A wad of newsprint, a sweatshirt, a creature made from PVC pipe tubes.... Performance alchemist Liebe Wetzel and her ensemble release the sweet, sad, naive, and lustful beings inside"ordinary"objects. In the absence of language, her puppets speak universal truths.

Liebe Wetzel, Artistic Director, is the artist formerly known as Too Too Tomato, and has performed in a variety of incarnations including puppeteer, performance artist, mime, stilt walker, and clown at a staggering number of fairs, festivals, and theaters throughout the West Coast. She is a graduate of the Dell Arte School of Physical Theatre, and has trained with Keith Johnstone at the Loose Moose Theatre in Canada. She holds a BA in Biology and Biochemistry from Rice University. In 1999 Wetzel debuted her now award-winning style of ordinary object puppetry with a collection of vignettes for adults, Naked Foam and Objects in Predicaments, written and performed by Wetzel with the assistance of director Jeff Raz on comediturgy and the helping hands of a small ensemble of manipulators.

Since 2000, Wetzel and Lunatique Fantastique created and performed in several acclaimed productions, including"Snake in the Basement: The Prosecution of Rev. Bill Pruitt,""The Wrapping Paper Caper,"a holiday-themed show for children and adults,"Brace Yourself!,"and"My Dinner With Lunatique Fantastique."Her innovative work has won many awards including the S.F. Bay Guardian Goldie Award for best new theater talent, as well as Best of Fringe and Top Box Office Hit in the 2001 S.F. Fringe Festival. She has taught her unique puppetry style to teens in a residency program at Zeum, and to teen acting students at Cal Shakes' summer program. This holiday season, look for Another Wrapping Paper Caper at Zeum in December and January. For more information seewww.lunfan.com

Photo credit - Julie Feinstein

First appeared in People Like Me 2003