Puppetry > The Thing with Wings

Dahlia and Her Egg
Cardboard, Tissue Paper, Video, Puck Lights
10 ‘ h x 12’ w x 10’ d
2023
Dahlia's Egg and the Cave Mouth
Cardboard, Tissue Paper, Video, Puck Lights
10 ‘ h x 12’ w x 10’ d
2023
Dahlia Contemplates Her Egg
Cardboard, Tissue Paper, Video, Puck Lights
10 ‘ h x 12’ w x 10’ d
2023
Dahlia Hears a Sound Outside the Cave
Cardboard, Tissue Paper, Video, Puck Lights
10 ‘ h x 12’ w x 10’ d
2023
Director Gretchen Hasse Transforms Dahlia Into a Fossil
Bedsheet, Acrylic Paint, and Projected Image
10’ h x 12’ w x 10’ d
2023
Alonso Galué and Wendy Madrigal with Dahlia's Offspring
Cardboard, Tissue Paper, Video, Puck Lights

10’ h x 12’ w x 10’ d
2023
Rehearsal for %The Thing With Wings%
Cardboard, Tissue Paper, Video, Puck Lights

10’ h x 12’ w x 10’ d
2023

The Thing with Wings
Chapter One of The Dinosaur Opera
Work in Progress

Created at the Chicago International Puppet Theater's 2022 - 2023 Puppet Lab cohort
Work in Progress premiered June 2023 at Chopin Theater, Chicago, USA

Writer / Director / Puppet, Set, Audio Designer / Fabricator: Gretchen Hasse
Performer / Puppet Designer and Fabricator: Alonso Galué
Performer / Puppet Fabricator: Wendy Madrigal
Documentation by Loren Toney / Chicago Puppet Lab

The Dinosaur Opera is a multi-chapter puppet saga that meditates on the deep past and deep future, and how we understand both in the present day. The story explores time, purpose, and meaning, through the eternally fascinating lens of dinosaurs.

In Chapter One, The Thing With Wings, an expectant dinosaur mother caresses her egg in the moments before the meteor hits; and after the cataclysm, the petrified remnants of this moment are discovered by an archaeologist millions of years later. They are joined by a bluebird, distant descendant of the unlucky mother, who has her offspring after all.