About This Show

Engine 37 presents the world premiere of Fatboy Romeo, a new piece of experimental puppet theater, as part of the 10th annual New York International Fringe Festival.

Fatboy Romeo employs puppets, projections, and live actors to tell a comic story of consumerism run amuck using excerpts of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. The famous star-crossed lovers collide with the seductive and strange images of modern advertising and contemporary life to create a satire of America’s culture of gluttony in all its flashing, dripping, hollering forms. Romeo becomes a pudgy, silent boy who eats nearly everything in sight, while Juliet is imagined as a vain, breast-enhanced mall rat; other characters given a modern spin include Tybalt as a ferocious man-cat action figure and Friar Lawrence as an aging hippie with an outrageous garden.

Adapter/director Neal Freeman and Puppet Designer Michael C. Malbrough worked together for 9 years at Baltimore’s Open Space Arts, creating and performing together in dozens of original puppet pieces. After both moving to the New York metro area independently in order to pursue their respective careers, they have recently rekindled their artistic partnership to create Fatboy Romeo.

Schedule

Tuesday, August 15, 7pm
Thursday, August 17, 4:45pm
Friday, August 18, 6:45pm
Tuesday, August 22, 5:45pm
Wednesday, August 23, 3pm

Show Details

Running Time: 0hr 45min (0 intermissions)
Dates: Opening Night: August 15, 2006 Final Performance: August 23, 2006