The Boxcutter Story:
Once upon a time everyone was bored. Then someone got the bright idea to act silly on purpose, to the delight of many. The Boxcutter Collective carries on this tradition to this day, often provoking laughter and occasionally thought. To learn more, read on. If you desire a refund, please call during business hours.
The Boxcutter Collective is made up of four core members who bonded over their shared passion for waving things around and pretending that the things are talking. This is called “puppetry,” and it is a highly respected artform in every culture except this one.
Like all good stories, this one begins on a farm in rural Vermont, specifically the one that houses the world famous (except in this country) Bread & Puppet Theater. This is where the members of the Boxcutter Collective first met. First Sam met Jason. Then Jason met Joe. Before long Tom entered the picture, and soon everyone was met. Each member of the group brings a unique skill, each useless on its own, but taken together forming what can only be described as something undeniably existent.
Titles of their work include, but are not limited to:
Everything is Fine! A Children’s Show for Scared Adults Living in a Scary World
Caveman Ballet
The Possession of Judy
The Exploding Electric Bath
The Whoopsy Daisy Circus
The History of Laughter
Bing Bong: A Strange Ritual for You and Your Loved Ones
The Divinity Supply Company
They have performed at the Jalopy Theatre, Sideshows by the Seashore, Rubulad, LaMama Experimental Theater Club, Henson Carriage House, The Detroit Institute of the Arts, The University of Connecticut and other places.
Joe Therrien
Joseph Therrien has a BFA in Acting and an MFA in the Puppet Arts from the University of Connecticut, and an MS in Childhood Education from PACE. He has taught theater, music, puppetry and performance both full time and as a teaching artist in New York City for the last 12 years. In addition to teaching, Joe works and performs with other theater groups in and around New York City. In 2011, he founded a puppetry collective called “The People’s Puppets of Occupy Wall Street” which offers training and support for grass roots community organizations on how to incorporate art and performance into their work. He also works and tours extensively with The Bread and Puppet Theater, performing large scale political puppet shows around the country and the world. Joe creates puppet shows of his own and with many collaborators as part of The BoxCutter Collective and performs often in and around New York City including at La Mama Experimental Theater Club, Coney Island USA, The Henson Carriage House, and the Jalopy Theater!
Sam Wilson
Sam Wilson is a puppeteer, painter, bartender and proud union member of I.A.T.S.E. 829. She moved from Buffalo, New York, to New York City 20ish years ago to attend school at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn where she earned her BFA. Following Pratt she was part of the World War III Arts in Action collective that participated with street art in protesting the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. She co-founded and designed art for Milk Not Jails, an organization that fought to change the rural urban relationship in New York State by both advocating for criminal justice reform and building support for local agriculture. She has performed and toured internationally with Bread and Puppet Theater, and Great Small Works and designed and built puppets for various groups including Circus Amok! and the Funhouse Philosophers.
Jason Hicks
Jason Hicks, (Trashville), a self-taught puppeteer, trombone player, print maker, & agitator. With fellow conspirators, for the last 20 years, he has been building & writing undocumented puppet shows for all spaces and situations with the purpose of undermining the machines of destruction put on us by modern life. Hicks co-founded the RPM Puppet conspiracy (2001-present), The Flying Donkey Theater (2009-present) the Semi-Upright Puppet Collective (2005-2015), the Boxcutter Collective (2016-Present) and has worked for the Bread & Puppet Theater as a puppeteer and the band leader for the past 15 years, writing, building & touring puppet shows around the US and overseas. He began working with Papel Machete in 2012 in NYC and Puerto Rico, collaborating on community street theater shows and the collective’s annual puppetry festival in San Juan, PR. With the Flying Donkey Theater co-founder, Federica Colina, Hicks has run large scale art builds for marches, puppet pageants, and demonstrations in NYC (Climate March 2015), Taiwan (w/ Open Theater 2011-2015), Copenhagen (COP15 2010), Rome (Green Faith & 350.org 2015) and worked in numerous schools, universities and institutions around the Eastcoast, building puppet shows of all sizes with various communities. Jason recently relocated to Detroit, MI & splits time in Brooklyn, Vermont and the open road with the Boxcutter Collective.
Tom Cunningham
Tom Cunningham is a writer, performer and puppeteer. Born and raised in St. Louis, MO, he discovered his love of performing at the age of 6 when he was dragged offstage at the St. Martin of Tours school talent show for his offensive portrayal of Uncle Sam. He performed at some of St. Louis’s finest art galleries and dive bars, including Cranky Yellow, The Mad Art Gallery and Spooty’s. In 2010 he moved to Brooklyn, NY to pursue his love of poverty. He has written and performed sketch comedy, short plays and puppet shows. With Rosie Whalen and Truen Kirk he wrote and performed “God Woke Up Screaming” and “Good News” at the Magnet Theater. With Joe Therrien he wrote and performed “Everything is Fine! A Children’s Show for Scared Adults Living in a Scary World,” a monthly episodic show at The Fabulous Jalopy Theatre. In 2013 he joined the Bread and Puppet Theater and has been a member of the Boxcutter Collective since 2016. He likes the movie Cats but not the animal.
Ali Dineen
Ali Dineen is the musical director of the Boxcutter Collective. She is a multidisciplinary artist born and raised in Queens. Her lyrics are poetic and deeply personal, and highlight the intersections between personal experience, larger histories, and systems of power. Ali has performed at the Museum of Art and Design, the Caramoor American Roots Music Festival, the American Folk Art Museum, and the Brooklyn Folk Festival. She was awarded the Helene Wurlitzer Foundations Residency in Taos New Mexico in winter of 2020. She also works with local puppet troupe extrodrinaire The Boxcutter Collective, and is part of a duet with the inimitable Feral Foster. Ali released her third album, Hold On, in 2020, and is currently working on a song cycle about Joan of Arc.
Darkin Brown
Darkin Brown is a native New Yorker. He attended The Fashion Institute of Technology where he earned an AS in Illustration, an AS in Communication Design and a BA in Graphic Design. After F.I.T. he worked as a graphic designer, a sign maker, teacher, a production engineer, and even a door to door salesman. His real passion is deconstructing, re-sculpting, reimagining and rebuilding action figures. This strange hobby and his love of a good time makes him a natural fit to the Boxcutter puppeteer life-style. In 2020 he founded Bricoleur, a t-shirt company, where he designs and makes t-shirts and custom vinyl cuts.
