Why we make theatre for family audiences
The Gottabees started making super fun theater for families in 2013. They regularly sell out venues, inhabit computer screens, and inspire homemade puppet shows throughout the US, Canada, and beyond. They aim to inspire community, connection, and autonomy by providing an outlet for families to giggle, gasp, sigh, and cheer in forty-five minutes or less. The Gottabees' stories reflect children's everyday aspirations, concerns, and emotional experiences.
We want children to know in their hearts that they, too, can make theater wherever they are and whomever they are.
The Gottabees’ work has been performed in 18 states, 5 countries, for over 43,000 people and was awarded an UNIMA-USA Citation of Excellence. Their projects have been funded by the Jim Henson Foundation, Puppeteers of America, USArtists International, Boston Cultural Council, and the Boston Foundation.
We want children to know in their hearts that they, too, can make theater wherever they are and whomever they are.
The Gottabees’ work has been performed in 18 states, 5 countries, for over 43,000 people and was awarded an UNIMA-USA Citation of Excellence. Their projects have been funded by the Jim Henson Foundation, Puppeteers of America, USArtists International, Boston Cultural Council, and the Boston Foundation.
About Bonnie
Bonnie Duncan (lead artist) is a Boston-based theater maker. She creates work grounded in joy, truth, and magic and invites audiences to imagine themselves as creators of their own world. She has been entertaining audiences of 5 to 5000 people, from Bangalore to Kalamazoo, as a dancer, acrobat, costume designer, and puppeteer, as a solo artist and in touring companies for the last 22 years, most notably with Snappy Dance Theater and They Gotta Be Secret Agents.
She has studied with Paul Zaloom, Martin P. Robinson, and Alice Gottschalk to name a few. Her movement was called both “breathtakingly simple” and “delightfully crafty” by the Boston Globe. She has acted as an advising collaborator on projects by Jenna Pollack, The Winsor School, Jenelle Weidlich, University of Connecticut MFA students, and Meridian Academy.
Bonnie has been a Teaching Artist since 1999, working in a variety of educational settings, integrating drama and movement into language arts and social studies classrooms. Bonnie has led Artist-in-Residency programs with five to fifteen year olds, bringing books and historical moments to life and creating original student-created productions. She also developed the curriculum and taught theatre arts at a Montessori elementary and middle school for 12 years.
The Gottabees' newest collaboration, Play for Change, with Little Uprisings (Tanya Nixon-Silberg) focuses on using play to talk about power, joy and liberation and she is thrilled that all aspects of her professional life are merging together in this project.
She is also mother to three children who are growing up a bit too quickly.
She has studied with Paul Zaloom, Martin P. Robinson, and Alice Gottschalk to name a few. Her movement was called both “breathtakingly simple” and “delightfully crafty” by the Boston Globe. She has acted as an advising collaborator on projects by Jenna Pollack, The Winsor School, Jenelle Weidlich, University of Connecticut MFA students, and Meridian Academy.
Bonnie has been a Teaching Artist since 1999, working in a variety of educational settings, integrating drama and movement into language arts and social studies classrooms. Bonnie has led Artist-in-Residency programs with five to fifteen year olds, bringing books and historical moments to life and creating original student-created productions. She also developed the curriculum and taught theatre arts at a Montessori elementary and middle school for 12 years.
The Gottabees' newest collaboration, Play for Change, with Little Uprisings (Tanya Nixon-Silberg) focuses on using play to talk about power, joy and liberation and she is thrilled that all aspects of her professional life are merging together in this project.
She is also mother to three children who are growing up a bit too quickly.
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Collaborators
Brendan Burns (music) is a musician who loves community, education, and culture. He makes music for media, teach guitar, and produce BIG events. Brendan is a founding member of the music & puppetry troupe: Elephant Tango Ensemble (nominated for an IRNE) and former director of the house band for Bent Wit Cabaret.
