The Byrd Family Band (2019) Available for tour: Live and Virtual Performances The Byrd Family Band has been touring the US vaudeville circuit for the last 2 years. Live music, baby bird.
PRODUCTION HISTORY (USA): Clowns Without Borders Fundraiser (Mt. Rainier, Maryland) - 2019 Maryland Institute College of Art (Baltimore, Maryland) - 2019 PRODUCTION HISTORY (INTERNATIONAL): The C.A.O.S. Dolly Wiggler Cabaret (Calgary, Alberta, Canada) - 2019
UMWELT (2020) Available for tour: Live and Virtual Performances "UMWELT" is the story of a man who longs to experience the world through the eyes of another creature. This piece is told with shadow puppets and a Crankie, a type of puppet show illustrated on a long scroll and cranked across a frame. "UMWELT" is a show that premiered as part of Creative Alliance's 2020 Baltimore Crankie Fest. It has since been adapted into a 12 minute film.
PRODUCTION HISTORY: Baltimore Crankie Fest - 2020 Rhizome Puppet Slam (Virtual) - 2020
photo by Michael Kintzbranch
Escapology (2012 - 2018) Available for tour: Live and Virtual Performances
Alexander Unbound is a 5th generation escapologist. He has toured the globe performing death-defying displays of danger and daring. Unbound holds 5 Guinness World Records, including the 1997 record for fastest lock picked and the the much controversial 2003 record for highest suspended straight jacket attempt.
The Life of an Apple is a crankie that incorporates hand drawn illustration, shadow puppets, tabletop and lighting effects to tell the story of an apple. From seed, to tree, to fruit, to unforeseen circumstances.
PRODUCTION HISTORY: Black Cherry Puppet Theater (Baltimore, Maryland) - 2016 Puppet Homecoming (Catskills, New York) - 2016
Off the Record (2013) Retired puppet show. Off the Record is a toy theater show created for Baltimore's Black Cherry Puppet Theater. It was inspired by the Smithsonian Folkways live recordings of Bill Monroe and Doc Watson from 1963-1980.
PRODUCTION HISTORY: Black Cherry Puppet Theater (Baltimore, Maryland) - 2013 Greenbelt Arts Center (Greenbelt, Maryland) - 2013
The Death Crankie (2013) Retired puppet show.
The Death Crankie is a puppet show that was created for Happenstance Theater's first fundraiser, My Heart Belongs to DADA, in Feb of 2013. Inspired by the music of Dead Man's Bones, "The Death Crankie" follows the journey of a skeleton who falls in love with a sleeping woman.
Benvenuto (2012) Retired puppet show. Benvenuto is a puppet show about a fish who falls in love with a human. The character of "Benvenuto" was inspired by the sketches of a pipe-smoking fish drawn by Olmsted's great-grandfather, Fred Zimmermann.
PRODUCTION HISTORY: Clown Cabaret (Washington, D.C.) - 2012
