Garden of the WildCapitol Broadcasting Company and Raleigh Little Theatre Preview Paperhand Puppet Intervention Will Perform Garden Of The Wild In RLT's Amphitheatre Capitol Broadcasting Company and Raleigh Little Theatre will present an encore production of Paperhand Puppet Intervention's Garden of the Wild May 4-6 and 10-13 in its Louise "Scottie" Stephenson Amphitheatre. Gates and concession stands will open at 7 p.m., and preshow entertainment will start at 7:30. "Paperhand is thrilled to be re-mounting one of our favorite shows from 2005 at the Raleigh Little Theatre," writes Donovan Zimmerman, who co-founded the politically activist puppet troupe with Jan Burger. (Zimmerman and Burger co-create, produce, direct, and design all Paperhand's puppet pageants.) Zimmerman notes, "This is the first time RLT has hosted another group in their 50-year history! We feel honored, truly." He adds, "The Rose Garden at RLT [adjacent to Stephenson Amphitheatre] is a beautiful place (well worth the visit) that serves as a backdrop for the 2,000 seat amphitheater where our show will unfold. Don't miss this exciting historic event." Donovan Zimmerman says, "Garden of the Wild was first staged in the summer of 2005 at the Forest Theatre [at the University of North Carolina at] Chapel Hill. The show is a series of vignettes played with different styles of puppetry, such as masks, stilts, giant puppet pageantry, and shadows. Jan Burger and I co-created and directed the piece." Zimmerman adds, "What I like best about this play is the spirit of the wild that it attempts to get near and resonate with. I think the different parts work very well together, as well as on their own. It is a personal favorite from our eight years of production making. Jan and I wanted to direct the show because it seemed the only sensible thing to do after we created it." He says, "The show is comprised of six short plays, if you will, that revolve around the theme of the wild, and human interaction with nature." On its web site, Paperhand Puppet Intervention describes these vivid vignettes as: "'Enter the Wild' starts with a call to the wild as several drummers, who are themselves creatures, explode into a dynamic rhythm and watch as fantastic creatures arrive from all around and dance in an exciting reverie that harkens back to ancient times. "'Man and Monkey' is a comic vignette that is sprinkled throughout the show to create a common thread. 'The Man and Monkey (Part 1) -- The Deep Dark Jungle' is the first of three which focuses on the monkey being captured from the wild. "'Morphos' is a masked dance piece that looks at transformation, connection, and spiritual evolution. It is performed by 6 dancers who use their bodies and masks in many ways, i.e., masks worn on back or top of the head, to express the continuum of change witnessed in the universe. "'Man and Monkey (Part 2) -- Practice Makes Perfect' continues the saga with the man training, and ultimately being foiled by, the rascally little primate. "'Hog Wild!' is just that. The scene opens on a full-blown hoedown with, of course, all pigs! Everything is going great until a big pink cowboy arrives on the scene (a la Clint Eastwood) and starts showing them all about real 'freedom.' Things heat up as the cowboy turns out to be a butcher in disguise. Luckily, the hogs are just too smart to fall for his goofy tricks. "'Man and Monkey (Part 3) -- The Big City' finds the two gathering an audience on the street to perform their routine. A strange cast of masked characters, including a giant baby, assemble and enjoy the show. There is a crooked Keystone Kop chase that ends with them on the ground and the man and monkey [are] separated momentarily. When the monkey returns and offers its friendship and some fruit to the destitute man, we all learn a little humility and get to ask ourselves many important questions. "'Endurance,' the biggest and longest portion of the show, features several six-person puppets including a huge 'Beast' of the wild, an all consuming black hole, a 20-foot-tall goddess, not to mention a 40-foot-long 'Hero.' All these characters come together in a dynamic and boldly stated look at the undying cycles of life and our own human interaction with nature and the wild. "'B is for Bird' is performed using shadow puppets to tell the story of co-creator Jan Burgers' childhood, along with the ivory-billed woodpecker story, extinction, and hope." Donovan Zimmerman tells the TRIANGLE THEATER REVIEW: "We drew inspiration from such quotes as 'Give me a wilderness no civilization can endure,' from Thoreau, as well as writings by Emerson, Walt Whitman, and Gary Snyder -- to mention a few. The show begins with 'Enter the Wild,' which is an opening celebration of wild creatures and the delicate dance they do to survive." He adds, "The challenges [of staging Garden of the Wild] are the basic 'puppetry is suffering' principle, but amplified. It is safe to say we have never sweated more in an hour and a half. The masks are hot, the giant puppets are heavy, and our bodies have to get into and hold strange positions. This is in no way a complaint. We actually enjoy this unique form of suffering. Another major challenge is coordinating 25 people to be in the right place at the right time as well as having the right sound happen simultaneously. Just the logistics are enough to boggle the mind." Preshow entertainment, starting at 7:30 p.m. will include: Jimmy Magoo and The Good Life (May 4th, 6th, 12th, and 13th), The Old Ceremony (May 5th and 11th), and Jubal Creech Storytelling and percussion (May 10th). Donovan Zimmerman says, "There are no actual set pieces per se; but throughout the show, the stage is filled and emptied at different times with buildings, trees, giant puppets, and so on, which creates an ever changing 'set,' fitting nicely with our theme." He adds, "The costumes vary widely from fat little pigs with flowery dresses or coverall suites, to stretchy baggy black outfits for the small white masks of 'Morphos.' Other costumes are more like things that the puppeteers (who wear all black) carry, throughout the show." Zimmerman claims, "Garden of the Wild is both a celebration of the ever changing, infinitely gorgeous world we live in and a meditation on the nature of humans as they interact with that world and, ultimately, themselves. Within the garden, we find hope that life will live on, regardless of our folly, and the wild will be reborn in new magnificent forms for ever more." Capitol Broadcasting Company and Raleigh Little Theatre presents Paperhand Puppet Intervention in Garden of the Wild Friday-Sunday, May 4-6, at 8 p.m. AND Friday-Sunday, May 10-13, at 8 p.m. in RLT's Louise "Scottie" Stephenson Amphitheatre, 301 Pogue St., Raleigh, North Carolina. $15 ($13 students and FREE for children under 5). 919/821-3111 or etix. NOTE 1: Gates and concession stands open at 7 p.m., and preshow entertainment starts at 7:30. CAPITOL BROADCASTING COMPANY: http://www.cbc-raleigh.com/. NOTE 2: All performances are wheelchair accessible. RALEIGH LITTLE THEATRE: http://raleighlittletheatre.org/performances/gardenwild.html. PAPERHAND PUPPET INTERVENTION: http://www.paperhand.org/. Garden of the Wild: http://www.paperhand.org/gotw.htm. 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