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Drunken Half Angel is a selection of  short solo puppet and mask theater performances ranging from the grotesque, to the comical, and then poignant. Inventive, innovative, unusual, and occasionally profound.Accompanied by the magical and sublime original music of Jude Mathews, Musical Director of Theatre Zarko.

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Michael Montenegro is artistic director of Theatre Zarko which has presented for Chicago audiences original puppet theater plays such as: He Who, Haff (The Man), Sublime Beauty of Hands, Klown Kantos, and Iktu Blas.For over twenty years, puppet artist Michael Montenegro has been developing his unique style of puppet and mask theater in the Chicago community both as a solo artist and as a collaborator with different theater groups.  Commissioned projects include: Argonautica with Lookingglass Theatre, directed by Mary Zimmerman, The War With the Newts and The Long Christmas Ride Home with Next Theatre , and The Puppetmaster of Lodz with Writer’s Theatre which garnered a Jeff Award for Puppet Design. In 2016 Michael Montenegro collaborated with Blair Thomas, Greg Allen, Michael Zerang, and Michael Smith on Blair Thomas & Co.’s production of Moby Dick at the Museum of contemporary Art, Chicago. And this production was restaged for the International Puppet Festival in Charleville-Mezieres, France in 2017. Michael presented Kick The Klown in the Chicago International Puppet Festival 2017 in collaboration with director Greg Allen.

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Jude Mathews trained as a classical pianist, playing in chamber music ensembles and Klezmer, Balkan, and barn dance bands. More recently, she studied interdisciplinary arts, songwriting, and composition at Columbia College and Northeastern University. She has composed and performed for Perceptual Motion Dance Company, Access Contemporary Music, and at various interdisciplinary events around the Midwest. Jude has been Music Director and Composer for Theatre Zarko since 2000, working in collaboration with Michael Montenegro to develop the sound elements of the theatre’s work.