"Crankies" Come to NYC Ahead of World Puppetry Day

Press release

Flushing, New York — From February 28 to March 2, Flushing Town Hall invites audiences to experience the magic of Crankies Take New York!, a festival celebrating the centuries-old art of hand-cranked storytelling. Prepare to be captivated as intricate scrolls slowly unspool before your eyes, transforming storytelling into a mesmerizing visual journey.

A crankie is a simple, yet enchanting form of storytelling – an illustrated scroll wound inside a box and “cranked” by hand to reveal a moving panorama. With roots dating back hundreds of years and ties to the 19th-century moving panoramas, crankies create an immersive experience, blending visual art, music, and narrative to transport audiences into new worlds. In an age dominated by digital screens, this tactile, intimate art form offers a refreshing and awe-inspiring alternative.

“We are so delighted to bring back Crankies Take New York! for another incredible year at Flushing Town Hall,” says Ellen Kodadek, Executive & Artistic Director of Flushing Town Hall. “This festival celebrates the timeless power of storytelling, combining traditional techniques with contemporary creativity. Whether you’re new to crankies or a longtime fan, you’ll be transported by the artistry these performances inspire.”

Festival Schedule:

Friday, February 28 | 7:30 PM Public Performance
A dazzling lineup of artists and musicians presenting a variety of crankie performances.
Tickets: $20 Adults / $15 Members, Seniors, & Students w/ID
While the content is family-friendly, this performance is geared toward adults.
Saturday, March 1
1:00 PM Crankie Workshop: A hands-on, family-friendly session where participants can create their own mini crankies.
Tickets: FREE for Members with a Performance Ticket / $5 for all others.
2:00 PM Kids & Family Performance + Q&A: A tailored performance for younger audiences with a smaller cast.
Tickets: $15 Adults / $12 Members / $8 Children
7:30 PM Public Performance: A dazzling lineup of artists and musicians presenting a variety of crankie performances.
Tickets: $20 Adults / $15 Members, Seniors, & Students w/ID
While the content is family-friendly, this performance is geared toward adults.
Sunday, March 2 | 2:00 PM Master Class with Katherine Fahey
A deep dive into the art of crankie-making with artist Katherine Fahey.
Participants will create their own miniature crankie using a matchbox as a storytelling canvas.
Tickets: $30 Adults / $25 Members (Adults only).

Curated by Josh Kohn, Associate Director of the Center for Cultural Vibrancy, and Emily Schubert, a multidisciplinary artist with a background in puppetry and performance, Crankies Take New York! builds on the success of Baltimore’s beloved annual Crankie Festival.

Audiences can expect stunning visuals, live music, and “all sorts of surprises,” says Kohn. “If you love puppetry, storytelling, visual art, and all the things that are awesome, then you will love this show.”

This event series is generously sponsored by Lake Placid Center for the Arts.

Tickets for all events are available now at https://www.flushingtownhall.o....

About the Artists at Crankies Take New York!:

Emily Schubert
Crankies Take New York co-curator and host Emily Schubert is a puppeteer, crankie maker, storyteller and mixed media artist, currently based in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont. She has participated in puppet theater festivals and workshops in Europe, Indonesia, and the United States including performing at the Letni Letna Festival (2014) in Prague with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra (2022), at the National Puppetry Festival (2018), National Puppet Slam (2016), and New Orleans Giant Puppet Festival (2022-23). She is also the curator and organizer of the Baltimore Crankie Festival and has hosted many a "puppet slam" including her self-produced Experimental Puppet Happenings (2022-2023). Emily is enthralled by the emotive power and depth of expression achieved through puppetry and storytelling and she believes that within these realms lies a source of powerful real-life magic that is deficient in much of our daily lives.

The Lantern Sisters
The Lantern Sisters are a collaborative duo composed of Baltimore-based multidisciplinary artists Katherine Fahey and Dan Van Allen. They make performances and tell stories through the arts of shadow puppetry, papercutting, and crankies. The stories and songs they perform often root themselves in folk tale traditions, both regionally and from around the world. Katherine has inspired a world-wide tradition of crankies and her work, done with impeccable hand-cut details, draws audiences deeply into the performances.

Phoebe Potts
Phoebe Potts is a comedic storyteller, graphic artist and professional Jew. Her show “Too Fat for China” has sold out the Suffolk’s Modern Theatre in Boston, The Den Theatre in Chicago, the Gloucester Stage Company and a three-week run at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, where it received rave reviews from The Scotsman. “Too Fat for China” is the sequel to Potts’ critically acclaimed graphic novel. “Good Eggs” (HarperCollins). “Too Fat for China recently” won “Best Storytelling Show” at the United Solo Show Festival in NYC. Potts was raised like a farmed salmon in Brooklyn, but lives in Massachusetts because of the tougher gun laws there.

