The Transfiguration of Benjamin Banneker: Theodora Skipitares’ puppetry collage about an 18th Century African-American astronomer, a 20th Century black astronaut, and Lieutenant Uhura of Star Trek, with the Soul Tigers high school marching band. – New York Theater

The Transfiguration of Benjamin Banneker: Theodora Skipitares’ puppetry collage about an 18th Century African-American astronomer, a 20th Century black astronaut, and Lieutenant Uhura of Star Trek, with the Soul Tigers high school marching band.

In this gorgeous, enlightening and ambitious — if over-stuffed — hour-long theatrical collage, Theodora Skipitares uses the eerie visual splendor of puppetry to illuminate a serious subject, as she’s done in some 30 plays over the past 40 years. But “The Transfiguration of Benjamin Banneker” stands out, in two ways. First, it tells the fascinating … Continue reading The Transfiguration of Benjamin Banneker: Theodora Skipitares’ puppetry collage about an 18th Century African-American astronomer, a 20th Century black astronaut, and Lieutenant Uhura of Star Trek, with the Soul Tigers high school marching band.