Basement Creatures is a live rock opera following the journey of a subterranean explorer, featuring a stellar live band, haunting choral voices, aerial dance, and puppetry peculiarities from the underworld.

• Performing: March 10 – 26, 2016
• @ In the Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theatre
• Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA

Basement Creatures will also professionally record and produce a Concept Album of Music from the show – available as a reward on this fundraising campaign!

Responses from audience members at the 2015 abridged version included:

• “Best thing I’ve seen all year!”
• “Fantastic show tonight. I loved it I loved it I loved it. Perfect entertainment.”
• “Absolutely amazing”
• “Davey T Steinman’s Basement Creatures at In the Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theatre is one of my favorite things I’ve seen in a long time.”

REPRODUCIR

Why?

The show originally premiered with only 3 abridged performances, with minimal rehearsal time and design elements as part of HOBT’s artist development fellowship Puppet Lab in March 2015. We received an overwhelmingly positive response and have been asked to remount an expanded version of the show for a 3-week run starting March 10th, 2016. We are excited to oblige and dive back into the Basement!

The Team

Cast:

• Charlotte Calvert – Performer / “Lonely Bedbug”
• Angie Courchaine – Performer / Aerialist / “Subterranean Explorer”
• Dan Dukich – Performer / Piano / Music Arranger
• Kalen Keir – Performer / Guitar / Saxophone / Music Arranger / “Centipede”
• Anna Johnson – Performer / “Silk Spider”
• Ben Peterson – Performer / Percussion
• Peter Lincoln Rusk – Performer / “Sun Professor”
• Davey T Steinman – Performer / “Basement Dweller”
• + More to be Announced!

Artistic Team:

• Dan Benoit – Video Projection Artist – Tall Rocks Media
• Merritt Benton – Recording Engineer
• Alex Hathaway – Mask Maker
• Anna Johnson – Puppet Builder
• Munir Khar – Printmaking Artist
• Eben Kowler – Choreographer
• Skyler Nowinski – Musician
• Søren Olsen – Lighting Artist
• Amy Taylor – Costume Artist
•  + More to be Announced!

Created by: Davey T Steinman and Company

Music by: Band of Basement Creatures

Script, Lyrics, and Direction by: Davey T Steinman

The Fundraiser

To make this all possible, we need your support in this fundraiser. The money you donate will go directly to emerging artists working on this production, and to pay for their talented work performing new music, adding scenes, and expanding design elements.

Funds are used to:

• Pay Incredible Performers for Rehearsal and Performance Time
• Pay a Brilliant Team of Local Artists and Designers who Create the Immersive Stage World
• Afford Rehearsal Expenses
• Record and Produce the Rock Opera Concept Album of Music

We need the funds from this campaign so that on opening night we can share with you an awesome performance. Ticket sales alone do not cover the expenses of the budget.

Words from the Writer/Director

A central inspiration for this production is my real life basement dwelling below a hundred year old house on Powderhorn Park in Minneapolis. It’s just down the street from the theatre where we will perform.

I started writing the script and music for Basement Creatures last winter. Wintertime in Minnesota is cold and dark when the nights are long – especially in the Basement. And amid that darkness there’s a drive to connect with others, even when it’s challenging. Within the spectacle and rock ’n’ roll there are sincere characters who want friendship and love – characters who need to feed themselves and struggle to find the beauty in life underground. That’s what I see in the characters in the show, and what I see in the real world around me. There’s a longing to connect with other people in meaningful ways, especially when we live in harsh environments. That’s what this rock opera is filled with, and that’s why we’re reaching out to you, our community to help support the production.

from the underground,

~ Davey