The 8th annual Hip Pocket Puppet Pageant.

October 31-Nov 2, 2024

Creatives and Crew-

Erin Orr, Lead Artist

Chris Green, Lead Artist

Nikki DeShea Smith, Lighting Design

Elizabeth Stillwell, Stage Manager & Production Manager

Builders/Makers

Roger Chambers

James White

Redfox

Eric Villarreal

Shelley Kellam

Joel White

Christian Tucker

Tyler Dorney

Amanda Merill

Lizeth Garcia

James Warilla

Veronica Keomanila

Gabriel Keomanila

Arianna Casillas

Cynthia Casillas

Julianna  Casillas

Patrik Lerma

Nikola Lerma

Ms. Monica Hopkins 

Monica Hopkins Jr.

Daniel Hopkins

Anthony McDevitt

Sophie McDevitt

Zig McDevitt

Bethany Malone

Melinda Willmann

Katie Stone

Nora Stone

Paul Stone

Danny Stone

Veronika Stelmakh

Tyler Kinser

Nikola Kinser

Clara Kinser

Barbara Wooten & Torin

Sara Rashelle, Jameson & Jericho

Vermont Horner

Jamie Bradlee

Performers-

James Warilla- Moth Guide

Redfox- Bat Guide

Erin Orr- Owl Guide

Chris Green- Oak Jack Rabbit, leaf creature & shadow puppeteer

James White- Seraphim, leaf creature  & nature spirit puppeteer

Eric Villareal- Seraphim,  & nature spirit puppeteer

Shelley Kellum- Oak Field Rabbit, leaf creature & nature spirit puppeteer

Lake Simons- Seraphim & Toy theater show assistant Nature Spirit Puppeteer

Cy Dyer- Toy theater puppeteer & Young Moth

Amanda Merill- Oak tree Possum & Nature Spirit Puppeteer

Chris Dawson-Oak tree Possum & Nature Spirit Puppeteer

Coleman Hann- Seraphim & Nature Spirit Puppeteer

Christian Tucker- Seraphim & Nature Spirit Puppeteer

Sara Rashelle & Jericho Parker-  Sister owls

Jameson Parker- Nature Spirit Puppeteer

Ms. Monica Hopkins- Mother moth

Monica Hopkins - Toy theater puppeteer & Young owl

Daniel Hopkins- Father owl

Veronika Stelmakh & Nikola Kinser- Mother and child owls
Bethany Malone, Zig McDevitte, Anthony & Sophie McDevitte-  Bat family

Torin & Kirsten Ballard, Barbara Wooten-  Mother bat and moth child

Special thanks to these individuals that gave their resources and energy to the puppet pageant!

Paul Hamilton, Nikki DeShea Smith, Lauren Riley, Pam Summers, Betsy Cumming, Ron Wooten, Bethany Malone, Barbara Wooten Meece, Lee Neisler, Lizeth Garcia and the families at Artes De La Rosa, Quentin McGown, and Laurie McGown.

Hats off to all the volunteers that helped us raise the tent!

About Chris Green and Erin Orr, our fearless resident artists from Brooklyn, NY.

Chris Green is a Tennessee-born, Brooklyn-based designer, performer, and director. His original theatrical, cinematic, and immersive projects draw from the vast tool-kit of visual theater and puppetry with works presented over the past 27 years both nationally and internationally. Honors and grants include:  Creative Capital Award, MacDowell Fellowship, LMCC Process Space grant, as well as multiple grants from Theater Communications Group and the Jim Henson Foundation.  Film credits as performer and visual effects designer include ‘Silo’ directed by David Soll (shot inside a defunct Atlas-C missile silo) and ‘White Noise’ directed by Noah Baumbach.  In 2006, Green founded Chris Green Kinetics – an award-winning interdisciplinary design studio creating one-of-a-kind theatrical productions and interactive installations with a wide variety of partners and clients ranging from non-profit museums to major theme parks (chrisgreenkinetics.com). Recent projects include kinetic set design for David Neumann and Marcella Murray’s Obie Award-winning ‘Distances Smaller Than This Are Not Confirmed.’  Current projects include stop-motion puppetry for the artist Swoon’s upcoming feature film ‘Sibylant Sisters.’  Green has had the honor of working with Erin K. Orr and Lake Simons over the years to stage community-driven pageantry on the acreage around Hip Pocket theater and is thrilled to be returning for this next adventure. 

Erin K. Orr is absorbed in the creative alchemy of turning the raw ingredients of images, objects, folklore and food into a feast. Erin creates puppet works in collaboration with living composers ranging from a dark fairytale for adults, to a circus about the real life drama of honeybees and a puppet musical inspired by Federico Garcia Lorca.  She has received grants from LMCC, the Jim Henson Foundation and the Jerome Foundation. Erin also creates thematic dinners for immersive theatrical events and is currently working on a storytelling dinner that draws on Estonian werewolf lore and personal narrative exploring hunger and domestication. She is an award winning arts educator who has taught puppetry throughout the NYC public schools for 30 years, and works as an artist mentor and curriculum specialist for federally funded research about literacy and puppetry. She has worked for over 20 years with Chris Green and Lake Simons and is pleased to return to create her 8th Hip Pocket Puppet Pageant!