Artist and student rabbi Hadar Ahuvia, veteran puppeteer Rowan Magee, and guest collaborators from the world of music, opera, and theater, create object theater works for Jewish ritual and education.

Hagar and Sarah

Rosh Hashanah 5781 / 2020

Created by Rowan Magee and Hadar Ahuvia, with music and sound Design by Anat Spiegel.

Inspired by Tikva Frymer-Kensky, Delores S. Williams, and Wilda C. Gafney, Hagar and Sarah reweaves the matriarchal narrative, inviting audiences into the intimate space of hand and heart work, and asks what futures futures we intend to sew.

Jonah

Yom Kippur 5778/ 2017

Created by Hadar Ahuvia, Rowan Magee, and Emma Wiseman, with puppet construction by Rae Stimson

Jonah, in Hebrew Yonah means dove. Just as the reluctant prophet transforms so does the his puppet: His face becomes a dove. His body becomes the boat and then the ocean in which he seeks concealment. The giant fish that consumes him engulfs the audience too, inviting them into his internal reckoning.

Goat’s Work

Yom Kippur 5777/ October 2016

By Hadar Ahuvia, Rowan Magee and Nick Lehane

Goat’s Works sheds light on ancient ritual of atonement- literally. Light shines on an overhead projector betweens the text of VaYikra 16. Shadow puppetry animates rabbinic world play. Text turns to image accompanied by traditional music from Mizrahi and Ashkenazi lineages. Giant Hebrew letters circulate in the congregation to hold the weight of our reckoning. The letters reassemble to become the goat that escapes to a mysterious wildness. Goat’s work offers a window into the catharsis of the ancient practice, without asking any goat to labor for us.