phoot by Yvette Marie Dostatni
Blood and Letting
Blood and Letting was designed and built by Nina D’Angier and Madigan Burke as part of the House of the Exquisite Corpse V: Blood and Puppets at Steppenwolf Theater’s Merle Reskin Space in 2025. The piece was performed by Sam Lewis and Amandatron 5000 (both pictured here).
Inspired by the folklore of the manananggal and what it means to contribute to something without all the information, visitors were instructed to place their arms through a hole in the wall in order to ‘donate blood’ to a weak child in the story. Two nurses tended to the audience and the incubator while the story of a haunted creature is told through silhouetted images on circular medical curtains.
Something isn’t quite right. Suddenly the lights flash, and the sound volume grows louder. A long tongue appears from the nurse puppet’s mouth and reaches towards the audience. As the audio squishes and cracks, the nurse puppet flies into the air, revealing her bloody exposed entrails and expanding her fleshy wings.
Little Guy : The Trans Clit Cumedian
Originally a doodle in Madigan’s sketchbook, this puppet was built using thrifted clothes, fabric discards, pvc pipe, and scrap foam. Little Guy’s first show was The Nasty, Brutish, & Short Puppet Cabaret, part of the 2023 Chicago International Puppet Festival. Little Guy has performed in various shows around Chicago including: C2E2 with Seabeast Puppetry, Fruit Salad at Dorothy, Big Break Comedy at the Holiday Club, Genderfucked Productions at Trans Center Chicago, & The Yuck Show at Archer Ballroom. In 2024, Little Guy flew on an airplane for the first time (even went thru TSA security) and performed in a puppet slam during the New Orleans Giant Puppet Festival.
Little Guy is always looking for more queer & trans, sex positive spaces to be a part of. Do you have a show or event where you think Little Guy would fit with the line up? Let us know!
photo by @lorenrozphoto
photo by Richard Termine
Nips & Lefty
Nips and Lefty are two very different nipples attached to the same puppet body. When Max the puppet decides to get top surgery, the nipples go through their own roller coaster of emotions before and after the procedure.
Post top surgery nipples, Nips and Lefty were originally debuted at a puppet slam in early 2024. Later that year, Madigan joined the Chicago Puppet Lab cohort and continued to develop this piece for eight months during lab. In May 2025 Nips & Lefty appeared at the Chicago Puppet Lab Showcase. This piece included pre-surgery nipples, a puppet surgeon teaching a class, a sped up medically accurate play dough surgery, post-surgical nipple feelings, and a pre-surgery interview with the patient who was about to be operated on.
Madigan and all the puppets involved in the Nips & Lefty story are excited to see what’s next for this piece.
photo by @daybydavon
Syrus The Cervix
Syrus the Cervix is a shy poet who doesn’t love public speaking. Syrus’s publisher tells them it’s important to read poems in front of live audiences to promote their new book: LEEPING Away From Cervical Cancer. Originally debuted in September 2023 at Nasty Brutish & Short, Syrus now performs around Chicago at open mics, puppet events, and the occasional poetry event.
In December 2023, Syrus won 3rd place in the Big Kids Show poetry slam at Dorian’s and has been riding that high ever since.
Haunted Harvey’s Puppet Booth
Can you scare Harvey the Puppet? During the Ox-Bow Goes to Hell Halloween event, visitors told their spookiest stories or belted out their best “Boo!” in an attempt to scare Harvey and win a piece of candy. Turns out, Harvey’s scared of everything.
Haunted Harvey’s Puppet Booth was an interactive piece activated in October 2022 at the Ox-Bow Goes To Hell Halloween event. Madigan built the booth, created the dinosaur puppets, and sewed a Halloween costume for their old friend Harvey the Puppet.
Fizzy Learns To Fist
Fizzy is an orange furry puppet with one oversized articulated hand. In their debut performance at Nasty Brutish & Short, Fizzy learned about fisting from a musical number and a slide show. Lyrics by madigan, music by @trunzika
photo by @lorenrozphoto
photo by Evan Barr