Composer Avner Finberg & director/librettist Edward Einhorn's Exagoge, presented by UTC61, is an immersive opera, play and seder (yes, really -- the audience got to take part in the Passover ritual during the show). It's based on the oldest known Jewish play, written in Alexandria in the second century BCE by Ezekiel the Tragedian, which tells the biblical story of the Exodus from Egypt. Evolve created four puppets for this production, created to look like angular sand sculptures with fire burning within them (courtesy of LED lighting units created and programmed by Jim Freeman).


Evolve's two-foot-tall Phoenix puppet, here being operated by puppeteer Parker Sera, has two axes of head movement, flexing feet and flapping wings as well as the flickering LED fire effect inside its strongly sculpted body and its transparent thermoplastic flames. Photo by Edward Einhorn.



Puppeteers Rebecca Jay Caplan and Yanniv Frank manipulate the Phoenix to interact with the Messenger (soprano Tharanga Goonetilleke). The Phoenix was usually operated by two puppeteers for maximum movement. Photo by Richard Termine.



Puppeteers swiftly slither Evolve's flexible snake puppet across the rehearsal room floor. Its body is made of translucent fabric filled with flickering LEDs. Photo by Tanya Khordoc.



The snake's sculptured and sand-textured head. Photo by Tanya Khordoc.





This sacrificial lamb was a static prop that rotated on a spit, created by Evolve in the same style as the other puppets. Puppeteers are Yanniv Frank and Rebecca Jay Caplan; actors Maxwell Zener and Hershel Blatt are in the background. First photo by Barry Weil; second photo by Richard Termine.



The finale of the show featured a giant flying version of the Phoenix, a new contender for the largest puppet we've ever built. We designed it to be as light as possible, and to be operated by four puppeteers who supported the puppet, moved its wings and turned its head. Actor Maxwell Zener (back L) and singers (front L-R) Matthew Curran, Tharanga Goonetilleke and James Rodgers accompany the giant puppet. Thanks to Federico Restrepo for his striking lighting design! Photo by Richard Termine.



Barry & Tanya pose with their enormous creation.