Know those itty bitty ninjas you can get from the the quarter toy machines at the gas station/ grocery store/ drug store? Ya know, these guys

Well, in 1999 an incredibly creative guy named Dov Weinstein decided to create an entire acting troup out of the wee little pieces of plastic! The show is set up on a tiny stage & the audience is given binoculars to see the action. I first heard of the unique troup when they came to Spoleto, a giant annual arts festival in Charleston. The ninjas were part of Piccolo Spoleto ( little Spoleto) which is the part of the festival that real people can afford. Actually they were part of Piccolo Fringe, which as the name suggests, is the wierd fun stuff! People freak out about it & they sell out every year!

Here is a blurb from the website:

Tiny Ninja Theater is a New York City-based company dedicated to the principle that "there are no small parts, only small actors." It was founded in 1999 by company director Dov Weinstein. "I had noticed that there were these tiny plastic ninjas in vending machines all across the city," says Weinstein, "but no one was using them to perform classical theater. Something had to be done."

Weinstein quit his job to work on the project full time, and the company soon expanded to include not only Tiny Ninjas, but also other "assorted dime-store figures," as Weinstein calls them. There are currently over 100 Tiny Ninjas in the company, as well as several aliens, robots, and special guest stars Mr. and Mrs. Smile.

The company's first show, Tiny Ninja Theater presents Macbeth, opened as part of the New York International Fringe Festival on August 16, 2000. During the festival, Macbeth played 21 performances in 12 days, and came away with an Excellence Award for Innovation & Originality.

The show re-opened nine days later in the same space, scheduled for a four-week run. It was extended twice more before finally closing on Dec 26th, 2000.

It has since travelled across the country and overseas.

The company's second show, Tiny Ninja Theater presents A Brief History of DUMBO, was originally performed at the DUMBO Art Under the Bridge Festival from October 13th - October 15th, 2000. The show continued as part of various festivals, benefits, vaudvilles, and cabarets, although it was revised in early 2001 to include Weinstein's eviction from his apartment in the neighborhood. It was retired in April, 2001.

Although the company had originally planned to revive A Brief History of DUMBO for the Great Small Works 5th Annual Toy Theater Festival (November 5th - November 19th, 2000), the ongoing presidential elections provided a theatrical temptation too great to be ignored, and the company instead presented its third show, Tiny Ninja Theater presents Election 2000.

Other Tiny Ninja suitcase shows include The Effects of Nuclear War and Shakespeare's Sonnets.

Tiny Ninja Theater presents Romeo & Juliet,the second mainstage show, premiered in May 2002 at the Piccolo Spoleto Festival in Charleston, SC.

And here is some info about their production of Romeo & Juliette!

Tiny Ninja Theater presents Romeo & Juliet is the company's second Mainstage production. It stars Chris Head as Romeo, and Melanie Hipchikz as Juliet. It runs approximately 45 minutes.

As is to be expected, the parts that director Dov Weinstein had the most difficulty casting were the two title roles. Although Mr. and Mrs. Smile (stars of Tiny Ninja Theater presents Macbeth) were ready to take on the challenge, Weinstein was hesitant.

"There's no doubt that having experienced, talented performers like the Smiles playing Romeo and Juliet would have made for good theater," admits the director, "but, just between you and me, they seemed a bit mature for the roles."

Weinstein auditioned a number of other company members for the roles, and for a short time, it looked like Ninja (who was well-received by audiences for his performance in Shakespeare's Sonnets) would play the young Montague, and Ninja (who had hitertofore only played bit parts in the Tiny Ninja productions) would play the young Capulet.

"I thought they were quite good," says co-producer Jonathan Van Gieson with a weak smile, "quite good. But they were missing, I don't know, that something, that zazz... they just didn't stand out. At one point, I had seen some actors in Manhattan that I thought would be perfect for the roles, but they disappeared before I could point them out to Dov."

It was not until a few weeks before opening night that Weinstein finally found his stars. "Ironically enough, we were at a movie theater in upstate New York when Jon spotted them -- these actors he had been looking for all over the city," explains Weinstein. "He was right, they had exactly what I wanted in my leads -- a sort of wide-eyed innocence that really speaks to the roles. I cast them on the spot, and then we all saw the movie together."

However, the production hit another snag when it came to light that the two were newcomers to the stage.

"I have to admit, I was a nervous when I found out the leads had never acted before," Van Gieson shakes his head, "the show was going up in three weeks, and we just couldn't afford another disaster like The Effects of Nuclear War. A lot went into that play, but it didn't take off, and I think that had to do with the inexperience of leading actor Kurt Smile."

But Weinstein had faith in his newfound stars, and he and his cast locked themselves away for a period of intensive rehearsal. "With the new leads, it was almost as if we had to start from scratch," says Weinstein, "there we were, with three weeks until curtain, and it felt like we hadn't done any work at all."

Happily, it all came together in time for opening night, and both young actors received good reviews at the world premiere. And, although Ninja and Ninja didn't get to play the title roles, neither expressed any anger or bitterness towards the two leads -- professionals always, they had nothing bad to say at all.

AND here is the website! http://www.tinyninjatheater.com/ Check it out & see if they'll be in your city soon!!

[Sorry this is so boring looking. My blogging skillz leave alot to be desired. And spell check wouldn't work ]