The Pedaler’s Wager

In 2011 I was the Artistic Producer at Clay & Paper Theatre, an internship funded by the Metcalf Foundation. The Pedaler’s Wager was our big summer show, the culmination of 3 years work developing the “Cycling Oriented Puppet Squad.” I co-wrote, designed & directed this musical show in several versions. We did it mostly in Dufferin Grove Park (downtown Toronto), but we also did a mobile version of the show, wherein we did Acts 2 and 3 in different parks, cycling the scenery & puppets to our new locations with bike trailers. It was a massive undertaking, developing the show from scratch and presenting it for 4 weeks in various outdoor conditions. According with the mandate of Clay & Paper Theatre, we built and presented the show with a great deal of help from volunteer community members, in full public view in Dufferin Grove Park, a practise known as community-engaged theatre. Here are some images from that process.

Designs: these are very plain designs, as the whole process was experimental and somewhat on-the-fly. These drawings served to guide our development.

Photos from community workshops building the puppets & scenery, and rehearsals with our talented cast:

Photos from the show itself: