stockbridge, MA
2 Harris Street, West Stockbridge, MA 01266
Tickets for The Foundry HERE.

June 30 at 3pm
at the Camden Opera House
29 Elm St, Camden, ME 04843
Tickets for the Camden Opera HERE.​
Alex U. Griffin Photography
Alex and Olmsted's 
Milo the Magnificent®​
at the Workhouse Arts Center
​9518 Workhouse Wy, Lorton, VA 22079
Milo video trailer
Friday, July 12 at 11am
Saturday, July 13 at 2pm
Tickets: HERE

​Alex and Olmsted's Jim Henson Foundation grant awarded Milo the Magnificent®​ is a highly engaging puppet show about an aspiring magician. This wordless comedy, inspired by turn of the century vaudeville entertainers, is as highly physical as it is charming. Using stunningly innovative puppetry, Milo presents a variety of magic tricks which don’t always go as planned.

This production of Milo the Magnificent® is made possible in part by a Touring Grant from the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation.
Ryan Maxwell Photography
Vermont Premiere!
MAROONED! A Space Comedy
by Alex and Olmsted
at the Puppets in the Green Mountains
International Festival of Puppet Theater
at the Latchis Theatre
50 Main St, Brattleboro, VT 05301​
​MAROONED! video trailer.
Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024 at 4pm
​Tickets: HERE
​
​An astronaut traveling 87,000 light years into space crash-lands on an uncharted planet where she must resort to emergency measures to seek rescue. From the award-winning team Alex and Olmsted, MAROONED! A Space Comedy is a show where elegant puppetry design meets joyful, meaningful storytelling. Live performance, shadow puppetry and marionettes shine to delightful effect in a production that is “Achingly beautiful...” (Maryland Theatre Guide) and “...amusing, charming, delightful and, at times, utterly and completely astonishing” (DC Theatre Scene). This Jim Henson Foundation grant awarded show is puppetry life support of the best kind – at just the right moment.
​
*MAROONED! was awarded a 2020 Jim Henson Foundation grant and a 2024 UNIMA-USA Citation of Excellence.
Photo by Richard Termine
Maine Premiere!
MAROONED! A Space Comedy
by Alex and Olmsted
​at the Puppets in Portland Festival
John Ford Auditorium
​284 Cumberland Ave, Portland, ME 04101
​MAROONED! video trailer.
Friday, September 20 at 7pm
Saturday, September 21 at 7pm
​Tickets: HERE

​An astronaut traveling 87,000 light years into space crash-lands on an uncharted planet where she must resort to emergency measures to seek rescue. From the award-winning team Alex and Olmsted, MAROONED! A Space Comedy is a show where elegant puppetry design meets joyful, meaningful storytelling. Live performance, shadow puppetry and marionettes shine to delightful effect in a production that is “Achingly beautiful...” (Maryland Theatre Guide) and “...amusing, charming, delightful and, at times, utterly and completely astonishing” (DC Theatre Scene). This Jim Henson Foundation grant awarded show is puppetry life support of the best kind – at just the right moment.

*MAROONED! was awarded a 2020 Jim Henson Foundation grant and a 2024 UNIMA-USA Citation of Excellence.
Photo by Alex U. Griffin
Alex and Olmsted's 
Milo the Magnificent®​
at the Center Stage - Reston Community Center
2310 Colts Neck Rd, Reston, VA 20191
Milo video trailer
Sunday, September 29 at 3pm
Tickets: HERE

Alex and Olmsted's Jim Henson Foundation grant awarded Milo the Magnificent®​ is a highly engaging puppet show about an aspiring magician. This wordless comedy, inspired by turn of the century vaudeville entertainers, is as highly physical as it is charming. Using stunningly innovative puppetry, Milo presents a variety of magic tricks which don’t always go as planned.​
Fool's Cap Map of the World (ca. 1585).
A Foolish Premiere!
Death and the Fool
by Happenstance Theater
at the Maryland Renaissance Festival
1821 Crownsville Rd, Annapolis, MD 21401
Sat Oct 5 at 5:15pm
Sun Oct 6 at 5:15pm
Sat Oct 12 at 5:15pm
Sun Oct 13 at 5:15pm
Sat Oct 19 at 5:15pm
Sun Oct 20 at 5:15pm
​Tickets: HERE
Photo by Walter Reeves
Back by Popular Demand!
CABARET NOIR
with Happenstance Theater 
Oct 24 - Nov 10, 2024
at Baltimore Theatre Project
45 W Preston St, Baltimore, MD 21201
CABARET NOIR video trailer.
Tickets: HERE

