Ivey award for outstanding production

Created by Paul Herwig & Jennifer Ilse
Developed with Jeffrey Bleam, with additional direction by Judith Howard and the original cast
Original Production 2005

Sound Composition - Marc Doty
Costumes - Jeffrey Bleam, Off-Leash Area
Lighting - Paul Epton
Choreography - Jennifer Ilse
Set & Masks - Paul Herwig

Performed by: Paul Herwig, Jennifer Ilse, Andi Cheney, Teresa Mock, Jesse Schmitz Boyd, Jim Lieberthal, Misty Bremmer, Evelyn Digirolamo, Diane Aldis, Lindsey Cacich Samples, Jesse Schmitz Boyd, Larissa Shea

Original Cast: Jody Blindauer, Heather Bunch, Choulette Evers, Zeb Henderson Shreve, Jodi Hodgson, Clint Jeffrey, Alison Preston, Emily Randa, Jeffrey Bleam, Katie Kaufmann, Jennifer Ilse, Paul Herwig, Jim Lieberthal

   Inspired by the deadpan characters found in the work of celebrated Norwegian graphic novelist JASON, Off-Leash Area pulls out all the creative stops to tell this universal and poignant story about love and loss set in a small-town factory. The entire show is played in black and white masks by thirteen of the Twin Cities’ best dancers and movement theater performers. With live painting on giant screens, stilt-walking, and a huge rolling wedding cake, Off-Leash Area brings the surreal world of the graphic novel to life with this epic melodrama. 
   To summarize: what we have here is your standard stilt-walking, masked silent film-style mytho-melodrama in the modern world, alternately funny, creepy, heart-warming, schmaltzy, goofy, mad-cap, and heart-breaking.
Photos by Scott Pakudaitis