'Mesmerizing' puppet play 'Packrat' comes to Taos Center for the Arts

New York City’s acclaimed Concrete Temple Theatre are artists-in-residence this month at the Taos Center for the Arts, in collaboration with the Paseo Project. They will be hosting a series of free workshops, culminating in performances of their immersive experimental puppetry production, “Packrat,” on Friday, May 23, and Saturday, May 24.

“Packrat” tells the story of human-animal interactions at a time of increased wildfires and habitat loss. The protagonist, Bud, is a packrat, like those who inhabit the piñon-juniper woodlands of northern New Mexico, and this one has a penchant for collecting human artifacts, which puts him at odds with his packrat peers.

The New York Times called it “thoroughly mesmerizing” and “amazingly expressive.”

Carlo Adinolfi, who co-founded Concrete Temple Theatre with Renee Philippi, said “Packrat” is an emotionally moving production that addresses deep psychological and environmental themes.

“Puppetry has become associated with kids, particularly in the states. It’s seen as a kids’ form of entertainment and as light entertainment, because for a long time it was part of vaudeville, which was more skit-oriented,” Adinolfi said.

By contrast, he said Concrete Temple Theatre’s use of puppets is closer to that of the play “War Horse” or the Broadway version of “The Lion King” — more visually enthralling than strictly cute. When they’ve performed “Packrat” around the world, adults and children have both been wowed by the artistry of the puppeteers.

“Although we didn’t make the story for kids, it’s totally fine for kids,” Adinolfi added. “Kids love it.”

There are a few sad and potentially scary moments, as when some of the animals get caught in a wildfire.

“But it’s no more scary than ‘Bambi,’” he said.

The puppets themselves have what Adinolfi calls a “skeletal” quality, which may remind some viewers of the weird creatures designed by Czech stop-motion filmmaker Jan Švankmajer. But Adinolfi’s creatures are meant to be “scrappy,” not creepy.

“I was really going for these animals being very scrappy, because they’re desert animals, and they have to live on very little. It was also a design choice in terms of manipulating the puppets. I made them pretty skeletal, so that we can get our hands inside and through them without having the body of the puppet being in the way,” Adinolfi said.

Part of the magic of “Packrat,” he said, comes from the way the troupe represents natural phenomena like fire.

“The puppeteers have these little pieces of reed or rattan, which is used for basket making, and they’re flame-shaped. And then they rattle and shake them and make the crackling noise of fire,” he said.

In their workshops for children, Concrete Temple Theatre will demonstrate how to make artificial fire using rattan.

“With the adults, we are going to focus a bit more on design and experimentation, and they get to design their own puppets,” Adinolfi said.

Even if you aren’t able to attend a workshop, all audience members are invited to interact with the puppets.

“If you hang around after the show, you can meet the puppets. Literally come up to the stage, and enter the puppets, and we’ll let you manipulate the puppets and show you how they work,” he said.

Concrete Temple Theatre is the latest group of artists to participate in the Paseo Project’s artist-in-residence program. This program, which is organized by the same nonprofit responsible for The Paseo festival, invites artists working at the intersection of art, environment and community to spend a month in Taos, engaging the local community.

'Mesmerizing' puppet play 'Packrat' comes to Taos Center for the Arts