LEMONY SNICKET'S THE COMPOSER IS DEAD

An adaptation of the Lemony Snicket book The Composer is Dead in collaboration with Lemony Snicket and Berkeley Repertory Theater, this production design was developed over the course of two years and includes over 100 puppets and an oversized Victorian toy theater. Over 30 marionettes and many more 2-dimensional puppets are driven in tracks from above and below in a miniature theater, magnified. Antique lithographs, provided by Kannik's Korner were blown up to create a giant, mechanized, toy-theater world where the orchestra's alibis are acted out. The Composer is Dead was directed by Tony Taccone and featured Geoff Hoyle.

“Such visual flourishes are the meat and potatoes of Composer. The set, designed by Grindstaff and Sanko, is a pop-out book that keeps unfolding. Behind the first curtain is an orchestra pit with a fake proscenium stage. Behind that, a ballroom where cut-out dancers wheel by in waistcoats and Edwardian gowns. Behind that lies a perfectly manicured English garden. And then, at last, there’s an old graveyard filled with tombstones of famous composers”

— Rachel Swan, East Bay Express