SoHo Playhouse
presents
Concrete Temple Theatre’s

EXTRAORDINARY EXTREMITIES

Written & Directed by RENEE PHILIPPI

Performed by CARLO ADINOLFI

Set & Puppet Design: CARLO ADINOLFI
Original Music: LEWIS FLINN
Cellist: ALON BISK
Lighting Design: CASEY McLAIN

Soho Playhouse
15 Vandam Street
New York, NY 10013
April 4 through May 31, 2014
(212) 691-1555 or www.sohoplayhouse.com

Endearing, amusing, and bittersweet, EXTRAORDINARY EXTREMITIES details the struggles of puppeteer Geppetto, trying to cobble together his broken life after the loss of his wife and performing partner. Straining to handle two wooden puppets simultaneously, plus other props like ocean waves and flying gulls, overwhelms him. But with every defeat comes a new inspiration, a flash of creativity, to solve the problem. He speaks to the puppets as friends, reassuring them that all will be well.

His Mythic Puppet Theater specializes in recreating tragic Greek love stories, such as that of Andromeda and Perseus. (Don’t worry. The program gives a crash course on these myths.) As his rehearsal for one myth falls apart, he improvises and moves to a different production. When a puppet breaks a leg, Geppetto finds a way to create, well, a prosthetic replacement. His workshop not only creates, it heals.

Inspired by the story of Hugh Herr, a biomedical engineer whose legs were amputated after a climbing accident, EXTRAORDINARY EXTREMITIES is charming and inspiring and very funny. CARLO ADINOLFI has a magic touch, reminiscent of Academy Award winning Italian actor Roberto Benigni. We feel his sorrow, and laugh at his spunky resilience. His attitude: if you can’t rewrite the old show, write a new one. If you can’t walk, fly!

-Karen D’Onofrio-