Kooky Apocalypse Story With Talking Robots

“So, this story is about a tech billionaire and he’s struggling to relate to his daughter — who’s a super genius hacker — because there was an accident with one of his creations,” says Josh Gross. He’s the founder of horror puppet musical theater company Puppeteers for Fears and writer of their newest play Robopocalypse. Robopocalypse, Gross says, is a cyber-punk, feature length, science-fiction musical. Its plot follows a disconnected father and daughter duo, who must work together to defeat a homicidal robot, while repairing their relationship and understanding the meaning of life. “It’s a family drama that’s been wrapped into a sort of a kooky apocalypse story with talking robots,” he says. He also says that it is first and foremost a comedy. He describes Robopocalypse as “The Muppets do Tron.” Puppeteers for Fears began 10 years ago when Gross was asked to write a Halloween show. He was a musician dabbling in playwriting, and could never take musicals seriously due to their spontaneous dancing-in-the-street nature. But he realized that if you make a musical with horror puppets, “it’s so weird, people just jump right in.” Another unique aspect of this puppet company is that everything, including all of the music, is performed live (as opposed to many puppets who lip sync to pre-recorded tracks). Gross says that Robopocalypse is their most ambitious play yet. After receiving a $73,000 Creative Heights grant through the Oregon Community Foundation, Gross says the two and a half hour musical has a huge budget, with lasers, digital scene projection and more special effects than ever before. But more than the effects, the show “will get you in the heart,” he says. “It’s a serious story,” but he points out that the audience “doesn’t expect that from puppets, which is part of the reason it’s so fun.”

Robopocalypse presented by Puppeteers for Fearsis 8 pm, Thursday Sept. 4, at Whirled Pies, 199 West 8th Avenue. Doors open at 7 pm. Tickets are $23 advance and $28 day of show, and are available at WhirledPies.com. The show is 21-plus.

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