Tony Leva (music) is a multi-disciplinary artist & educator in Cambridge, MA. Most comfortable on upright bass, Anthony is known for his playful, responsive and supportive bass lines. He has recorded on over 30 albums to date and regularly performs with the UNIMA Award winning puppetry troupe the Gottabees, as well as the Dylan Jack Quartet, Charlie Kohlhase’s Explorer’s Club, Eric Hofbauer, and the Singer Mali Trio. He is currently on faculty at the Longy School and over the last 15 years he has had the great fortune to perform and tour throughout the USA, Canada, Europe and India. Anthony is the community music director for Tunefoolery, a non-profit dedicated to a unique and courageous community of musicians in mental health recovery.
Dan Milstein (director/Bonnie's husband) is the founding Artistic Director of Boston’s Rough & Tumble Theater with whom he made over thirteen original plays and was a Critic’s Pick for Best Fringe Theater multiple years running. Titles include Archimedes Abercrombie Makes a Movie, The Silent Movie Play, George K Goes to Work, and Ocean of Air. He has directed all of The Gottabees’s shows and holds fast to his quixotic belief that theater should be cheap, fun, and deeply satisfying.
Penney Pinette (costumes) grew up in the untamed woods of Maine where she spent hours studying the shapes and colors in nature. Creating clothes for leading ladies, starlets, ingénues, and dancers yielded an understanding of how to make flattering forms functional. As a Boston-based designer focusing in dance and theatre, she enjoyed employment as a draper for Huntington Theatre Company, supervised the costume shop at Tufts University, and is currently Boston University’s Costume Shop Manager. In addition to designing, she teaches at Boston University where she graduated with an MFA in Costume Design. Some of her work has been with New Repertory Theatre, Boston Conservatory, Prometheus Dance, Contrapose Dance, Cary McKinley, and Fort Point Theater Productions.
Tanya Nixon-Silberg (Play for Change lead collaborator) is a Black mother, educator, artist, and radical dreamer. Her work exists at the intersection of all these identities. Called a "translator", Tanya has the ability to distill concepts of racial justice to young children. She has been doing this work for over 7 years as co-founder of Wee the People and founder of Little Uprisings. Beyond her artistry as a translator, Tanya is a puppeteer and recently created “My Night at the Planetarium” and “Feeling Good = Feeling Black = Feeling Free.” Tanya has worked with the MFA, Boston Public Schools, Puppet Showplace Theater, Eliot School of Applied and Fine Art, ICA/Boston, and Boston Public Library to name a few. Tanya was just named part of the Arts and Business Council’s 2021 Creative Entrepreneur Fellowship.
Harrison Pearse Burke (lights) is a Chicago-based Lighting Designer and Production Manager. While he was the Production Manager at the Yard, Harrison designed for Rosie Herrera, LMN03, Ragamala, Ruth Childs, Raphael Xavier, Caleb Teicher, and their own company, DanceTheYard. He has been the Assistant Lighting Director of the Boston Ballet and the Dance Production Manager of the Celebrity Series of Boston. He is currently the Director of Production for Hubbard Street Dance. Harrison is a graduate of the Boston University School of Design & Production, BFA in Lighting Design, Magna Cum Laude.
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Marte Johanne Ekhougen (puppets/set for Go Home Tiny Monster) is a Norwegian artist living in New York. Marte also operates under the pseudonym Doctor Superhelga. She has designed for theater in Norway, UK and the US. Most notably she designed the original puppets for Robert Atkins’ Tony-nominated Hand To God on Broadway and West End, London.
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Hamideh Rezaei-Kamalabad (Squirrel Stole My Underpants set) is a jewelry maker who sometimes dabbles in theater when asked. She is a graduate of Massachusetts College of Art and works as a fabricator for local jewelers. She is currently working on a new line of her own art jewelry.
Brett Bundock (Lollipops for Breakfast set) has designed sets for Mill 6 Collaborative, Rough & Tumble Theater, and Suffolk University, among others. Brett is also a freelance industrial show carpenter for companies such as Ford, Kawasaki, and Mercedes. He currently lives with his family in Vermont.
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Kristine Cortese (Lollipops for Breakfast set painting) studied Fine Art Painting at Pasadena Art Center, Mass College of Art, and Cooper Union, NYC. She worked as a scenic painter around the Boston area before opening up City Feed and Supply, two neighborhood cafe/deli/natural foods stores in Jamaica Plain with her husband, which now, takes up most of her time.
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