Petrushka Suite (2001) spins new magic around the legendary 1911 Ballets Russes production of Petrouchka, choreographed by Michel Fokine.  It tells of the tragic love triangle between three puppets: the clown Petrushka, the alluring Ballerina and the dashing Moor, whose stories emerge amidst the swirl of a Russian carnival.  Julia and Irina Elkina, Russian identical twin pianists, will perform an abridged two-piano version of Stravinsky's masterpiece Hidden puppeteers combine Czech and Japanese puppetry traditions in a tour de force of puppetry technique and previously unseen puppeteers step forward, revealing the detailed choreography involved in bringing these iconic characters to life.

“The brilliant puppeteer Basil Twist...whose theatrical imagination has made him one of the most beguiling artists working today”
- Gia Kourlis, The New York Times

"Brilliantly imagined, wonderfully expressive, and breathtakingly realized"
- New York Magazine

“At this moment, no theatre artist in New York is showing more poetic force or technical skill than the puppeteer Basil Twist”
- Joan Acocella

Basil Twist, originally from San Francisco, is a third generation puppeteer who lives and works in New York City and is the sole American graduate of the Ecole Superieure Nationale des Arts de la Marionnette in France. Original creations include The Araneidae Show, Symphonie Fantastique, Petrushka, Master Peter’s Puppet Show, Dogugaeshi and La Bella Dormente nel Bosco.  Since 1998, Twist has continually expanded the realm of puppetry by creating and touring new works that integrate live music and dance that have been performed all across the United States.  His work has been recognized with an OBIE Award, three UNIMA Awards for Excellence in Puppetry, two Bessie Awards, a New York Innovative Theatre Award and a Henry Hewes Design Award. Twist is the director of the Dream Music Puppetry Program at HERE.

* Denotes Company performing a work as a part of the 100th Anniversary celebration of the Ballets Russes