Written and Composed by Josh Gross

Directed by Hunter Prutch

Music Director & Harmony Composer
Katy Curtis

CAST

Forest Gilpin …………………………… A.C.E. (Artificial Consciousness Experiment)

Alex Giorgi ……………………………………………………………………. Wilson H. Daniels

Brianca Knight ……………………….. S.P.A.M Bot (Spare Parts and Machines Bot)

Alyssa Marie Mathews ………………….. Ha.G (aka Hacker Girl, aka Jolie Daniels)

Raz Mostaghimi ……………………………..(B.L.T) Broadband Linked Toaster / Doc Bot

Hunter Prutch ……………………………………………….. Ubervagon / Chip McDougan

Hype Bot Chorus performed by full cast

Puppets designed and fabricated by Alyssa Marie Mathews

Lead Puppeteer
Hunter Prutch

Music performed by
Josh Gross (synths), Jen Scaffidi (guitar), and Carson Cessna (bass)

Technical Director / Projection Design and Sound Design
Aubry Hollingshead

Lighting Designer
Zakai Blackmon

Merch Manager
Sebastian Simms

Videography
Arturo Martinini

Opening set by Blunderbusst

Booking by MV Touring

SPECIAL THANKS TO
Bridge City Sessions, The Prutch Family, Tom and Jackie Daly, Rockafairy, Trent Beck, Andrew Peel, A. Walker Spring

COMPANY LEADERSHIP
Artistic Director: Josh Gross
Managing Director: Alyssa Marie Mathews
Design Director: Aubry Hollingshead

Puppeteers For Fears is supported in part by:
Oregon Community Foundation, Roundhouse Foundation, and Hand2Mouth Theatre

MEET THE CAST & CREW

ZAKAI BLACKMON
Lighting Designer

Zakai Blackmon (They/Them) is a first year member of PFF. They are excited for the opportunity to design and manage lights for their first ever tour! After nights of going out for drinks with ACE and the hype-bots, they are proud to say they’ve made some life long friends on this trip.

CARSON CESSNA
Bass / Guitar / Blunderbusst

No stranger to the stage, this is Carson Cessna’s first year in the Puppeteers for Fears house band. When he’s not traveling the country playing bass in the puppet show or guitar in Blunderbusst, he can be found in Reno, NV where he does “real musician things” (whatever that means), while slowly trying all the pizza in his neighborhood and trying to convince his creative partner Jen’s dog that her real name is Batman. A veteran of music both analog and digital, conventional and avant garde, Carson is a man of many hats. Bucket hats, dad hats, baseball hats. It’s been a long time since he’s worn a cowboy hat. He promises to never wear a fedora.

KATY CURTIS
Music Director & Harmony Composer

Originally from Arcata, California, Katy Curtis moved to Southern Oregon in 2012, attending SOU for her BFA in Performance. This is where her hand held its first puppet, and the rest is history… After performing in two and directing four Puppeteers For Fears shows, Robopocalypse is her first go at vocal directing with the company. When she isn’t working with these talented weirdos, she’s playing music with her band Ponderosas or hanging with her adorable fur child, Ghost.

FOREST GILPIN
Puppeteer (A.C.E)

What does he want? Where did he come from? No one knows when Forest exactly joined the group, a spectral outline theorized to be Forest can be seen in the background of Puppeteers photos dating back to 1846. His first recorded physical manifestation was in PFF’s 2018 Cthulhu: The Musical! tour and he’s been haunting the productions of Puppeteers For Fears ever since, murmuring poorly conceived jokes and bits to induce minor bouts of madness, despair and anger. “Ang-er? I Hardly know ‘er”

ALEX GIORGI
Puppeteer (Wilson H. Daniels)

After graduating with a BFA in Theater from Southern Oregon University, Alex joined the ranks of Puppeteers For Fears in Cattle Mutilation: The Musical! He soon took on the cosmic mantle of both Burt and Cthulhu in Cthulhu: The Musical!, performing on tours across the West and East Coasts. After the successful West Coast launch of Robopocalypse: The Musical!, Wilson has worked the kinks out of his systems, recalibrated his subroutines, and is back online for another deployment. Alex is thrilled to reprise the role of Wilson H. Daniels for a second time.

JOSH GROSS
Writer / Composer / Synths

Josh: Hi, ChatGPT. Write a 150-word bio for Josh Gross.

ChatGPT: Joshua Gross, b. September 10, 1973, is an accomplished attorney, and the founder and CEO of Beverly Hills Weekly…

Josh: Stop. That’s the wrong Josh Gross. Make it about me, the founder of Puppeteers for Fears.

ChatGPT: Josh Gross is the writer and producer (and composer) of Puppeteers for Fears, a rogue (rogue?) puppet musical theater company based in southern Oregon.

