est. July 2009

Lisa Krause's Artwork (2003-Present)

Friday, May 10, 2013

Ishi's Brain Puppet Show with Eamon Espey


Photo: Michel Anderson

Ishi’s Brain is a show by Lisa Krause and Eamon Espey that incorporates shadow puppets, a marionette, masks and a liberal use of painted cardboard. It is based on a chapter in Eamon Espey’s new graphic novel, Songs of the Abyss published by Secret Acres. The initial inspiration comes from the true story, but is by no means a historical re-enactment.  Krause and Espey’s performance focuses on a lone spirit in his final days and an alien shaman who helps guide the dead into the next world. Original soundtrack by Stephen Santillian of Baltimore bands Ghost Life and Thank You.

Photo: Michel Anderson


Eamon Espey is a cartoonist based in Baltimore whose books include Wormdye (2008) and Songs of the Abyss (2012). Both were published by Secret Acres.  His work has appeared in art shows in such places as Los Angeles, Istanbul, and New York and in print in Sweden’s Galago Magazine and Washington DC’s Bash Magazine.  





Songs of the Abyss further examines and diagrams all things spiritual and grotesque. Ancient Egyptian gods birth Biblical giants, Santa Claus is an agent of the Devil and a scientist performs sadistic experiments in search of enlightenment. All is rendered in black ink with scalpel like precision. The cover remains true to the hand crafted aesthetic in that it is a stained glass design handmade by the author specifically for the book.

Link to Songs of the Abyss reviewed on IndieReader


Lisa Krause is a trained sculptor and has been an Associate Artist with Black Cherry Puppet Theater since 2009. She has studied traditional marionette carving in the Czech Republic and recently just spent a month living and performing with the anarchist theater group, Bread and Puppet.  Krause facilitates puppetry workshops and has performed with Black Cherry at schools, recreation centers and community festivals across Maryland, Virginia and at the National Theater in Washington D.C.  She has also performed in the streets of Prague and the beautiful hillsides of Vermont.



Photo: Michel Anderson



SONGS OF THE ABYSS Book Release 
and Ishi's Brain Performance Dates (Spring 2013):

There was a national tour in April 2013- May 2013 which included 15 bookings and appearances at Small Press and Alternative Comics Expo in Columbus, OH and Stumptown Comic Festival in Portland, OR.  

Future Book Relase/Performance Dates TBA
... Check back for more info!

* * * * * * * * * * *

Past Book Release/Performance Dates:

Baltimore MD
Saturday November 3rd, 2012 * 9p
Windup Space- 12 W North Ave

Saturday January 19th, 2013 * 7pm & 9:30pm
Worlds Collide! Puppet Slamwich! 
Black Cherry Puppet Theater -1115 Hollins St


Brooklyn NY
Friday November 11th, 2012
Tomato House- 301 Saratoga Ave
Joint book release with Dongery's Just Sayin' retrospective (Norway) 
As part of Brooklyn Comics and Graphics Festival


Washington DC
Thursday February 7th, 2013 * 7:30PM
La Casa Community Center -3166 Mt. Pleasant St. NW
w/A Police State Cabaret (mbrs of Bread and Puppet/Flying Donkey)
Presented by Puppet Underground


Pittsburgh PA
Friday April 12, 2013 * 8PM
Puppet Happening to be held at ModernFormations -4919 Penn Ave w/Pittsburgh artists Tom Sarver & Mike Cuccaro doing excerpts from "Aristophanes' Peace" 

Columbus OH
Saturday, Sunday, and Monday April 13-15, 2013
SPACE (Small Press and Alternative Comics Expo)
Book table w/J.T. Dockery and Mark Rudolph!
Performance * 8pm Sat Apr 13 at S.P.A.C.E. Cartoonist Polymaths After Party Pageant w/The Smacks! (J.T. Dockery & Brian Manley) Leela Corman and Maddie Fix 
-Kafe Kerouac  (2250 N High St.)
Workshops on Monday night at Short Stop Youth Center and Ohio Shorts Film Festival at Ohio State University: Shadow Puppets, Block Printing Patches (Non-Silkscreen Method)

Detroit MI
Tuesday April 16, 2013 * 8PM
Trumbullplex -4201 Trumbull St. 
w/shadow puppets by Patrick Eakins (MI) and Jerry Fels and the Jerry Fels

Chicago IL
Wednesday April 17, 2013  * 8:30PM
Roxaboxen Exhibitions -2130 W. 21st. (Pilsen)
w/Wume

Minneapolis MN
Saturday April 20, 2013 * 4PM
Moon Palace Books 2820 E 33rd St


Missoula MT 
Tuesday April 23, 2013 * 7:30PM
Zootown Arts Community Center 235 North 1st St. West

w/Local Theater group Lost Dog Productions presenting a short play entitled "The Musical Stylings of Sigmund und Amalia Freud: Mother und Son"   

Seattle WA
Thursday April 25th, 2013 * 7PM
Richard Hugo House - 1634 11th Ave (Capitol Hill) 
presented by Short Run 
w/Tess Martin, Tim Miller, and Erin Tanner  

Portland OR
Saturday and Sunday April 27th-28th, 2013
Stumptown Comics Festival  Oregon Convention Center- 777 NE Martin Luther King Blvd
Gridlords 12 monthly comics performance/reading series presents:
Ishi's Brain performance Saturday April 27th, 2013 9:30PM


San Francisco CA
Thursday May 2nd, 2013 * 8pm
Alter Space 1158 Howard Street (SOMA District)
w/ Tim Giugni of Il Teatro Calamari, Liz Mayorga, and Charlatan Stories

Los Angeles CA
Saturday May 4th, 2013
The Velaslavasay Panorama 1122 W 24th St.  90007
Brown Paper Ticket link
PERFORMANCE * Saturday 5/4 8pm with Christian Cummings
WORKSHOP * Sunday 5/5 1pm: Shadow Puppet Workshop 
at Avenue 50 Studio 131 N Avenue 50, Highland Park, CA 90042.  


Santa Fe NM
Saturday May 11th, 2013
WORKSHOP 2p: Shadow Puppet Workshop 
at Wise Fool New Mexico -2778 Agua Fria Rd, Ste D
PERFORMANCE 7p: with Flying Wall and Human Beast Box
at Santa Fe Arts Center 314 S. Guadalupe -Santa Fe NM 87501


St Louis MO
Tuesday May 14th, 2013 * 8pm


Bloomington IN
Wednesday May 15th, 2013 * 7pm
Boxcar Books 408 E. 6th St. 


Lexington KY
Thursday May 16th, 2013 * 7pm
Institute 193 193 N Limestone
joint book release: J.T. Dockery's Despair and Eamon Espey


Chicago IL
Saturday May 18th, 2013 * 9pm
at BRAINFRAME performative comix reading series 
The Orphanage - 643 W 31st St, Chicago IL 2nd Floor


2 comments:

  1. Is NYC/Brooklyn within the realm of possibility between May 17 and June 1? My sister will be visiting me from Austin TX and I would love her take her to your show!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi! Thank you! We would love to come back to Brooklyn, but we don't have anything lined up at the moment.

    ReplyDelete