Kingston-based multi-disciplinary artist Admiral Grey is, to say the least, a colorful dynamo. In addition to acting, writing, dancing, directing, making costumes and props, working in video design, doing spoken-word performances, or playing music with bands like Cellular Chaos and Simple Pleasures, she puts on wonderfully bemusing productions using handmade puppets. The latter medium is the one she’s working in for her latest grand creative endeavor, the Human Dream Project, for which she and her Snake in the Boot artist collective are staging a carnival-themed fundraiser at the Old Dutch Church on February 24.
The party is being thrown to support the full-length theatrical premiere of the Human Dream Project, a multimedia art project that records people describing their dreams and then illustrates them using live puppetry, original music, and video. For the effort, Grey developed a “dream hotline” ([845] 215-7073), which is how she records the dreams that are then illustrated with the project. The Tank theater in Manhattan is helping to produce the live version of the Human Dream Project at their theater for the month of April, and Snake in the Boot is raising funds to support the creation of the show. Grey (creator, director), Chad Raines (composer, musical director), and several other Kingston artists will be part of the show.
The party promises to be colorful and eclectic, as the artist and her coterie are known for being dizzyingly creative fabricators and eccentrics. There will be puppets and performers from the show, “fascist karaoke,” artist-made games, a raffle, and a dress-up photo booth, among other elements. Guests are encouraged to dress as their own version of a “Dream Carnie” for a costume contest, and their donations (cards and Venmo accepted) will be translated to a carnival-ticket economy once they step through the doors.
Grey believes that because dreams are universal and intimate, they are a way to connect people across violent divides like race, class, religion, and culture. “When you watch someone’s dream illustrated and it breaks your heart and makes you laugh- it connects you on a deeper level to someone who, in real life, you may think you have nothing in common with,” she espouses. “Helping people to share their dreams by making, hopefully, transformative art with it, is a way to try to generate compassion in the world, despite the pain and struggles of life.”
The Human Dream Project Fundraiser Carnival Party will be held at the Old Dutch Church in Kingston on February 24 at 7:30pm. A suggested donation will be requested upon entry, but no one will be turned away. For more information visit Admiral Grey’s website.
This article appears in February 2024.
