MAROONED! A Space Comedy
MAROONED! was awarded a 2020 Jim Henson Foundation grant and a 2024 UNIMA-USA Citation of Excellence.
MAROONED! was awarded a 2020 Jim Henson Foundation grant and a 2024 UNIMA-USA Citation of Excellence.
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“Achingly beautiful…"
- Maryland Theatre Guide |
“...amusing, charming, delightful and, at times, utterly and completely astonishing."
- DC Theater Scene |
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60 minutes. No intermission. All ages.
Available for touring engagements. Tech rider available upon request. |
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.
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Photographs by Ryan Maxwell Photography , Glenn Ricci Photography, Guy Thompson, Photos by Kintz, and Richard Termine.
PRESS:
DC Theater Scene:
"★★★★★"
"...amusing, charming, delightful and, at times, utterly and completely astonishing."
- Lorraine Treanor, DC Theater Scene
MD Theatre Guide:
“Achingly beautiful…The setup is ingenious and inventive with what seem to be deliberately low-tech execution of some very ambitious production ideas…The puppets are captivating in their design simplicity and impressive in their use. The costumes seem right out of a George Lucas movie. In fact, everything about the production feels perfectly integrated, and the storytelling is personal, enchanting, and rich… Alex and Olmsted have devised a beautiful piece of theater..."
- Max Garner, MD Theatre Guide
DC Theater Arts:
“What’s in a name? That which we call Alex and Olmsted would by any name or names be full of innovation, emotion, and wry commentary on contemporary conventions...."
"...The magnetism of the performers, the deliberately slow-paced action, the array of media and the required attention to interpret the story were so mesmerizing… It is extraordinarily engaging to immerse into this performance collage, which, despite feeling deeply familiar, is packed with startling surprises....”
- Cybele Pomeroy, DC Theater Arts
TheatreBloom:
"★★★★★"
"The playfulness of what is happening, despite the severity of the astronaut’s situation, is a driving force in the production’s overall flow. There is a thriving heart of hope and excitement, charged by Thomas, channeled to and reciprocated back by Vernon; the pair are a divine duo of comedic understanding, physically nuanced exchanges, and crafting extraordinary moments of motion in tandem with one another."
- Amanda N. Gunther, TheatreBloom
Baltimore Independent Theater Review:
"See this wholesome and utterly mesmerizing show! Alex and Olmsted are leaders in their field for a reason. They are the mark all other puppetry is trying to achieve."
- Baltimore Independent Theater Review
DC Theater Scene:
"★★★★★"
"...amusing, charming, delightful and, at times, utterly and completely astonishing."
- Lorraine Treanor, DC Theater Scene
MD Theatre Guide:
“Achingly beautiful…The setup is ingenious and inventive with what seem to be deliberately low-tech execution of some very ambitious production ideas…The puppets are captivating in their design simplicity and impressive in their use. The costumes seem right out of a George Lucas movie. In fact, everything about the production feels perfectly integrated, and the storytelling is personal, enchanting, and rich… Alex and Olmsted have devised a beautiful piece of theater..."
- Max Garner, MD Theatre Guide
DC Theater Arts:
“What’s in a name? That which we call Alex and Olmsted would by any name or names be full of innovation, emotion, and wry commentary on contemporary conventions...."
"...The magnetism of the performers, the deliberately slow-paced action, the array of media and the required attention to interpret the story were so mesmerizing… It is extraordinarily engaging to immerse into this performance collage, which, despite feeling deeply familiar, is packed with startling surprises....”
- Cybele Pomeroy, DC Theater Arts
TheatreBloom:
"★★★★★"
"The playfulness of what is happening, despite the severity of the astronaut’s situation, is a driving force in the production’s overall flow. There is a thriving heart of hope and excitement, charged by Thomas, channeled to and reciprocated back by Vernon; the pair are a divine duo of comedic understanding, physically nuanced exchanges, and crafting extraordinary moments of motion in tandem with one another."
- Amanda N. Gunther, TheatreBloom
Baltimore Independent Theater Review:
"See this wholesome and utterly mesmerizing show! Alex and Olmsted are leaders in their field for a reason. They are the mark all other puppetry is trying to achieve."
- Baltimore Independent Theater Review
TESTIMONIALS:
"Marooned! took me into intra-terrestrial spaces where laughter, tenderness, terror, sadness, irony, inanity spun in orbits for two hours which felt like only a moment before crash landing back on Earth. You are a national treasure!"
- Renee Dunham, May 2022
"Just watched The final show of Marooned! with my son. It was the first live performance we have been to in 2 years, and he just turned 6, so he doesn’t remember much from pre-pandemic. With all the horrors in recent news… things feel so gloomy lately and its hard to be a parent and show hope. I Just wanted to write you to say I was SO happy watching you two today, and watching him laugh and experience it all and get so excited for creative people he didn't know about… I have to admit I cried in the middle because we were having so much fun. Thank you for helping us escape earth and all its complexities for the afternoon. Wishing you all the success in the world. Please keep making wonderful things. In awe."
- Rachel, May 2022
"Marooned! took me into intra-terrestrial spaces where laughter, tenderness, terror, sadness, irony, inanity spun in orbits for two hours which felt like only a moment before crash landing back on Earth. You are a national treasure!"
- Renee Dunham, May 2022
"Just watched The final show of Marooned! with my son. It was the first live performance we have been to in 2 years, and he just turned 6, so he doesn’t remember much from pre-pandemic. With all the horrors in recent news… things feel so gloomy lately and its hard to be a parent and show hope. I Just wanted to write you to say I was SO happy watching you two today, and watching him laugh and experience it all and get so excited for creative people he didn't know about… I have to admit I cried in the middle because we were having so much fun. Thank you for helping us escape earth and all its complexities for the afternoon. Wishing you all the success in the world. Please keep making wonderful things. In awe."
- Rachel, May 2022
AWARDS:
Jim Henson Foundation Family Grant - 2020
UNIMA-USA Citation of Excellence - 2024
Jim Henson Foundation Family Grant - 2020
UNIMA-USA Citation of Excellence - 2024
PRODUCTION HISTORY:
Photo by Guy Thompson.
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Kennedy Center (Washington, D.C.) - 2025
Lake Placid Center for the Arts (Lake Placid, NY) - 2025 Center for Puppetry Arts (Atlanta, GA) - 2025 Leila Gordon Theater (Reston, VA) - 2025 Ware Center at Millersville University (Lancaster, PA) - 2025 Weis Center at Bucknell University (Lewisburg, PA) - 2024 HERE Arts (New York, NY) - 2024 Mayo Street Arts’ Puppets in Portland Festival (Portland, ME) - 2024 Sandglass Theater’s Puppets in the Green Mountains (Brattleboro, VT) - 2024 The Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival (Chicago, Il) - 2024 Puppeteers of America National Festival (College Park, MD) - 2023 The Detroit Institute of Arts - (Detroit, MI) - 2023 The Tennessee Governor's School for the Arts at MTSU's Tucker Theater (Murfreesboro, TN) - 2023 Santa Fe Playhouse Skeletal Series New Works Festival (Santa Fe, NM) - 2022 Baltimore Theatre Project (Baltimore, MD) - 2022 - Jim Henson Foundation grant premiere Baltimore Theatre Project (Baltimore, MD) - 2019 - Workshop premiere |
Original poster design by David Plunkert of Spur Design.
