Strings and shadows:

In the film "Being John Malkovich," John Cusack finds a way to communicate his love for his sultry co-worker by manipulating real-life actor John Malkovich's body to do or say anything he wants. To put it simply, Cusack expressed his feelings through a different medium of communication; puppetry.\nBlair Thomas and Michael Zerang, two of Chicago's foremost pioneers of theater and music, are out to accomplish the same thing… and it's happening at IU. No, they won't be entering a tiny door that leads them into the mind of a famous actor. But they hope they will open your eyes and your mind to the intricacy of their unique talents. \nTonight at the Willkie Auditorium, Thomas and Zerang will perform their collaborative piece, "108 Ways to Nirvana;" a dark and mysterious journey through the minds of Thomas and Zerang involving both live puppetry and improvisational percussion. Presented by Beyond the Pale Productions, a Bloomington group dedicated to the advancement of experimental music, "108 Ways to Nirvana" has been raising eyebrows and intellectualism throughout the Midwest art community. \n"We had to turn away 100 people when we brought Blair and Michael to Bloomington last year," says Jessica Baldanzi, spokeswoman for Beyond the Pale Productions.\n"There was no anticipation on how exited people would get about it, so we promised to bring them back this year," Baldanzi adds. "And now we're making good on that promise."\nZerang shares the same sentiments. \n"I have a great desire to come back to Bloomington because I know there's a great audience down there," he says.\nThomas says he thinks cities like Bloomington are hungry for contemporary work, and what he and Zerang are bringing is a new field in contemporary puppetry. "If the audience has never seen good contemporary puppetry, they're going to be surprised," he says.\nDefined as a work in progress by both Thomas and Zerang, "108 Ways" is presented in three parts, each lasting about 30 minutes. The number 108 is derived from the Buddhist counting reference point of "108," because there are 108 beads on a Buddhist meditation necklace. The idea and state of Nirvana is nothing to new to Thomas, a Buddhist himself. Thomas says "108 Ways" reflects his interests to develop a spiritual practice into the dimension of puppet theater.\nZerang performs "#12: The Third Pythia of Flin Flon" solo, using only a suspended cymbal and four different drum sticks and mallets to produce sound. \nThe next segment, entitled, "#27: The Blackbird," features Thomas maneuvering his way around the stage while unraveling a scroll-like storyboard against a backdrop of flames, and at the same time creating a shadow-puppet bird. This piece includes excerpts from Wallace Stevens' poem "Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird." \nIn "#36: Buster Keaton and the Buddha," Thomas' 4-foot handmade puppet (a Japanese style puppet called a Bunraku) enters a dream descent into his own psyche as he searches for the self. Thomas and Zerang will team up to manipulate both the puppet and Zerang's arsenal of sound, including a small horn section, bells and a built-in drum as well as pre-recorded sounds.\n"There's something that flows through all of the pieces, so by the end of the show, instead of seeing three distinctive works, you've seen one whole unified evening," Zerang says.\nPerhaps the most interesting aspect of the entire performance is the stage itself. Designed by Thomas, the stage measures approximately 5 feet in length and stands at around 10 feet tall. Based on a traditional religious Eastern European puppet theater called vertap, the stage consists of two levels, a heaven and a hell. \n"It's designed to be an instrument itself, and on some level, as active as a puppet," Thomas says. "Michael and I conceived it as an instrument that could contain the whole world (of the puppet), so all the sounds, tricks and gadgetry is contained in the stage."\nThere is a paradoxical dynamic between the audience and the puppet/puppeteer in theatric puppetry. On the one hand, there is the creation of illusion of the puppet itself acting as its own being. Conversely, there exists an idea to expose this illusion to the audience through the puppeteer via the puppeteer's own hand movements. In Thomas and Zerang's case, they are out to expose and create the illusion at the same time.\n"People, children as well as adults, are willing to make a contract with the puppet, which is to believe in its life it's presuming to have," Thomas says. "They can grant it that when they see it move."\nFor Zerang, improvisation during his performance is essential. And with that, the idea of improvising percussion lends itself to a freer range of expression. \nThomas sees his role from a different perspective. Instead of looking at his performance as just the manipulation of a puppet, Thomas compares what he does to that of playing a musical instrument (as does Zerang). But unlike Zerang, Thomas is devoted to the ideas of technique and precision when on stage. "It's like all the movements that I give to the puppet are musical phrases themselves," Thomas says. "It creates this sort of lyricism that transcends through what the puppet does."\nWhat Thomas and Zerang are out to accomplish isn't just to perform contemporary puppetry and improvisational percussion. "We, as artists, are here to serve humanity," Zerang says. \nIt's that kind of thinking which Thomas and Zerang say they hope will inspire audiences to think beyond first impressions and pre-conceived ideas, and to progress towards a more collective state of understanding in the world of art. \nThe show starts at 8:30 p.m. tonight at the Willkie Auditorium. Tickets are $12 at the door and $10 in advance available at TD's CDs & LPs. Call 332-7677 or log onto www.beyondthepale.org for more info.