<![CDATA[Ghosts of the River - ShadowLight Productions

For over one year, I have been collaborating as an Art Director with prolific Chicano playwright, Octavio Solis, and ShadowLight Productions, founded in 1972 by shadow master Larry Reed to nurture indigenous shadow theater traditions and to explore the possibilities of the shadow theatre medium via innovative interdisciplinary, multicultural work.

The photo above is of me wearing one of the masks of a female character. What you see in the screen is what the audience sees. Actors are behind the screen

This has marked the first time I have ever taken my work to the stage. Octavio Solis approached me because he thought my style was an ideal fit for his piece, Ghosts of the River, a new multidisciplinary theatre work that tackles the highly charged and complex subject of the US/Mexico border.

At first, it was a tremendous challenge for me to understand the medium. I would design what I thought to be "final" masks for the actors to wear, only to see them quickly adjusted, cut, remodeled as the shadow demanded. I would be obsessed with wanting my concepts to be final after spending hours on them, but in shadow puppetry, things are constantly evolving. You may cut a tree and place it on the left side of a set, only to move it a few minutes later, because and actor needs more room. The image on the right shows the puppets in action. The show is a combination of actors and puppets.

Come check out World Premiere in San Jose or San Francisco!
Oct 1-11, 2009
Teatro Vision, San Jose, CA

Oct 28 - Nov 8, 2009
BRAVA Theater Center, San Francisco, CA

I also designed the poster for this show. They will be for sale at the premiere.