Evento

The Iron Will Tate Puppet Show

Puppet masters Ariel Gregory and Britt Juchem are Bat Honey. They debut "Iron Will Tate" this month at KALA starring 30 handmade puppets in a surreal, comic homage to the American road trip.

Artists and partners in life and creativity, Gregory and Juchem work in various mediums; illustration, film animation, theater arts and now a longtime dream, to create a fantastic puppet show and take it on the road. The two met at Evergreen State College in Olympia 10 years ago, and find the path of collaboration to be a natural state of being in their relationship. They recently moved to the North West, after a 3 year stint in Los Angeles where Gregory was props master at the famed Grounding Theater - home base to the cast and crew members of Saturday Night Live.

Currently Portland-based, they've been working on the script for "Ironwill Tate" and constructing the corresponding puppets for months, now, drawing inspiration from some of their favorite humorists and creative types: surreal British comedy troupe Monty Python, various children's book authors, even a 19th century potter named George E. Ohr, whose "absolute confidence," in his art remains inspiring centuries after his death, according to Juchem.

The puppets themselves are wrought in a variety of forms, from hand and rod to mechanical and trick styles.

They're constructed out of reclaimed materials, from old leather and fabric to wax to rope to fishing floats, all sewn together on a trusty old Singer 301A sewing machine. The finished products are works of art in their own right: an Australian zookeeper and his drunken tiger companion, a neat row of twirling schoolboys dandling lollypops, a decrepit wizard who can't seem to keep his head on straight.

The characters of "Ironwill Tate," and the archetypes they embody, are fantastical by design, say Gregory and Juchem.

The pair has found that puppetry as a medium engenders a special brand of open-mindedness in audiences, who seem just a bit more amenable to offbeat characters and non-linear narratives.

The KALA performance kicks off a three-month, cross-country tour slated to end sometime in late fall, somewhere on the East Coast:

KALA performance space features cabaret table seating, and serves libations; cocktail specials, local Fort George Beer and various wines. The performance includes a full sound and light puppet stage, a viewing of several Bat Honey animated film shorts, and Bat Honey art for sale.