Gross wrote and directed (I don’t direct) the cult-favorite (not yet, but 🤞) Robopocalypse: The Musical!, along with Cthulhu: the Musical!, (actual cult favorite) and The Puppets Take Shakespeare (never heard of that one), and more. When not sewing googly eyes onto monsters (I can’t sew, actually) Gross is also the author of the nonfiction book The Hack (it’s a novel, of which I’ve written five), and a frequent contributor to various publications (I tried that once in college, but didn’t care for it).

Combining sharp satire, rock ‘n’ roll, and handcrafted felt creatures, Gross’s work pushes the boundaries of what puppet shows can be (awww, thanks!) and has been called “hilarious,” (fuck yeah!) and “definitely not for kids” (rude), and he takes all three as compliments (true).

lf for some reason you like Josh’s work, but not puppets, you can listen to his recent solo album, “Late Bloomer,” on streaming services everywhere..

AUBRY HOLLINGSHEAD
Technical Director / Projection & Sound Design

Aubry/Aubz is an unsettling hydra of many disciplines and tangentially related tasks. A career artist and filmmaker, and a skilled punsman, she coined the company’s name, designed the logo, and introduced digital projection to PFF’s productions, expanding the puppetverse from the woods of the Pacific Northwest to the ruins of a cyberpunk dystopia with the click of a button. She’s the company’s sound engineer, AV tech pirate, merch designer, and web master. Voted 2026’s Most Likely to Have that Cable You Need. Back home, Aubz manages operations for Ashland Independent Film Festival, referees flat track roller derby, and does spooky charcoal drawings of kids with no eyes (commission at your own risk @ aubz.org).

BRIANCA KNIGHT
Puppeteer (S.P.A.M. Bot)

Once upon a time in Ashland, Oregon, Brianca sat in the audience for one of PFF’s earliest productions of Cthulhu: The Musical! Nearly a decade later, her grand scheme of infiltrating Puppeteers for Fears has finally come to fruition. (Now that’s what we call a slow burn!) Sure, she earned a BFA in theatre arts from SOU, performed at Oregon Shakespeare Festival, and has been featured at the Goodman Theatre Walter Lab, but who cares? Life’s all about puppets now, baby!

ALYSSA MARIE MATHEWS
Puppeteer (Ha.G) / Puppet Designer & Fabricator

Alyssa Marie (she/her) is a longtime member of PFF, being involved in every production since 2016 except one, but she was busy getting her MA in Puppet Arts at the University of Connecticut at that time, so there’s really been no escaping the puppet-verse for her. Alyssa is delighted to return to Robopocalypse again, after having directed and created puppets the first time around way back in 2018. Now she’s performing and additionally made all new puppets with more complicated structures than ever before, and she can assure you no A.I. was used in the process. Alyssa lives in Portland Oregon with her sweet old cat and a large plethora of creepy-cute puppets.

RAZ MOSTAGHIMI
Puppeteer (B.L.T. / Docbot)

Raz (she/her) is experiencing her first tour with Puppeteers for Fears and (she suspects) her fourth cycle of reincarnation. After performing in improv shows at Curious Comedy and Kickstand Comedy in Portland, Oregon; writing and acting for Sketchgiving at Fuse Theatre, and working as an understudy for The Words will Come at LES Shakespeare, Raz was summoned by the higher theatrical powers to sacrifice her arms, deltoid muscles, and vocal cords to the altar of puppetry. She is beyond grateful and excited to perform as B.L.T. and unleash her inner British lad. When she’s not writing or acting, Raz spends her time in Portland doing crossword puzzles, finding cool rocks, and foraging for fruit.

HUNTER PRUTCH
Director / Puppeteer (Ubervagon)

Hunter Prutch is a long time member of the company and regular puppet performer. He started his journey with PFF with the first production of Robopocalypse: The Musical! And has performed as various puppets in Cattle Mutilation: The Musical!, The Cabaret at the End of the World, and Cthulhu: The Musical! He is incredibly excited to be this production’s director and work with such an incredible team of artists.

JEN SCAFFIDI
Guitar / Blunderbusst

Jen Scaffidi returns for her third year with Puppeteers for Fears, playing guitar in Robopacalypse and in noise pop opener Blunderbusst, as well as attending to her duties as the van’s official Snackmaster (definitely a real profession, don’t google it). When Jen isn’t on the road entertaining/terrorizing the puppet troupe with games like “Have you eaten a vegetable today?” and “I’ll have half of whatever you order!,” she’s a songwriter and performer based in Northern Nevada, where she spends most of her free time at the mercy of Fred, her tiny tyrant of a chihuahua (you can catch a glimpse of Fred at the merch booth). Jen is currently seeking new snacks to master. If she approaches you in the parking lot, move slowly and speak in low, comforting tones. She’s harmless and probably just wants a bite of whatever you’re eating.

SEBASTIAN SIMMS
Merch Manager

Sebastian is brand new to the Puppeteers for Fears crew, and he couldn’t be more excited. After graduating with an AAS in Technical Theatre, he’s thrilled to be touring for the first time with these talented artists. You’ll find him over at the merch table, where you can tell him the secret code ‘Rye Bread’ to get a little freebie… Don’t tell his boss!