The Plastic Bag Store program guide

Tuesday, January 17, 2023
Wednesday, January 18, 2023
Thursday, January 19, 2023
Friday, January 20, 2023
Saturday, January 21, 2023
Sunday, January 22, 2023
Wednesday, January 25, 2023
Thursday, January 26, 2023
The 777 Building
777 Eisenhower Parkway
Ann Arbor
Friday, January 27, 2023
Saturday, January 28, 2023
Sunday, January 29, 2023
Wednesday, February 1, 2023
Thursday, February 2, 2023
Friday, February 3, 2023
Saturday, February 4, 2023
Sunday, February 5, 2023
THE PLASTIC
BAG STORE
Robin Frohardt
Creator, Writer, and Director
Co-presented by UMS, UMMA, and the Graham Sustainability Institute,
in partnership with the U-M Arts Initiative.
18th, 20th, 21st, 22nd, 23rd, 25th, 27th, 29th, 31st, 34th, 36th, 39th, 41st, 43rd, 45th, and 48th
Performances of the 144th Annual Season
No Safety Net 3.0

The Ann Arbor presentation of Robin Frohardt’s The Plastic Bag Store, is supported by Rachel Bendit
and Mark Bernstein, the University of Michigan Arts Initiative, the University of Michigan Museum of
Art, the Graham Sustainability Institute, an anonymous gift supporting programming in climate change
and a sustainable environment, Destination Ann Arbor, Oxford Companies, U-M College of Literature,
Science and the Arts, UMCU Arts Adventures Program, Max Wicha and Sheila Crowley, and
The Ilene H. Forsyth Theater Endowment Fund.
UMS recognizes its presenting partners without whom this work could not be realized: Christina
Olsen, Lisa Borgsdorf, David Choberka, Andrew Cohen, James Leija, and Grace VanderVliet (University
of Michigan Museum of Art); Jennifer Haverkamp, Alexandra Haddad, and Kelly Jones (Graham
Sustainability Institute); and Christopher Audain and Jessica Jenks (U-M Arts Initiative).
Media partnership provided by WEMU 89.1FM, Michigan Radio 91.7 FM, and Ann Arbor’s 107one.
Special thanks to Clara Gamalski (U-M Sustainable Food Systems Initiative); Chrisstina Hamilton
(Penny Stamps Speaker Series); and the UMS Ambassadors.
In the interests of both the environment and expenses, please consider returning with your No Safety
Net 3.0 Festival Guide to future festival performances.

MESSAGE FROM THE ARTIST
Dear Most Valued Customers:
It’s almost impossible for me to try to explain what it is you are about to
experience and the journey it took to get here. I started working on The Plastic
Bag Store in 2015 after watching someone bag and double bag all my groceries
that were already bags inside of bags inside of boxes. I wanted to highlight
the absurd amount of packaging we are using and throwing away by making
something even more absurd: a grocery store that only sold packaging. Over
time the project evolved into an elaborate live immersive puppet play with
transforming sets and hidden rooms. For several years, my amazing team and
I slowly pieced together this epic beast of a project. Sometimes that meant
working with the support of prestigious residencies at architectural firms
and fellowships at Universities. But more often it meant grueling rehearsals,
endless schlepping and hours spent sifting through NYC garbage.
With all the pieces finally in place and a venue to die for, The Plastic Bag
Store was set to open in the heart of Times Square on March 18, 2020...
ya know... the day the whole world shut down? We did one amazing dress
rehearsal and locked the doors and walked away.
I think part of me wanted to give up after that. Thankfully, with the
persistence of vision of the team at Pomegranate Arts and generous support
of CAP UCLA, we were able to create a filmed version of the project. I was
relieved that there would be a record of what we created (we didn’t film that
last rehearsal) but I never imagined how beautiful the film would turn out, and
how perfectly it would capture the story as I see it in my head. We then found a
way to integrate the film into the installation for a truly unique live experience
which we opened in Times Square, and have since taken to Australia, Los
Angeles, Chicago, and Austin! I couldn’t be more excited to share it now with
the lovely people of Ann Arbor.
