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Author Archives: an engineer


Hobo Opera

Behind the scenes at Boneyard Prayer…actors, production staff, puppets, dirt, overhead projectors – they’re all coming together to make an amazing hobo opera. Photos by Sean Williams.

William Kentridge

The crew of Boneyard Prayer looks at other theatrical productions for inspiration as well. For one, Frank is very intrigued by the current production of William Kentridge’s Woyzeck on the Highveld in Brisbane, especially the above images from the production.

For more about William Kentridge, check out the trailer here.

The Old Man and the Sea

Though static art provides significant inspiration for Boneyard Prayer, other media have played a large role as well. Animation has provided particularly interesting exploration for Frank and the artistic team – one great example is Aleksander Petrov‘s Academy Award-winning The Old Man and the Sea:

Part 1:

Part 2:

“There Is No Dead Matter…”

“There is no dead matter, lifelessness is only a disguise behind which hide unknown forms of life.”

This quote from Bruno Schulz (author of The Street of Crocodiles) relates directly to our work with objects – the puppets in particular – and also speaks to the Gravedigger characters’ work as archaeologists, facilitating the “life” of […]

Artists to Google!

In addition to song and poetry, the world of Boneyard Prayer is very inspired by physical art. Check out the following artists for an idea of what’s in store:

Roman Paska

William Kentridge

Handspring Puppet Company

Into My Arms

For creator Frank Maugeri, the music of artists like Tom Waits and Nick Cave has played a role in understanding the texture of the music of Boneyard Prayer. There’s no one quality about the music that makes it “right” or “appropriate” as a source of inspiration… in one example of Cave’s music (from his […]

Building the World of Boneyard Prayer

Boneyard Prayer is strongly influenced by literature, and poetry has been significant in its creation… at an early rehearsal, Seth Bockley said one of the strongest influences came from the T.S. Eliot poem The Hollow Men, with its evocative image and language.

Galway Kinnell’s “Little Sleep’s-Head Sprouting Hair In The Moonlight,” also serves as a […]

We On The Bum

In creating Boneyard Prayer, Frank Maugeri has been working extensively with composer Charles Kim and writer Seth Bockley to create a folk opera, a piece that draws inspiration from (among other sources) popular music of the 1920s and ’30s. Frank, Charles, and Seth are still exploring, expanding, changing, and building on their work…in the […]

Behind the Scenes at Hunchback

—The Hunchback cast and Julie McGowan

We Taunt, We Excite, We Mesmerize

There are faces behind these masks.

Each day we explode forward, onto the stage with the power of a freight train.
We move forward and look into your eyes.
We taunt, we excite, we mesmerize.
We hold that gaze for seconds, and then we disappear into the boxes.

Next time I appear, you can’t see me.
He is sitting, […]