9000 Paper Balloons

Japanese artist Maiko Kikuchi and American puppeteer Spencer Lott play themselves and their grandfathers in a bilingual show that centers on a fascinating piece of World War II history: the Japanese initiative to bomb the United States via giant paper balloons, which eventually led to the war's only civilian deaths by enemy weapons on mainland American soil. Aya Ogawa directs the live premiere, which employs a surreal combination of puppetry, animation and masks.