Mortal Beasts & Deities
Joyous purveyors of Earnest Frivolity, Felicitous Discord and Controlled Mayhem

It is Thanksgiving 2009, but Geppetto is grateful everyday for MB&D’s wonderfully generous and talented performers, friends and supporters. Without them the Mortal Beasts & Deities would be just a twinkle in Geppetto’s eye.

The cast and crew in the shows this year hailed from Connecticut, New York, Florida and Vermont, but the core group hailed from western Massachusetts this year. There must be something in the water up there that nourishes crazies.

MB&D’s cast and crew members take days out of their busy lives to prepare for shows and then to travel all over the map to them. And then they give their all performing. And they suffer a great deal of wear and tear on their bodies doing it. And they usually do it for little more than the cost of travel, often for less, and sometimes they do it for no money at all.

A few of these creative people provide a stream of ideas, some of which are directly responsible for MB&D’s continued growth and success. They are problem solvers with solutions that help make the show go on, beautifully.

And there are trades people and business people and crafts people and family and friends who donate money or services, or offer discounts, or barter. They offer the endless support Geppetto and the troupe needs everyday.

Some say ‘the universe provides.’ Geppetto is constantly reminded that his universe consists of these good people, and this year Geppetto owes special thanks to so many!

THANK YOU…..

David, troupe lieutenant, for your many enthusiastic over-the-top performances, for your frequent hoisting of Geppetto’s bootstraps, for that butt that sticks out all the way into whichever county is behind you when you’re on stilts, for all the troupe chauffeuring up and down the east coast and around the northeast, for your invaluable and incessant problem solving, for your financial assistance which you so selflessly call investments, for your ideas and solutions and taking charge of making sure the show goes on, for the day jobs for Geppetto when they’re lacking, but without a doubt, by far, mostly Geppetto thanks you for your faith, love and friendship.

Robin, troupe lieutenant, for educating Geppetto on professional dance and theater perspectives, for your bravery, fortitude and honesty in taking many roles, for your assistance with choreography, for your feedback on costume design, for your gratis graphic design work on MB&D’s first professional grade business cards, for generally raising the bar of professionalism for me and MB&D’s other performers, for your encouragement and telephone therapy with Geppetto’s through frequently needed debriefings and decompression sessions, and for your delightful performances and uncomplaining perseverance, your cool ideas, and your friendship and kindness.

Maya, for your spiritual abundance and maximum showiness in performance, almost always carried under pressures of personal, physical, emotional and financial distress.

Erin and Gwendolyn, for your courage and flexibility and sparklingly-positive-whatever-you-need attitudes as delightfully graceful newbie MB&D troupers

Daniel, for being an extraordinarily fast learner, for your gung-ho approach to newbie performance, for your extremely enthusiastic and positive yet grounded and humble attitude, and for your showy magnetism and pizazz.

Keith, for your heartfelt performances as a newbie this year, for your cameo roles as Gabriel and Satyr and Stilt Drummer, and for your intrepid work traveling to all corners of this dangerous world seeking justice for the victims of greed and power, doing alone what Geppetto’s conscience tells him we should all be doing to make this world a better place. www.allthingspass.org

Max, for your steadfast playful performances, your astute observations, and also for sticking with it for so many years contributing to and maintaining MB&D’s youthful enthusiasm..

Eliot and Louise, for your sincere friendship, for the hometown venue, the music, and for your frequent advice and support at home and abroad.

Randy, Amy, Annilee and Teddie, for your stilting enthusiasm and youth, your donations of cool costumes and cool stuff, and for your encouraging words that frequently arrive just in the nick of time.

Jim B, for your 45 years of friendship, for finding day work for Geppetto, and for your cautious but supportive enthusiasm as a performer, and for your expert work as ground crew, and for your support in so many ways, including your unsolicited donation of a truckload of firewood just as the weather turned cold.

Erik, for your skillful and delightful stilt dancing, your showmanship, your blind faith in Geppetto and MB&D, and for bringing Dan on board as our unexpectedly solo sherpa in NYC.

Lita, for quitting your day job and coming out of hiding to pursue your creative endeavors, and for climbing back up to rejoin MB&D after being away for far too long.

Handsome Chuck, for the music, and for inviting MB&D to join the artistic bohemia of ENSMB and the Boston Circus Guild.

Grant, for helping MB&D feel welcome in Boston.

Ezzell and Moti, for your creativity and superior artistic talents and ceaseless input, and for providing Geppetto with significant managerial lessons.

Liz, for that extra tall glamorous kiss on Mass Ave.

Tanny, for the lead back to Geppetto’s old stomping grounds on Cape Ann.

Laura and Benedicta, for the challenge and inspiration and deep lessons, and for the clown license.

Zeke and Karyn, for your friendship, shared meals and parties, and also for lodging troupers at your home in Virginia.

Kelly A and Kyler and Cormac, for helping MB&D give back to the hometown community at Music Mountain.

Anne, for getting into Phoebe, and for sewing several pairs of new stilt pants.

