Frankenstein (Mortal Toys), 2007

Frankenstein (Mortal Toys)
A Project of Automata

(2004-8)

Directed and Designed by Janie Geiser and Susan Simpson

Frankenstein  (Mortal Toys), directed and designed by Janie Geiser and Susan Simpson, is a full-length miniature theater performance, based in the tradition of 19th Century Toy Theater. Written by acclaimed playwright Erik Ehn, Frankenstein (Mortal Toys) is based on Mary Shelley’s evocative novel, and explores the nature of human existence and of life itself, in an age of great scientific discovery.  It is a tale of uncountable dilemmas, wrought through the wondrous and terrifying creation of an unnatural body.  In Erik Ehn’s distilled adaptation, the haunted journey of Victor Frankenstein and his startling emotional monster is played out in a landscape of longing.  From the menacing beauty of the glacial Northern seas, to the lakes and meadows of the ancient Alps, the scientist is confronted with his own loneliness and anger, and the rage of his alienated, artificial living being.  Frankenstein (Mortal Toys) is performed within a miniature proscenium frame, using puppets based on 18th Century American portrait paintings, and lushly painted scenic elements inspired by Romantic era landscape painting.  Originally written by Ehn for Noh Theater, this puppet production retains elements of Noh influence in the design of the stage, and in the use of a Noh “young man’s mask” for the character of Frankenstein’s constructed man.

Frankenstein  (Mortal Toys) features Severin Behnen’s live music for accordion, organ, and toy piano.  Performers include Chris Payne, Dana Wilson, Eli Presser, Sarah Brown, Susan Simpson, and Janie Geiser.  Lighting Design is by and Jeanette Yew, John Eckert, and Shannon Scrofano.  Shadow puppets were created by Leah Chun.

Automata, located in Los Angeles, California, is an organization committed to the creation, presentation, and preservation of puppet and object theater, experimental film, pre-cinematic attractions, and other lost and neglected forms. Formed in 2004 by artists Susan Simpson and Janie Geiser, Automata presents intimate performances of original work, film screenings of contemporary and historical work, lectures, and exhibitions in a variety of public and private spaces in the Los Angeles area.

Automata presented the premiere performances of Frankenstein (Mortal Toys) at the Velaslavasay Panorama in Los Angeles in October 2006.


Toy Theatre was a popular parlor or home entertainment in Europe and America in the 19th Century.  The first “toy theatre” or miniature proscenium theater with cutout figures, was made in England in 1811, around the same time that Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein appeared.  These early Toy Theatres were miniature replicas of actual theaters and plays performed on the stage. With their condensed scripts and cardboard actors, they, were performed in homes  for friends and family. Both Shelley's novel and this unique theater form reflected shifts in technology, and their consequent effect. The Toy Theater was made possible by the advent new printing techniques that made printing much less expensive, and thus the dissemination of these penny sheets with printed figures, sets , and stages.