UTB in collaboration with San Francisco's Word For Word

Three Blooms is a bouquet of luminous tales (Hyacinths, The Sight of You and Silver Water) from Amy Bloom's award-winning collection of short stories Come To Me. A family trilogy of love, longing and loss is revealed, with plots of the unexpected, shocking moments when one's world shifts. This first published collection brought author Bloom much acclaim, evocatively portraying disturbed individuals amidst backgrounds rich with humanity. UTB was honored to incorporate its pioneering staging to the precise aural work of Word For Word. Featuring actors from both companies, the puppeteering of Peter Q. Parish & Wendy King, and a live score by composer Katy Stephan, Three Blooms serves as an arrangement of surprise, heartbreak and the enduring need which brings us back to the theatre...where we might recognize ourselves, our ancestors, even our future.

UTB has been praised for its sure-hand in the art of storytelling and celebrated forms of “object theatre” and puppetry. Director Stuart and his design team employ an invigorating and unconventional theatrical language, synthesized from cultures around the world. Everything in the physical environment (both animate and inanimate) is endowed with observable kinetic energy to bring the interlocking tales to life; a car door may float-in and put us instantly on the road, a waiter’s body becomes a table, puppets expand and contract - all enhancing the emotional core of the proceedings.

Investigate the THREE BLOOMS subcategories in the Table of Contents (above, left) for a Gallery of 3B Images and 3B Press & Director Notes.