Lisa G, for friendship and support, and storage, and costuming ideas and donations, and for buying one of Geppetto’s 30 year old paintings to help keep the troupe trouping and its show showing.

Trish, for your immeasurable support and best friend soul searching, and for caring for Sadie occasional weekends, and also for your hard work as ground person at HONK!

Vicki and Peter, for your friendship, support and larder gleanings.

Irene, for offering your house to performers, and for introducing me to Margaret.

Jeff and Emily, for taking MB&D to new heights at Project Troubador Grove Festival.

LitchfieldBancorp, for patience.

Skull, for encouragement and perseverance.

Steve and Kenny, for expertly keeping the troupe carrier going for 330,000 miles at discount rates with affordable used parts, and for being willing to carry a balance due to questionably credit worthy Geppetto.

Paul and Jim, for being the computer techies keeping Geppetto in touch with the world

Margaret, for donating so many yards of upholstery fabric, delivered with a smile.

Marta, for donations of costume materials, for that enthusiastic little windshield note in NYC, and for your friendship.

Rick, for your brotherly love and support and encouragement and tall twin games.

Matt, for talented web design work and tech support at all hours on unreasonable deadlines, because MB&D looks good to the world mostly because of you alexandersitedesign.com and also for your grounding perspective on what is really important in life, and for taking your own initiative setting up facebook accounts in spite of Geppetto’s doubts, and for your love and abundant promise.

James, for your jokes and charm, and for your humbling lessons, and for your huge promise for the future.

Dave and Diane, for the friendship and wine and bread and meals, your help with Sadie, and for the lodging in southwestern CT.

Kelly, for your beautifully wholesome goodness, for pushing Geppetto into reengaging with contra, and for your sexy tallness and positive enthusiasm.

Kathy G, for your rare and enviable talent that always highlights for Geppetto just why we need to keep paddling against the current, and for the meals, and for the warm bed in Providence.

Mom and Dad, for your patience about that trip to Paris, and for your unsolicited wisdom, and for just about everything else.

Mary, for the friendship, for the day jobs north and south, and for the wireless internet service with dedicated electrical outlets nearby, and for the meals and spirits north and south, and for graciously lending your cottage to lodge several puppeteers and stilt dancers traveling through PG, and for the lodging on the water in FL.

Rebecca, for your friendship, for your obstinate assistance in setting goals and push to raise the expectation bar higher, and for the meals and parties, and for the place to stay in Jacksonville.

Megan, for the sisterly love and late night conversations, and for the room and board in south FL.

Michael and Sandy, for lending beds to Geppetto and crew in Somerville.

Gloria, for the day jobs north and south, and for lodging several troupers in Baltimore.

Richard S, for risking your professional career and ardently staying with us as ground crew and photographer at Lincoln Memorial, even as DC’s national police bore down upon MB&D’s doves and hawk

Dave and Joan McC, for all those day jobs that filled the pantry and gas tank this year.

Pat Mathatter, for several great ‘MB&D in NYC’ photos.

Dan Z, for the couch in North Carolina, and for your peculiar perspective on our place in the world, even if you don’t seem to think much about those things in those terms for yourself.

Willie and Izzie, for your knowledge and talents with metal working, and for your understanding that artists sometimes require creative help in tight time frames and tighter budgets.

Sandy, Brian, Andrew and Pete, for friendship, support, parts and paint.

Carl, for the day jobs, and for the cultural infusions of recitations of Auden, Shakespeare, Melville, Dylan Thomas and excerpts of academic studies of the classics, and for all those loaned books as homework, and for the inspiration of seeing you out skiing well into your 90’s whenever conditions are right.

Norma, for running the best bookstore in Falls Village.

Jano, for your peaceful and seamlessly synchronistic and sentient encouragement every time Geppetto runs into you in town.

Joe, Jessica and Pat, for the coffee and toasted everything bagels with cream cheese, and cheerful smiles, and for providing an office infused with an abundance of friendly local camaraderie.

Willie, for your faith in MB&D and the nativity.

Dick, for your friendship and spiritual guidance, and for sharing your contacts in Salisbury and Norfolk, and for your absolute belief in and encouragement of the grace and beauty and goodwill of MB&D.

Marty and Sue, Bill and Sue, Dave and Diane, Gina and Zeke and Karin, Donald, Pete, Hailey, Lisa, Lita, Mark and Linda, Clarence and Sandy and Brian, Mary, Ken and Billy, Betty, Dick, David, Mom, Megan, Robin, Willie, Kathy, Dave, Carrie and Laura, Sam, Jeff and Ed and Jill, Linda, Richard, Rebecca, Sharon, Doug, Tanny, Judy, Steve, Norma, Rick, Ruckus, Helen, all at Sand Road, Karen, Joy and Melanie, Kenny, Trish, Matt, Joe, Val and Carl and Geoff, and Eliot, and so many more… for your kind support and sincere condolences through the loss of Sadie.

If you were inadvertently left off this list, please accept apologies and just write your own name here______________________ .

You know who you are.

You know Geppetto is grateful and deeply appreciates what a gift you each are, and you know he’s already looking forward to sharing future seasons with you!