Baby Universe Makes Big Bang in Limited Return Engagement

Photo courtesy of Coyle Entertainment

Note: I saw this show back in 2010 and thought it was one of the most interesting and creative productions I ever had seen. It's coming back for a special, limited, return engagement and wanted to be sure my readers knew about it.

-- Lauren Yarger

The award-winning theaer company Wakka Wakka will present a strictly-limited return engagement of the acclaimed Baby Universe (A Puppet Odyssey), written and directed by Kirjan Waage and Gwendolyn Warnock, featuring more than 30 expressive hand-and-rod puppets created by Waage.

Baby Universe will be presented for nine performances only -- from today through Sunday, Jan. 11 off Broadway at The Beckett Theatre, 410 West 42nd St., NYC.  Tickets, priced at $51.25, are available now via Telecharge.com (212-239-6200).

Summary:

Since time immemorial, humankind has spun tales of our own looming destruction.  In the face of the fear, hopelessness and desperation such tales elicit, we have told stories of salvation.  Stories of a messenger with superhuman powers offering deliverance.  Stories of love and hope. Baby Universe  is such a story . . .

Sometime in the future, a government program to save the population of an unnamed, dying planet in a dying universe is furiously underway.  The angry sun is in his final days; the planets are scorched and have abandoned hope; the few remaining souls live primarily in bunkers and have resorted to cannibalism.  Destruction looms imminent. But in a race against the clock, scientist-generated baby universes are being placed in the care of lonely spinsters in the hope that one might nurture to maturity a savior – a baby universe capable of birthing a planet that can support the relocation of the entire population.

In an original piece presented with over 30 puppets, five actors/puppeteers, masks, a Stephen Hawking inspired robot, animated video projection and a space-age score, Wakka Wakka spins the bizarre tale of Baby Universe – the ultimate savior, the last hope for deliverance, the messenger on whom the fate of an entire race rests.

Baby Universe had its world premiere in September 2010 at the Nordland Visual Theatre in Norway.  The US premiere was presented in an acclaimed 5-week engagement Off-Broadway at the Baruch Performing Arts Center which earned Wakka Wakka an Obie Award Grant and three Drama Desk Award nominations.  A subsequent 2013 run at the Studio Theatre in Washington DC was honored with a Helen Hayes Award nomination for Outstanding Visiting Performance.  Baby Universe  has since toured in the US, Europe and all over the world, from Cuba to China.

Schedule:

Thursday, Jan. 8 at 7 and 9:30 pm

Friday, Jan. 9 at 7 and 9:30 pm

Saturday, Jan. 10 at 2, 5 and 8 pm

Sunday, Jan. 11  at 2 and 5 pm 

The running time is 65 minutes, with no intermission. Tickets, are $51.25: Telecharge.com; (212-239-6200).. For more information: www.wakkawakka.org.