On Baby Universe
Wakka Wakka Productions, a New York City based visual theatre company, specializes in highly physical productions that overlap a range of styles—including grotesque, absurd, and clown—and incorporate elements such as puppetry, masks, and original music. The company has toured extensively in Scandinavia, China, and the UK and received the 2011 Obie Award Grant for Outstanding Work.
Baby Universe, Wakka Wakka’s magnetically whimsical puppet odyssey, was developed in association with Nordland Visual Theatre. Located in the arctic fishing community of Stamsund, the company is the leading developer of visual theatre in Norway, facilitating the creation of traditional puppet theatre, as well as works that draw from the visual arts, theatre, mime, dance and multimedia.
Nordland’s commitment to puppetry and innovation has led to an ongoing, fruitful collaboration with Wakka Wakka—the company also developed their 2008 piece Fabrik: The Legend of M. Rabinowitz while in residence at Stamstund. Gwendolyn Warnock, co-writer and co-director of Baby Universe, notes that puppetry allows performers to more effectively explore the theatricality of science by expanding the horizons of onstage possibilities. As she says, “I enjoy performing as a human being as well, but as a creator, writer, and director, we have more liberties using puppets. We’re not bound by [human] limitations. Characters can float or fly. It’s easier to make magic happen.”
About the Playwrights
Gwendolyn Warnock graduated from Northwestern University and from the two-year program at Ecole Internationale de Theatre Jacques Lecoq in Paris. She was seen in Mary Zimmerman’s production of The Magic Flute, and in Street Signs production of the Perjured City by Hélène Cixous. She also trained on the trapeze at the San Francisco School of Circus Arts and the Actors Gymnasium in Chicago. She has used her aerial skills in several productions including Romeo and Juliet, directed by Daniel Kramer, as Juliet (London, Beirut) and in Acts of Love as Salman Rushdie, which she adapted and directed. She also starred in the short film The Birdman directed by Italian filmmaker Raffaele Passerini. Warnock has created, performed in, designed costumes, and written original music for all of Wakka Wakka Productions’ past works.
Kirjan Waage was born in Haugesund, Norway. He graduated from the University of Bologna, Italy where he studied puppet theatre under Professor Remo Melloni and received a diploma from University of Bologna’s Theatre School CIMES. He then moved to Paris to complete the two year program and the Laboratory of Experimental Movement (LEM) at Ecole Internationale de Theatre Jacques Lecoq. Waage toured Ireland and France with the French Theatre Company La Filante in 2000. In 2001 he joined The Shakespeare Players along with fellow Wakka Wakka members to play Friar Laurence in Romeo and Juliet. The production played in London and Lebanon at the Al Bustan Arts Festival. Waage has created, performed in, designed, and constructed the puppets for all of Wakka Wakka Productions’ past works.