My Night in the Planetarium
by Tanya Nixon-Silberg, Little Uprisings
based on the book by Innosanto Nagara
designed and built by Sarah Nolen
directed by Roxanna Myhrum
About the Show
Best-selling children's book author Innosanto Nagara's true story of art and social protest comes to life as a dynamic pop-up puppet show. Created and performed by fellow artist/activist Tanya Nixon-Silberg, the show transports audiences to Jakarta in the 1970s, where 7-year-old Inno learns firsthand how a play has the power to spark a resistance movement. Featuring designs by Puppet Showplace Resident Artist Sarah Nolen, the story is brought to life with a rich soundscape, visual transformations, and kid-centered lessons about social justice.
Recommended for all ages 5 and up.
Tanya puppeteers a giant boot, re-creating the colonization of Indonesia. Photo: Tess Scheflan
Puppetry and Social Protest for Kids
My Night in the Planetarium is the culmination of a multi-year partnership between Tanya Nixon-Silberg and Puppet Showplace Theater that explored the power of puppetry to translate complex, difficult realities of colonialism, dictatorship, and dissent into kid-centered stories and scenes.
Using Nagara's vivid illustrations from all of his books, puppeteer Sarah Nolen created an intricate pop-up book world, which Nixon-Silberg skillfully animates. In keeping with Little Uprising’s mission, the show invites frequent and active audience participation.
Funded by grants from the Jim Henson Foundation and the Boston Foundation's Live Arts Boston program, the show offers families an engaging artistic experience aimed at sparking conversations about fairness, justice, and the power of protest.
LEARN MORE: Read Innosanto Nagara’s Washington Post Interview about My Night in the Planetarium and social justice activism for kids.
About the Artists
Sarah Nolen, Tanya Nixon-Silberg, Innosanto Nagara, and Roxanna Myhrum. Photo: Tess Scheflan
Tanya Nixon-Silberg (performer / lead writer / puppeteer) is a Black Mother, Artist, Educator, Radical Dreamer from Boston, MA. As an artist in Puppet Showplace Theater’s Incubator program, she co-created a puppet production of My Night in the Planetarium, and also participated in the first cohort of the Creative Residency for Black Puppeteers. She is currently serving as Community Curator for the Summer 2022 cohort. Tanya is the founder of Little Uprisings, a project that focuses on forming deep relationships with institutions that serve kids to make racial justice an everyday goal. Kids+Art+Justice is her recipe for liberation and kid-powered revolutions. https://www.littleuprisings.org/
Innosanto Nagara (book author & illustrator / voiceover narrator) was born and raised in Jakarta, Indonesia, and moved to the U.S. in 1988 to study zoology at UC Davis. Now an activist and a graphic designer based in California, he writes and illustrates social justice-themed children's books for all ages, including the best-selling board book A is for Activist and its companion Counting on Community. Those publications were followed by picture books My Night in the Planetarium, and The Wedding Portrait. M is for Movement aka Humans Can't Eat Golf Balls and Oh, The Things We’re For! are his newest works.
Sarah Nolen (production designer / lead builder / co-writer / sound editor) is a puppeteer and filmmaker originally from Austin, Texas. As Puppet Showplace Theater’s resident artist, she performs regularly for youth and family audiences and teaches puppetry in camps, workshops, residencies, and evening adult classes. Her three original productions, Lisa the Wise, Judy Saves the Day, and The Fairy Tailor have all toured extensively in the Northeast and beyond. In addition to her own shows, Sarah has done puppet builds for Netflix, Suffolk University, Boston College, and more. Sarah earned her BFA in film from Southern Methodist University, and an MFA in Puppet Arts from the University of Connecticut.
Roxanna Myhrum (producer / stage director / dramaturg) is an award-winning director of opera, theater, and puppetry. From 2010 - 2021 she was the Artistic Director of Puppet Showplace Theater where she curated multiple year-round performance series, oversaw all-ages educational programs, and cultivated new work by local artists. A sought-after puppetry coach and director, she has credits at the Huntington Theatre Company, SpeakEasy Stage (Eliott Norton Award, Hand to God), Company One, the Lyric Stage Company of Boston (IRNE Award, Avenue Q), Wheelock Family Theater, New Repertory Theatre, and Gloucester Stage Company. Her work has been supported by the Boston Foundation’s Live Arts Boston Grant and the New England Foundation for the Arts’ Creative City Grant.
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