— Robin Frohardt
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Mobilizing the expertise and passion of scholars, partners,
and decision-makers to work together and bring world-class
research to real-world sustainability challenges.
graham.umich.edu
4

CREATIVE TEAM
Creator, writer, and director / Robin Frohardt
Collaborators / Nick Lehane, Admiral Grey, Rowan Magee, Andy Manjuck,
Tyler Gunther, and Emma Wiseman
Music / Freddi Price
Sound Design / Chad Raines
Producers / Linda Brumbach, Robin Frohardt, and Alisa E. Regas
Production Management / Pomegranate Arts
Technical director / Jeremy Lydic
General manager / Rachel Katwan
Director of photography, filmed elements / Robert Kolodny
Producer, filmed elements / Caitlin Mae Burke
Sound design and mix, filmed elements / Lawrence Everson
Sound engineer / Chad Raines
Originating puppetry lighting designer / Jeanette Oi-Suk Yew
Production assistant / Tyler Gunther
Scenic Construction / Silovsky Studios, Lydic! Design and Production
Props construction support / Admiral Grey, Tyler Gunther
Illustrations, graphics, and costume design support / Tyler Gunther
Production manager / Nate Lemoine
Company manager / Michelle Yard
The Plastic Bag Store was commissioned by Times Square Arts with generous support provided by
the Rockefeller Brothers Fund; The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Arts; the New York State Council
on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature; the
National Endowment for the Arts; public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs
in partnership with the City Council. Additional commissioning support has been provided by Carolina
Performing Arts, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. It was developed with support from: MANA
Contemporary, The Made in NY Women’s Film, TV & Theatre Fund by the City of New York Mayor’s Office
of Media and Entertainment in association with The New York Foundation for the Arts; Olson Kundig;
The Jim Henson Foundation; and is sponsored, in part, by the Greater New York Arts Development
Fund of the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, administered by Brooklyn Arts Council
(BAC). The Plastic Bag Store is a project of Creative Capital. The Plastic Bag Store film segments were
commissioned by UCLA’s Center for the Art of Performance with additional support by the Adelaide
Festival. Co-Produced by Robin Frohardt and Pomegranate Arts. The Plastic Bag Store gives special
thanks to Paul Lazar and Morgan Jenness for dramaturgical and directorial consultation.
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ARTISTS
Robin Frohardt (creator, writer, and director)
is an award-winning theater and film
director. Her narrative-based film, puppetry,
and sculpture use recognizable materials,
often trash, to create richly detailed
worlds that make magic of the mundane
and highlight the trivialities of daily life.
Her theatrical work has earned her a
Guggenheim Fellowship, a Creative Capital
Award, and multiple Jim Henson Foundation
Grants. Her play The Pigeoning, hailed by
the New York Times as “a tender, fantastical
symphony of the imagination,” debuted in
2013 and continues to tour at home and
abroad. Her follow-up project The Plastic
Bag Store premiered in Times Square in
2020 and has since toured to Los Angeles,
Chicago, Adelaide, and Austin. Her films
have been official selections at The Telluride
Film Festival, Aspen Shortsfest, The One
Earth Film Festival, and BAM.
Freddi Price (composer) is a multidisciplinary
performing and recording artist,
musician, multi-instrumentalist, band leader,
composer, actor, and voiceover artist. Over
the years he has collaborated, composed,
and performed with bands, artists, and stage
productions on both US coasts in addition
to touring in the US and Europe with his
talents and music having been featured
by the likes of David Byrne, Eric Burdon,
Ann Magnuson, among many others on
stage and on recordings. His compositions,
performances, and voice have accompanied
theater productions in San Francisco and
New York. For his original music for Robin
Frohardt’s previous NYC puppet theater
piece, The Pigeoning, he was nominated
for the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding
Music in a Play. Besides providing music for
theater and some commercial work, Price
also performs on many instruments and voice
in a variety of forms and genres, from solo to
large groups, blues to rock and soul, brass
band, and cabaret.
Chad Raines (sound design) is a sound
designer and composer from Dallas, TX. For
theater he has collaborated with Rachel
Chavkin, Lileana Blain-Cruz, Robert Woodru,
and many others. As a performer he has
shared the stage with David Byrne, Amanda
Palmer, White Denim, Weasel Walter, Ra Ra
Riot, Quintron and Miss Pussycat, and many
others. At the moment he performs with the
bands Holy Hell and The Simple Pleasure.
Jeanette Oi-Suk Yew (originating puppetry
lighting designer) is a designer for theater,
opera, dance, music performances, and
installation. Her designs have been seen at
the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Brooklyn
Academy of Music (BAM), Rose Theater
Jazz at Lincoln Center, Baryshnikov Arts
Center (BAC), HERE Arts Center, St. Ann’s
Warehouse, La Mama ETC, The Kitchen,
ArtsEmerson, Manhattan School of
Music, Joyce SOHO, Bard Music Festival,
REDCAT, Highways Performance Space,
and internationally at Havana; Prague;
Lima; Edinburgh; Tokyo; Graz, Austria; and
Bloemfontein, South Africa. Jeanette received
the Bel Geddes design enhancement award
for her lighting and projection design for
Ludic Proxy. She was the recipient of the
2009-2011 NEA/TCG Career Development
Program and was the 2006 Gilbert Hemsley
Jr. lighting intern. Jeanette currently teaches
at Sarah Lawrence College and advises at
Barnard College.
Caitlin Mae Burke (producer for filmed
segments) is an Emmy-winning producer.
An inaugural inductee into DOC NYC’s 40
Under 40 and alumna of Berlinale Talents,
Caitlin’s award-winning films have received
accolades at top-tier festivals including
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Sundance, Berlinale, and Tribeca Film
Festival and have been broadcast across
the US and around the world. Her work
has screened at MoMa, The Museum of
the Moving Image, and in movie theaters
internationally. Caitlins non-film projects
include producing the Webby- nominated
podcast OTHER MEN NEED HELP. She is the
supervising producer at IF/Then Shorts,
a fund and mentorship program for short
documentaries via Field of Vision.
Robert Kolodny (director of photography for
filmed segments) is an Emmy-award winning
director and cinematographer. He has
contributed cinematography to film works
by David Byrne, The Safdie Brothers, Laura
Poitras, and Robert Greene; for projects that
have screened at the Sundance Film Festival
and the Criterion Channel. Robert has
created and publicly displayed site-specific
video installations that have been shown on
exhibition at The Brooklyn Museum, Museum
of Fine Art Boston, and the Lehmann
Maupin Gallery. His short film Fly on Out was
screened at the Court Métrage at the Festival
de Cannes. He garnered a Vimeo Sta Pick for
his short Allo Allo.
Admiral Grey (performer, props) is a
multidisciplinary artist who has presented
original and collaborative theatrical works
as a performer, writer, deviser, director,
composer, designer, and puppeteer at
LaMama, University Settlement, The New
Ohio, SoHo Rep, HERE, Rubulad, Dixon
Place, Irving Plaza, Judson Memorial
Church, and many others. She has created
modern theatrical performances with The
Nerve Tank, The Drunkar’s Wife, Psychic
Readings, Sister Sylvester, and Snake In The
Boot Collective, as well as solo performative
work. As a vocalist, bassist, and keyboardist
she has toured with her bands nationally
and internationally, as well as performed
at NYC venues Saint Vitus, The Bowery
Electric, Trans Pecos, Death By Audio,
Northsix, Glasslands Gallery, Rockwood
Music Hall, Silent Barn, and Baby’s All Right.
Currently she is a puppet lab artist debuting
new work at St. Ann’s Warehouse this June
and is vocalist and bassist for the new band
Holy Hell.
Tyler Gunther (performer, props, design
and production assistant), originally from
Arkansas, moved to New York after attending
grad school for costume design at the
University of Maryland. He has designed
costumes for theater, opera, and dance and
has assisted designers at The Santa Fe
Opera and Liceau Opera in Barcelona. Tyler
has also worked as a studio assistant for
artists Robin Frohardt and Duke Riley. When
not building medieval pageant wagons he
also freelances as an illustrator.
Nick Lehane (performer in film segments)
Select puppeteer credits: Robin Frohardt’s
The Pigeoning (HERE); Petrushka (Giants
Are Small, NY Philharmonic, Barbican
Centre); Islamic Solidarity Games
Opening Ceremonies (Baku, Azerbaijan);
Doug Fitch’s El Retablo de Maese Pedro
(American Symphony Orchestra, Bard
SummerScape); Little Red Fish (NYC
Children’s Theater/Puppet Kitchen);
Pip’s Island; James Ortiz’s The Little
Mermaid; “Lore” (Amazon). Select puppet
design: PigPen Theatre Co.’s The Tale of
Desperereaux (Old Globe, Berkley Rep) and
The Phantom Folktales (Virgin Atlantic);
Douglas Carter Beane and Lewis Flinn’s
Hood (Asolo Rep, dir. Mark Brokaw). Select
acting: This Is Our Youth (Broadway); The
Old Man and the Old Moon (PigPen); Fidelis
(The Public); The Electric Baby (Two River);
Set in the Living Room... (TRE). Lehane’s
puppet play Chimpanzee premiered at
HERE Arts Center through the Dream Music
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Puppetry Program and has toured to the
World Puppet Theater Festival (Charleville-
Mézières), Casteliers (Montreal), and the
London International Mime Festival at The
Barbican Centre.
Rowan Magee (performer in film segments)
is a puppeteer from Troy, NY and a curator
for the Object Movement Festival, a
winter residency and spring showcase of
experimental puppet artists in NYC. He has
puppeteered on international tours with
Phantom Limb Company, Robin Frohardt, Nick
Lehane, and Dan Hurlin, and in New York City
for American Opera Projects, Trusty Sidekick,
Chris Green, Spencer Lott, and the National
Theater in the 2018 Tony Award winning
Broadway revival of Angels in America. This
summer Rowan performed the reference
puppet for the titular character in the
upcoming feature Clifford the Big Red Dog, in
theaters fall 2020. He has designed puppets
for The Dalton School, St Mark’s School, and
Lincoln Center Education, received a Jim
Henson Foundation Grant for his marionette
show No 1 Chinese, and teaches for CO/LAB,
Marquis Studios, and Story Pirates.
Andy Manjuck (performer in film segments)
is a Brooklyn-based puppeteer, director, and
voiceover artist. Recent work: Puppetry:
Chimpanzee (Nick Lehane); The Pigeoning
(Robin Frohardt); Made in China; Baby
Universe; Saga (Wakka Wakka); UAE 48th
National Day (Betty Productions); Petrushka
(NY Philharmonic Orchestra, Giants Are
Small), VO: Adam Ruins Everything (TruTV);
Unavowed (Wadjet Eye Games); Whispers
of a Machine (Clitop Games); MooseTube
(GoNoodle). Andy is the co-artistic director
of the theater company Eat Drink Tell Your
Friends whose show, Lectures, recently had a
residency at the Jim Henson Carriage House.
He is also a company member of the awardwinning
Wakka Wakka. His new puppet
play, Bill’s 44th, a recipient of a Henson
Foundation Production Grant, is currently
in development. It is part of Puppet Lab at
St. Ann’s Warehouse this June, and will be
performed at the New York State Puppetry
Festival before premiering at Dixon Place this
October. Further information may be found at
andymanjuck.com
Emma Wiseman (performer in film segments)
is a multidisciplinary theatermaker with
a particular interest in puppets and
objects. She has been a resident artist
with Mabou Mines and the Puppet Lab at
St. Ann’s Warehouse, and her original and
collaborative works of performance have
been seen at venues including St. Ann’s
Warehouse, Dixon Place, the Chicago
International Puppet Theater Festival, Abrons
Arts Center, CATCH performance series, and
the INSITU Dance Festival. As a performer,
Emma has worked with David Neumann,
Jeanette Yew, Megan Murtha, Dan Hurlin, and
dance/music collective The Space We Make.
