RARE and friends at the Raggedy Ann Rally Marketplace - Arcola, IL, 2024

The Raggedy Ann Revival Effort (or R.A.R.E. for short) has been my main passion project since March 2021. Raggedy Ann, aka Rag Dolly, is a musical by Joe Raposo and William Gibson. Concieved as a dark fairy tale to show children the importance of hope and friendship when faced with death and adversity, its rocky production led to a hasty push to Broadway, and the tonaly mismatched show failed as a result. Our goal is to revise the script and secure the licensing directly from the estates, in order to bring back the show for schools and community theaters to produce.

The Raggedy Ann Revival Effort performed a showcase of nine songs from the the Rag Dolly musical on June 7th, during the 2024 Arcola Raggedy Ann Rally. The concert was also the public debut of new music arrangements by Hazel Hawlik and Gwyn Gaunt, and the first authorized use of the songs since the show closed in 1986! Not yet a full workshop, but it still serves as a test before discussing proper stagings.

As an organizer of the group, I help manage archives, create posts for our social medias, and arrange community event. I also assist in working on the revised script of the show, and often do in-depth research into the playwright's process and previous works to keep our changes as faithfull as possible.

If you're interested in learning more about the musical, our group, and how to support us, visit the official website:

The Fogtown series is a live-action puppet series (so, no, not stop-motion) started by Sean Parker and Austin Hillebrecht! Currently in the development and pitching stage, the show re-imagines the adventures of Sherlock (in this case, Sherblock Holmes) and his friend Watson (Blockson). They're also working on a choose-your-own-adventure game using the same puppetry techniques! The team is a close-knit group of writers, artists, puppet makers and film people, and I'm honored to be part of their volunteer crew making puppets, costumes, and puppeteering on set.

Projects I've done as part of the Fogtown production:

In STEM there is a concept called the "black box", a system with an input and an output, but not clear process in between. The Maker community's goal is to eliminate the black box, and create a more supportive and accesible environment where new artists and craftspeople can learn and share processes, as well as remove the separation from the origins and work that goes into everyday objects around us. So while I respect certain protected ideas that preserve the integrity of a work, especially if one needs to make a living off of it, I encourage the sharing of the process. Assuming the process itself of making is worth trademarking assumes that our own experiences have nothing to bring to the table, that given the same materials and the same technical background every human would make the same art. And I simply don't believe that.

I love photographing and documenting every step of a project, and believe sharing my process to be an important part of my place in the artistic community. If you feel inspired by something you see, I'm pleased by the thought that I could ease some of the frustration involved with doing something for the first time.

(That being said, if I'm working on a project for someone else, I don't post anything until it has been made public or I get approval. And, when asked, I will refrain from posting any work-in-progress shots at all.)

But that's also why I'm happy to share my experience with building this website itself! Because it is just as much of a creative endeavor as my costume or puppetry work. If you'd like to peek behind the curtain and see the resources and process of making this site, click the button below:

At the beginning of 2024, I decided on a project: I would see as many small and experimental shows as possible for the year, and I would find something to say about all of them. No more just talking about the 4-5 shows I'm obsessed with, I want to expand my experience and challenge myself to form coherent opinions!

In addition, I've been watching to get to know the local theater community more, to make friends and build connections, and support the very industry I want to be a part of.

These aren't hard reviews of the shows, just some personal opinions and stuff I liked! I know that there's a good change people who worked on them will find themselves reading these, so I just want to keep it pretty lighthearted.

To read my blog about the shows I've seen recently, click the button below: