A co-production of Czechoslovak-American Marionette Theatre
Conceived, Written & Directed by Vít Hořejš
Co-Directed by Matt Cahoon in New Hampshire

The Life And Times Of Lee Harvey Oswald revisits three 1963 national traumas: the assassinations of President Kennedy, his brother, and Rev. Martin Luther King. Exploring the shrouded, dense cobwebs of multiple conspiracy theories that attempt to justify these senseless acts. The main protagonists inexorably approach the Grassy Knoll guided by fate as marionettes are powered by their strings.

The Life and Times of Lee Harvey Oswald at La MaMa ETC presented by the Czechoslovak-American Marionette Theatre and GOH Productions is a totally charming and interesting evening of theater. Notably, the work is less so a marionette or puppet show and really a theater piece with strong marionette and puppet elements; I only point that out to dissuade those that may lack experience or interest in the former form. In fact, in a way this work is a sweet introduction. The work is as advertised, a devised history of the life of Lee Harvey Oswald with segments concerning Castro, the Kennedys, the Warren Report, and other aspects of the cultural event the eponymous character is at the heart of. This is a classic devised work, the scenes all concerned with the general theme and coalescing to create a collage of a piece of theater. By focusing on the Oswald narrative, the work has a narrative drive that is rather helpful both thematically and to ground the work’s style in a number of choices. That style plays with performance planes, scope, and an effective movement and fever. The collaboration has a working motion that reveals the maturity, the understanding of the machinations of the medi …Read more