Darkness Illuminated: Tales of Darkness

Fable Collections presents “Darkness Illuminated” in which handcrafted puppets, puppeteers, actors and musicians share the stage to tell three tales of darkness. Expect monsters and beasts to come to life as each grisly saga unfolds. Local artists experiment with blurring the lines between dreams and reality to keep you on the edge of your seat.
The stories, adapted for the VCA stage in two mature audience only shows, October 28 & 29, are from Appalachia, Ireland and Japan. The artists joining together to tell these classic tales include John Browne, Jyl Brewer, Dmitri Carter, Sandra Cooper, Monica Gripman, Bernadette LaCarte, Nicole Meoli, Pablo Paeni, Michael Shook, Chai St. Marie, Craig Sutherland, David Marine, Leslie Zenz, Stan Voynick and more.

Vashon artist Monica Gripman, known for her wildly imaginative felted sculptures, is creating the show’s puppets in collaboration with master puppeteer Dmitri Carter from Northwest Puppet Center in Seattle. “Each of my felted sculptures seem to have their own personality. I have watched people having conversations with them and waiting for them to move. This is my enthusiastic attempt to do just that,” said Gripman.

Gripman received a 4Culture grant to create part of this new work.  The puppets featured in “Darkness Illuminated” will be on display during the month of October in the Hastings Cone Gallery — Snapdragon Café along with the whimsical sculptures and paintings of deceased artist George “Greentree” Karr. Gripman herself will be making hand puppets on site throughout the month in the Hastings Cone gallery. — Jenn Reidel

Darkness Illuminated: Tales of Darkness. Friday-Saturday, October 28 & 29, 7:30 pm
Katherine L White Hall, VCA
$16 VCA Member / Student, $18 Senior, $20 General