OPEN EYE MAINSTAGE: Puppetry
Open Eye Theatre presents
PUPPET LAB FESTIVAL
May 9 - 18, 2025
Led by Co-Artistic Directors Oanh Vu and Sofia Padilla
Featuring new work by Graci Horne, Nicole Rojas-Oltmanns, Chesare Cipriano, and Samuel Albright & Elisabette Hinze
PUPPET LAB is a 2-week festival of radical, genre-expanding, boundary–pushing puppet work, the culmination of a 6-month development residency for emerging puppetry and mask artists.
Emerging puppetry and mask artists share experimental work
Puppet Lab is a 6-month developmental incubator program for emerging puppetry and mask artists who are exploring the field of puppetry. It is led by Co-Artistic Directors Oanh Vu and Sofia Padilla.
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TICKETS
$18 — General Admission
$15 — Economic AccessibilityA limited number of $15 Economic Accessibility tickets are available online for all performances. If not sold out, a limited number of pay-as-able tickets will be available at the door. View our ticketing policy.
AGE RECOMMENDATION: TBD
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PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE
Week #1:
Samuel Albright & Elisabette Hinze
and Ches Cipriano
Friday 5/9, 7:30pm
Saturday 5/10, 7:30pm
Sunday 5/11, 2pm*Week #2:
Graci Horne and Nicole Rojas-Oltmanns
Friday 5/16, 7:30pm
Saturday 5/17, 7:30pm
Sunday 5/18, 2pm**We will offer the Sunday 5/11 and 5/18 matinees as masking-required performances for our community. All other shows are masking-optional.
RUN TIME: TBD
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ACCESSIBILITY
Contact us at 612-874-6338 or boxoffice@openeyetheatre.org for accessibility information and requests. Learn more.
COVID PRECAUTIONS: All audience members will be required to wear masks during our Sunday 5/11 and 5/18 matinee performances. All other shows are masking-optional. The masking policy will be posted on the door.




The Fantabulous Adventures of Mr. Gweem
By Sam Albright & Elisabette Hinze
A young cat named Gweem guides an audience through his life in an apartment which he shares with his two humans that love and feed him. Gweem explores his home with unending curiosity and joy, ignorant of the conflict blooming between the humans as one of them moves out after they decide to end their relationship.
Sam Albright is a Twin Cities puppeteer, actor, and musician. Their foray into puppetry didn’t begin until their first year performing in Open Eye’s annual Driveway Tour. There they discovered the perfect medium for telling the stories they want to tell. Aside from sitting in dingy rooms glueing clay teeth onto fake cat heads, Sam plays rock ‘n roll music in a band with his buddies Ben, Wylie, and Spencer. Sam currently live in Saint Paul’s Summit Hill neighborhood with their roommates Rose and Tessa, and her Cat Mr. Penguini (4). Tessa Pieper’s cat, “Guin”, and the silly voice she uses when pretending to be him are the main inspiration for this show.
Elisabette Hinze is a Minneapolis theatre artist and educator. Since childhood, she has enjoyed the craft of storytelling as performance and hopes to provide a space for theatre students to collaborate and share their stories with audiences. When not cobbling together art from things they find in the street, they enjoy themed parties, sewing, and exploring MN. They currently live in Uptown with their fiancé, Finn, and two cats, Anjali (21) and Greg Kinnear (4).




LIMBS
By Ches Cipriano
LIMBS is a cinematic, multidimensional puppet show featuring shadowy memories and masked creatures. Inspired by the "Bride of Frankenstein," LIMBS explores memories of a three-faced Creation as they are disassembled and discarded by their Creator. The dismembered limbs recount moments from their lives – together and separate – in a swirl of interactive shadows. The performance features an 8 foot tall marionette, fleeting thoughts, and a vehement soundscape as the Creation's lives flash before your eyes.
Ches Cipriano (they/them) is a Filipino, Queer, first-generation American based in Minneapolis. They operate as a community cultivator, producer/organizer, radical joy seeker and mixed-media collaborator. They received their B.A in Theater & Dance with a minor in Performance Design and Technologies from Macalester College in 2020. Their artistic practice is rooted in puppetry, laughter, animation, and tickling curiosities. Since 2017, they have shared their work on- and off- stage with theater and opera companies throughout Minnesota, and on-screen with small film festivals in the Midwest and New England. They treasure community-based art. Connect with them on Instagram @chesarthey.




Wabaduska Love: When Things Are Too Good To Be True
By Graci Horne
In a gripping tale that turns every woman's deepest fears into a haunting reality, we meet Renee, a Dakota woman from Minneapolis, MN. On the surface, Renee has it all: a house, a car, and a thriving career. But beneath the success, societal pressure still leaves her longing for a husband and child. Then comes Jacob, a mysteriously beautiful man who seems almost too perfect to be real. After a passionate one-night stand, Jacob leaves Renee with more than just his number. A month later, her life takes a terrifying turn, and the only person who might be able to help is Kunsi Sue, the community's wise grandmother. With time running out, the two women must unravel the dark trap Jacob has set. Immerse yourself in this electrifying Native feminist horror saga that will leave you on the edge of your seat, constantly questioning the boundaries of reality and the sinister secrets lurking in the dark waters.
Graci Horne, a multidisciplinary artist, hails from Mnisota (Minnesota), where she was born and raised. Currently, she resides in Minneapolis alongside her children and partner. Her people are the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate and the Standing Rock Nation. Horne's diverse body of work encompasses various mediums, including painting, printmaking, paper cut-outs, puppetry, film, installation, and poetry, reflecting a rich engagement with cultural narratives and artistic expression.
Horne’s artistic pursuits thoughtfully intertwine aspects of pop culture, Dakota feminism, Indigenous futurism, environmental justice, and various social and political themes. As a full-time community artist, she leads workshops for a diverse audience ranging from ages five to one hundred. In addition, Horne works as an educator, independent curator, and performer.




Always Too Much and Never Enough
By Nicole Oltmanns-Rojas
Always Too Much and Never Enough is a story about one family’s struggle with childhood mental illness. The child, Luna, is easily dysregulated, aggressive, and temperamental. When she pushes her grown-ups too far, they try recommended cures with some questionable side effects. Will they discover a way to heal together to find peace within their family?
Nicole Oltmanns-Rojas is a queer writer, artist, and educator of Scandinavian descent whose work seeks to make the invisible, visible and is based on their experiences, memories, and curiosities. Nicole enjoys cavorting with insects, eating fibrous fruit, and collecting misplaced postal rubber bands. Nicole lives with wife, niece, and nephew in a cozy and colorful home in Minneapolis, MN.