Fred C Riley III (Founder/Artistic Director)
Jon Ludwig, Ping Chong, Janie Geiser, Yeng Feng, Josef Krofta, Larry Reed … These are just a few of the iconic directors that Fred worked with and learned from over many years in puppet theater. He has performed marionettes from 9 foot to 7 inches tall. He has performed rod, moving mouth, Czech black, tabletop, mask, and every combination thereof. He has performed shadow with press screen, overhead, and 30 foot wide cinematic. He has directed and written for the Center for Puppetry Arts and many others. He choreographed for Ping Chong and Company. He has taught movement and puppet theory. He voiced many puppets and has done voice over work for many companies. He has recorded and done sound design. He is so grateful for all he has been able to do and accomplish.
This next chapter is about using all these skills toward something new and more personal. He wants to work from an emotional core. Wants to blend the styles and forms he has learned into a new landscape for the stage. Looking to find the essence of life force has been the root of all the work he has done for decades. Breathing through these figures to listen rather than to tell. He has enlisted some very talented people to help him in this journey. The principal core members are Lisa Zagone and Ian Erickson.
Lisa Zagone (Designer/Principal Fabricator)
Lisa is a professional visual artist specializing in unique, once-off creations for theater, film, performance and private commissions. Whether it be puppetry, scenic arts, wearable art, specialty props, sculpture or otherwise, her art style is playful, detailed and darkly whimsical. Her artwork often features mechanisms and inventions for transformation or movement. Her work in theater design has international recognition. Lisa was a lecturer in Theater Arts at MTU in Ireland for many years. She is a graduate of the Academy of the Wooden Puppet with Bernd Ogrodnik in Reykjavik and UConn Puppetry Arts Graduate program. She also earned an MFA and BA in Fine Art at SFSU in California.
Ian Erickson (Composer/Musician)
As a composer Ian has worked with JACK Quartet for their Studio Reading sessions, Sirius Quartet, Kyle Aho, and PARMA Recordings. A recipient of a 2023 Dresher Ensemble Artist Residency, Ian designed and built an original instrument called a kolvorgan. The residency culminated in writing and recording an album titled \textures/. In addition, he has released two additional albums, t ö l u r and lɵvɵl. In the East Bay Area Ian works as a dance accompanist for The University of California Berkeley and as a regular studio and shop assistant for Paul Dresher, a renownd composer and musical instrument inventor.
Below is the first example of the new direction in puppet theater and the project on which these 3 artists first worked their magic.