Happenstance Theater’s CABARET NOIR is a Film Noir inspired theatrical montage. This series of dark, comic vignettes reveals Femmes Fatales and fedoras, trench coats and torch songs, physical comedy, object manipulation, and music played on multiple instruments.
Featuring Mark Jaster, Sabrina Mandell, Gwen Grastorf, Sarah Olmsted Thomas, Alex Vernon, and guest musician Stephanie Baird.
Photo by Ryan Maxwell Photography
Pennsylvania Premiere!
MAROONED! A Space Comedy
by Alex and Olmsted
at the Weis Center at Bucknell University
525 Weis Dr, Lewisburg, PA 17837
​MAROONED! video trailer.
Saturday, Nov. 16, 2024 at 4pm
​Tickets: HERE

​An astronaut traveling 87,000 light years into space crash-lands on an uncharted planet where she must resort to emergency measures to seek rescue. From the award-winning team Alex and Olmsted, MAROONED! A Space Comedy is a show where elegant puppetry design meets joyful, meaningful storytelling. Live performance, shadow puppetry and marionettes shine to delightful effect in a production that is “Achingly beautiful...” (Maryland Theatre Guide) and “...amusing, charming, delightful and, at times, utterly and completely astonishing” (DC Theatre Scene). This Jim Henson Foundation grant awarded show is puppetry life support of the best kind – at just the right moment.
​
*MAROONED! was awarded a 2020 Jim Henson Foundation grant and a 2024 UNIMA-USA Citation of Excellence.

This production of MAROONED! A Space Comedy is made possible in part by a Touring Grant from the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation through the generous support of the National Endowment for the Arts.
Original poster designed by David Plunkert.
Happy Birthday, Mon Ami
by Alex and Olmsted
at Baltimore Theatre Project
45 W Preston St, Baltimore, MD 21201
Thursday, Dec 5 at 8pm (Pay-What-You-Can)
​Friday, Dec 6 at 8pm
Saturday, Dec 7 at 3pm
Saturday, Dec 7 at 8pm
Sunday, Dec 8 at 4pm
Tickets: HERE

Class, cultures, and expectations clash when Jacques’ American cousin Sam visits him in Paris for a birthday celebration. Winner of a 2024 Jim Henson Foundation grant award, HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MON AMI combines glove puppetry, live music, and audience participation to create a delightful hour of fun for the whole family.

This production of HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MON AMI is made possible in part by a Touring Grant from the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation with support from the National Endowment for the Arts.
Photo by Ryan Maxwell Photography
Happy Birthday, Mon Ami
by Alex and Olmsted
at The National Theatre
1321 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20004
Saturday, December 14, 2024 at 9:30 & 11am
Tickets: HERE

​Class, cultures, and expectations clash when Jacques’ American cousin Sam visits him in Paris for a birthday celebration. Winner of a 2024 Jim Henson Foundation grant award, HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MON AMI combines glove puppetry, live music, and audience participation to create a delightful hour of fun for the whole family.
​
Photo by Ryan Maxwell Photography
Happy Birthday, Mon Ami
by Alex and Olmsted
for Winter Puppet Fest with Puppets Off Broad Street
at Artspace Richmond
2833-A Hathaway Rd, Richmond, VA 23225, USA​
Saturday, Dec 28 at 10:30am and 1pm
Tickets: HERE

Class, cultures, and expectations clash when Jacques’ American cousin Sam visits him in Paris for a birthday celebration. Winner of a 2024 Jim Henson Foundation grant award, HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MON AMI combines glove puppetry, live music, and audience participation to create a delightful hour of fun for the whole family.
We are incredibly grateful to the organizations below for their support.
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