Charming Disaster
Charming Disaster is a goth-folk musical duo based in Brooklyn, NY, formed in 2012 by Ellia Bisker and Jeff Morris. Inspired by the macabre humor of Edward Gorey and Tim Burton, the murder ballads of the Americana tradition, and the dramatic flair of the cabaret, they write songs that tell stories about death, crime, myth, magic, folklore, science, and the occult.

Boxcutter Collective
Boxcutter Collective is a New York City-based political puppet troupe. It is made up of seven core members who met while working at Bread and Puppet Theater over many years and bonded over their shared passion for waving things around and pretending that the things are talking. This is called “puppetry,” and it is a highly respected artform in every culture except this one. Each member of the group brings a unique skill, each useless on its own, but taken together forming what can only be described as something undeniably existent. They are currently working on their new live anti-capitalist sci-fi musical puppet spectacle, “Dimension Zero,” which will premiere in Fall 2025.

Nasaria Suckoo
Born in George Town, Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands, Nasaria Suckoo is one of the finest traditional storytellers and visual artists on the Cayman Islands. She received a BA in Theatre and an MA in Educational Theatre from New York University. She is a member of the artists collective Native Sons and has exhibited widely both with the group and as a solo artist. An accomplished poet and actor, her work explores themes of female strength and empowerment, race and the repercussions of enslavement, as well as the erosion of Caymanian cultural traditions. She is a keeper of traditional “duppy” stories, which often involve ghostly figures, usually believed to be the spirits of deceased people, who can appear as hitchhikers, roam specific locations like the "Duppy Turn," or even manifest as a "Rolling Calf" – a large, ghostly cow that chases people, often linked to a butcher who has passed away. This will be her first ever crankie and perhaps the first crankie ever built in the Cayman Islands.

Randy Chollette
Cayman Islands' Randy Chollette, a consummate artist has many forms of expression. Musically he seeks innovation and unique self-expression through writing, rapping, singing, drumming... His themes are just as all encompassing; the world around him, cultural identity, social commentary, but the one common element is the spiritual nature of his works. Simply put, they touch you. His music connects his existence to that of every other part of creation, a universal kind of brotherhood and humanity. His most recent success is the improvisational music showcase that he produced, The Red Boat Experience, with the Caymanian Kitchen Drum as the centre of the performances, masterfully intertwining music with dance, poetry, storytelling, rap, song and acting. For this event, he will be providing live percussion for the crankie performed by his wife and artistic partner Nasaria.

The Binoculars
The Binoculars, based in Brooklyn, is the duo of longtime pals Kaethe and Chloë. Musically, they peer at long lost tunes from around the world using fiddle, guitar, lap steel, and laser vocal harmonies. Their collaborations span mediums-- from textile (leather, collected fabrics) to edible (fermentation, popcorn), and now Crankies, always bringing their unique stamp and care for handmade storytelling.

For more upcoming events at Flushing Town Hall, visit:
https://www.flushingtownhall.org/fth-presents

COVID Policy:
Flushing Town Hall no longer requires visitors or performers to show proof of vaccination against COVID-19; wearing a mask is optional but recommended. For more details, please visit www.flushingtownhall.org/covid-safety.

Support Global Arts with a Gift Today!
All gifts of $50 or more give you exclusive Flushing Town Hall Circle of Friends membership with benefits including a Smithsonian membership, ticket discounts, and more! Donations in any amount are appreciated to support the artists and the nonprofit cultural organization as they continue to provide programming and entertainment across New York and the world.
https://www.flushingtownhall.org/circle-of-friends

Flushing Town Hall is a not for profit organization and receives major support from the National Endowment for the Arts; New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature; New York State Assembly Member Ron Kim; The City of New York, Mayor Eric Adams; New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, Commissioner Laurie Cumbo; Queens Borough President Donovan Richards; The New York City Council, Speaker Adrienne E. Adams and New York City Council Members Sandra Ung, Tiffany Caban, Shekar Krishnan, Linda Lee, Vickie Paladino, Lynn Schulman, and Julie Won; Howard Gilman Foundation, Guru Krupa Foundation, Seth Sprague Educational and Charitable Foundation; Lily Auchincloss Foundation; Fan Fox and Leslie R. Samuels Foundation.

To view current donor lists, please visit www.flushingtownhall.org/donor-listings