HEARTH GODS @hearthgods - Tumblr Blog

#theater #brooklyn #performance #fiction #reading

Next reading: January 24, 2026

Next reading: Friday, November 14

Artwork: C. Carey

#theater #brooklyn #performance #reading #fiction

European vacation sadnesses, an incomplete catalog:

Arrival sadness. Warm wine in the afternoon sadness. Passing rain sadness. Wrong shoes. The sadness of catching yourself in an unexpected mirror. Seafood regret. The sadness of failing to recreate the exact view from a popular Instagram post. The sadness of crowds. Trinket sadness. Unpronounceable sadness. The sadness of picking the wrong line at the museum. Cathedral sadness. The sadness of seeing Titian's Assunta and feeling no commensurate inner response, not even a flicker of awe or terror, just irritation, hunger, and the shoes still hurt. Budget sadness. Airport sadness.

The sadness that comes after the purchase.

Going home sadness.

#theater #brooklyn #performance

A Guided Meditation on Surrendering the Republic of Venice

Begin by finding a comfortable position. Sit upright with your feet resting on the floor of the palace. Gently close your eyes and let your hands rest loosely on your ducal robes. Take a slow, deep breath in through your nose… and exhale gently through your mouth. As you breathe, bring your awareness into your body. Notice the light press of the corno ducale on your brow. Notice your breath again—rising, falling. You may hear the cannons of the French approaching. That’s okay. Let them float past like leaves on a stream. Come back to the breath: Inhale… Exhale… Now gently begin to return. Wiggle your fingers and toes. Take one more deep breath in… And sigh it out. When you’re ready, surrender the Republic of Venice.

Are muppets harmless? Or have they merely evolved to look and sound harmless to us? People often say the world would be better if it were run by muppets. Perhaps. But I propose it's simply easier to forget the Good Day Monster, with its terrible, negating rhymes. It's easier to forget what happened when Sam the Eagle tried ketamine. It's easier not to think about Old Joe, the human-sized spider, fencing stolen goods under the bridge in The Muppet Christmas Carol. There is a cruelty to muppets that we cannot wish away. It is this contrast that first drew my interest in the field: what cruelty lies dormant in their soft, squishy limbs? What intention is hidden by those huge, unblinking eyes? What, in extremity, might they be capable of? [From: Krall, R. Muppet God. University of Chicago Press, forthcoming.]

#the muppets #theater #wolf359 #performance #brooklyn

The field of Muppet Studies was born at the 1973 Conference on the Marionette in Arles, France, and specifically at the panel discussion, "What Is the Muppet?"

During a dialogue between Professors Skinner and Nguyen-Lowell on internally versus externally manipulated puppets, the latter observed that we (humans) are merely the puppets of our subconscious, leading to Prof. Skinner's famous retort, "I think you mean the Muppets of our subconscious." A third of the audience stood up and applauded, a third walked out, and the schism has lasted to this day.

As the late Professor Honeydew observed, Puppet and Muppet Studies are but two sides of one idea, eternally glaring at each other over the vast deadland of their rivalry, unable to move on, yet unwilling to look away.

[From: Krall, R. Muppet God. University of Chicago Press, forthcoming.]

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Hearth Gods No. 74

a reading of new work

Saturday, Feb. 15 at 8pm

Next reading: Friday, Dec. 13

FACT 1: Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol is actually an adaptation. The original source is The Muppet Christmas Carol film, which was screened for Charles Dickens in 1842 by the so-called Ghost of Christmas Future.

FACT 2: The depiction of "Human" characters mixing with Muppet characters in The Muppet Christmas Carol was part of Dickens' original draft, but was considered obscene and removed by the publisher.

FACT 3: "Bah humbug" is acknowledged as an anagram by a majority of Muppet Christmas scholars, however it is not an anagram for any known English words. When the words are invented to solve the "bah humbug" anagram, all 3 ghosts (past, future, present) will unite, the wall will be removed revealing which of us are Muppets and which of us are not, and the Final Turkey will be served.

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Hearth Gods No. 73

a reading of new work

Friday, Dec. 13 at 8pm

DM for Address

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