A 10th Wave Original
ILLUMINATING SOUND:
A Shadow Puppet and Music Show
performed by Monsoon Season and 10th Wave
composed by Mary Ellen Childs
Two Matinee Performances including Pre-show lobby activities and a behind the scenes look
Saturday, January 10th and
Sunday, January 11th 2026 at 4pm
The Southern Theater
1420 S. Washington Ave. Minneapolis, MN 55454
​Illuminating Sound is an innovative shadow puppet and music performance that blends live music and visual storytelling to explore the cyclical nature of time, the creation and destruction of the world, and humanity's impact on the environment.
10th Wave musicians are at the heart of the show and their musical performance creates the visual imagery. The musicians wear large masks to cast silhouettes of deities and the puppeteers around them use focused lights to isolate and magnify the instruments in action, producing sparks of light and texture as they create the universe. Among the creatures born from the darkness is a small bird whose life we follow across the ages. When climate catastrophe strikes, the bird is separated from its flock and befriends a mythical fox-deer. Together they travel the world in search of a new home, only to encounter repeated devastation caused by human exploitation. Can they survive -- and will they ever find a place to belong?
This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund.
This Cultural Districts Arts Fund activation is funded, in part, by the City of Minneapolis Arts & Cultural Affairs Department.
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Collaborators
Mary Ellen Childs
Composer​
Mary Ellen Childs is a composer interested in all the senses: her works speak not only to the ears, but to the eyes, and even the nose. She creates distinctive sound worlds, and often writes for specific architecture or environments. Her installation NORTH, based on her time in the Arctic, is currently on view at MSP International Airport in the B Tunnel. Over the last several years she has been building a body of work that combines music and scent, including her installation Aromusic, originally created for Proyecto ‘ace in Buenos Aires. Childs has held artist residencies at Nawat Fes in Morocco; the Arctic Circle Expedition in Svalbard; Bellagio Center in Italy; Djerassi Foundation; and Cafe Tissardmine in the Sahara desert.
Monsoon Season
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Oanh Vu
Puppeteer​
Oanh Vu (she/her) is a puppeteer, educator, and community organizer. As a 2nd generation Vietnamese American she uses humor and the playfulness of puppetry to tell stories of healing and social change for her communities. She is a recipient of the 2025-2028 Jerome Hill Fellow and a Jim Henson Foundation Grant recipient. She got her start in puppetry through Monkeybear’s Harmolodic Workshop and is now the Puppet Lab Co-artistic director at Open Eye Theatre. Her artwork has been shared at theatres, museums, & community spaces all across Twin Cities including the In the Heart of the Beast Theatre, the Mia, the MN Opera, Open Eye Theatre, Theater Mu, Twin Cities Public Television, and the Walker Art Center.
Erica Warren
Puppeteer
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Andrew Young (he/they)
Puppeteer
Andrew is a Taiwanese-Indonesian-American puppeteer, artist, and educator based in Minneapolis. They received their puppeteer training through Monkeybear’s Harmolodic workshop, a Black, Native, and POC focused puppetry organization, and has since worked for Mayday and Barebones as a staff artist/performer, as well as continued to create their own work. They have also been a guest artist for Parade the Circle in Cleveland, OH, and at the Madeline Island Independence Day Parade. As a part of their work Andrew is interested in collaboration and community building, healing trauma through art, exploring the natural world, and aiming light towards mental health and our inner worlds. As a teacher Andrew has a focus on empathy and mindfulness in learning, respect for gender/sexual/racial diversity, and encouraging students to trust their inner creative voices.
MUSICIANS
