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Apr 17 ( Thu) 2025: 7:30 pm
About the Show
Join us for an evening of satirical, surreal, and rousing puppetry! For The Love of Cats and Dogs is a satirical tale of the dethroning of a tyrannical leader, told through haunting shadow puppetry and projection. Dirk Joseph has performed all over the country with his daughters as String Theory Puppet Theater, bringing their imaginative work for all ages to festivals, museums, puppet slams, and more. Dirk also participated in the first cohort of Puppet Showplace’s Creative Residency for Black Puppeteers (CRBP) in 2020, and we’re thrilled to have him on our stage!
Also contributing to this special evening is fellow CRBP alumnus Emmanuel Elpenord with Choose Your Own Adventures of Turtle Boy. After years of performing with string marionettes, this piece features the first marionette he’s ever built from scratch!
Meet the Puppets
Stay after the show to meet the artists and see the puppets up close!
Recommended for adults & teens 13+
Mixed puppetry styles: shadow, marionettes, and more
Language: English
From Maryland and New York!
About the Artist
Dirk Joseph is a professional artist, storyteller, and community arts facilitator. He is the founder of String Theory Puppet Theater, a small troupe composed of Dirk and his daughters, Sequoia and Azaria Rose. He has been teaching visual arts and theater, including puppetry, in the New York and Maryland public school systems for almost 30 years. Before forming String Theory Puppet Theater, he performed with Pierre Bennu as a puppet duo known as The Drapetomaniacs. In 2020, Dirk was part of Puppet Showplace’s first Creative Residency for Black Puppeteers. String Theory Puppet Theater has been performing since 2016, starting at the Black Cherry Puppet Theater’s puppet slams in Baltimore, sharing the stage with veteran and new puppeteers. Since then, they have continued to be a regular at Black Cherry’s puppet slams. String Theory has also performed at Baltimore’s Creative Alliance and in multiple venues in D.C., as well as public schools and house shows. One of their pieces, For the Love of Cats and Dogs, was nominated in 2018 for the National Puppet Slam held in Atlanta.
A queer, first-generation Haitian-American actor, puppeteer, and voice-over artist born and raised in Coney Island, Emmanuel Elpenord (he/him) graduated magna cum laude from Brooklyn College with an Acting BFA, TV & Radio BA, and Creative Writing BFA. His puppetry career spans nearly a decade: credits include first off-Broadway, first national and international tours of The Very Hungry Caterpillar Show; original off-Broadway cast of Disney's Winnie The Pooh with Rockefeller Productions. He's performed with the Swedish Cottage Marionette Theater in Central Park and across NYC with their PuppetMobile for over 8 years. He’s worked with long-standing companies like La Mama, The Metropolitan Opera, The Drilling Company’s Bryant Park Shakespeare, St Ann’s Warehouse, Dixon Place, People’s Improv Theater, Abrons Art Center. He’s recently attended the National Puppetry Conference at the O’Neill Theater Center, and performed with Drama of Works at the National Puppet Festival in College Park, Maryland. In 2023, Emmanuel was part of Puppet Showplace’s Creative Residency for Black Puppeteers.
For more about Emmanuel, check out his website and Instagram.
