JANE CATHERINE SHAW THE LONE RUNNER: THE MYTHICAL LIFE JOURNEY OF NIKOLA TESLA Thursday, November  4 - 8:00 pm Friday, November 5 - 9:30 pm Saturday, November 6 - 8:00 pm Sunday, November 7 - 3:00 pm

THE LONE RUNNER THE LONE RUNNER is a puppetry and mixed media piece that follows the life of Nikola Tesla. An inventor contemporary with Thomas Edison, Nikola Tesla's inventions and research did much to advance the use of electricity and associated sciences at the turn of the century. However, he is largely unknown by most-though he has a passionate, almost cultist following among a select few. The point of departure for this piece was a short sentence that read, in part; "An eccentric inventor who had a platonic love relationship with a white pigeon." Further research revealed a man endowed with great genius, intuition, torturous obsessions and phobias and a drive to secure his place in history. Feted and adored by celebrities as a young man, he died penniless and unknown. His great love was indeed, a white pigeon. JANE CATHERINE SHAW– Creator, Director Jane Catherine Shaw began working with puppetry in 1986 in Atlanta, Georgia at the Center for Puppetry Arts. She curated the Center's XPT workshops, co-authored its mainstage production DINOSAURS, and created works for the Center's museum theatre. As part of La Mama Theatre, Ms. Shaw traveled to Turkey to create YOUTH WITHOUT AGE, LIFE WITHOUT DEATH, which featured various puppet styles and scales. Ms. Shaw began working with Lee Breuer, Mabou Mines, during his production of EPIDOG, and has continued with PETER AND WENDY, ECCO PORCO, and obie award winning DOLLHOUSE. She also works frequently with Theodora Skipitares on her many productions, from puppet construction to performance. Recently she traveled to India with Theodora Skipitares and Ellen Stewart to participate in a Puppetry Festival in Delhi. THE LONE RUNNER, premiered at La MaMa in 1999, by invitation of Ellen Stewart, its founder. Ms Shaw's most recent work, BED OF LIGHT, features various styles of puppetry and other media in an exploration of recurring dream imagery from anonymous sources worldwide. BED OF LIGHT was developed through the Arts at St. Ann’s Puppet Lab. Currently, she is developing a new piece through the Mabou Mines Resident Artist Program and with a grant from the Henson Foundation. This piece, UNIVERSE EXPANDING, will premiere at La MaMa in June of 2005.