Emma has toured internationally with Robin
Frohardt’s The Pigeoning and Nick Lehane’s
Chimpanzee. She served as lead puppeteer
for the Emmy-nominated “Animated Life”, a
New York Times Op-Doc series created by
Sweet Fern Productions, and has worked on
puppet videos for the World Wildlife Fund,
singer-songwriter Nellen Dryden, and the
band Mipso. Further information may be
found at Emmawiseman.me
Pomegranate Arts (executive producer,
production management) For the past
twenty-three years, Pomegranate Arts has
worked in close collaboration with a small
group of contemporary artists and arts
institutions to bring bold and ambitious
artistic ideas to fruition. Founder and director
Linda Brumbach, along with managing
director, Alisa E. Regas produced the Olivier
Award-winning revival of Einstein on the
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Beach, the multi award-winning production
of Taylor Mac’s A 24-Decade History of
Popular Music, and the North American tour
of Phelim McDermott and Julian Crouch’s
Shockheaded Peter featuring The Tiger
Lillies. Since its inception, Pomegranate Arts
has produced over 30 major new performing
arts productions and tours for Philip Glass,
Laurie Anderson, Lucinda Childs, Dan Zanes,
London’s Improbable, Sankai Juku, Batsheva,
and Bassem Youssef and collaborated on
new productions with the Kronos Quartet,
Leonard Cohen, Robert Wilson, and Frank
Gehry. Pomegranate Arts hopes to continue
to build a community of institutions and
individuals that are inspired by the artists
who help bring beauty and truth into the
world, ask important questions, and take
bold risks. For more information please visit
pomegranatearts.com
Nathan Lemoine’s (production manager)
eclectic background has given him the
opportunity to work with numerous
independent and commercial artists,
theaters and dance companies across the
country and internationally. Some of those
companies, artists and venues include
Baryshnikov Productions, Lviv Theater
Voskresinnia, Dubrovnik Summer Festival,
Big Dance Theater, Young Jean Lee's Theater
Company, Frank Ocean, Christine Jones,
Mimi Lien, Bergdorf Goodman, Jeff Becker
and ArtSpot Productions, Rebecca Mwase,
Tina Satter and Half Straddle, Every House
Has A Door, and Susan Marshall, among many
others. Before moving to New Orleans, LA in
2016 he was the technical director at Paper
Mache Monkey Art and Design Studio in
New York. While there he was a lead project
manager working with a variety of renowned
clients from the worlds of dance, fashion,
theater, music, and visual arts. Nathan is
currently creating a new, NOLA based design
and fabrication startup called SuperGay
Design Workshop.
Brooklyn native Michelle Yard (company
manager) stands firmly on her Caribbean
foundation. Ms. Yard is a performing artist
and an arts administrator, happily navigating
between the two at any given time. Yard
was a member of the world-renowned Mark
Morris Dance Group, where she enjoyed an
illustrious twenty-year career performing
critically acclaimed dance works. After
leaving the company, she attended CUNY/
Baruch College and received an M.A. in
Arts Administration. She continues to
dance professionally, performing with both
Reggie Wilson/Fist and Heel Performance
Group and Vanessa Walters. Yard, serves
as company manager for Pomegranate Arts
projects, The Plastic Bag Store and Glass
Etudes, and The Blanket’s production of
Lucinda Childs' DANCE.
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THANK YOU TO SUPPORTERS OF THIS EVENING'S
PERFORMANCE
Co-Presented By
UNIVERSITY MUSICAL SOCIETY
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN MUSEUM
OF ART
GRAHAM SUSTAINABILITY INSTITUTE
In Association With
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN ARTS INITIATIVE
Title Sponsor
RACHEL BENDIT AND MARK BERNSTEIN
Principal Sponsors
An anonymous gift supporting programming in climate
change and a sustainable environment
Destination Ann Arbor
Oxford Companies
U-M College of Literature, Science, and the Arts
UMCU Arts Adventures Program
Max Wicha and Sheila Crowley
Supporting Sponsor
The Ilene H. Forsyth Theater Endowment Fund