November 3, 2025 • 10 mins
The entralling production of DEAD AS A DODO continues this week at Actors Theatre, and creator/director Kirjan Waage stopped by WHAS to tell his story.
Amelia Acosta Powell is part of the new leadership team at Actors Theatre and has great news about their renewed vision to serve ALL of the community, starting with the return of the annual holiday classic A CHRISTMAS CAROL.
Amelia Acosta Powell is part of the new leadership team at Actors Theatre and has great news about their renewed vision to serve ALL of the community, starting with the return of the annual holiday classic A CHRISTMAS CAROL.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
You're a news radio eight forty whas well an Actors Theater.
They've got a whole news great leadership team, including Amelia
Acosta Powell. It's good to see you, Amelia.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
Dude, you were all over the news when you got
this job. You are the artistic director at Actors Theater
right now, and you know, we know the glorious history
of Actors, but breathing a new sort of breath, isn't.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
I It absolutely is. I'm so thrilled to have joined.
I've been with the theater for four years, just announced
as the artistic director in September, and we've launched a
new season with a glorious world premiere that just closed
and now playing a really special spooky season show as well.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
Den Is a Dodo, I understand, is the show that's
on there now, already there for a week and is
continuing this week at Actors Theater and with me is
Kieran Vogue. Am I close you nailed. I'm there, brother.
It's good to see you. You're the man with the
magic hands, right, A puppeteer, That's true.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
I am one of the many puppeteers of Dead as
a Dodo so dead is a dude. We've got puppets all.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
Right, So did this start as an infatuation as a
child the artistry of puppeteering. Absolutely.
Speaker 3 (01:21):
I was in Norway, since I'm Norwegian, and for children.
When I was a kid, they didn't have Sesame Street.
They had this. The only TV channel in Norway bought
the Muppet Show. So so as a kid, I had
the Muppet Show, not the Right, not Sesame Street.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
Yeah. I came later, so you learn and now now
you have to protect your hands all the time. Those
are the tools of the train.
Speaker 3 (01:49):
I've been told that I need to insure them.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
Of course, Lloyd's in London. I know what's dead the
dead as a Dodo. The premises everybody's dead in the show,
is that right? Yeah?
Speaker 3 (02:01):
Pretty much except for the puppeteers. We're very much alive
on stage.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
This is not some AI trickery, right.
Speaker 3 (02:09):
No, no, But there's a little bit of AI involved.
We do have a sort of an AI world that comes.
Speaker 1 (02:16):
It's lurking and of course, but it's it's just a
small part of it. Is this for children and adults.
Speaker 3 (02:21):
The show all ages for age inclusive.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
So once we bumped past Halloween. The premise is still there.
It kind of goes with the season, right.
Speaker 3 (02:32):
We've been performing this show all year long. We were
in January this yeah, this January in New York City
performing at Under the Radar Festival, and the New York
Times picked our show to be the best out of
all thirty three shows in the festival. And that's that's
on paper.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
That's why you had to have it here.
Speaker 3 (02:51):
That's why we had to have it here, because the
greatest city in the world needs to have the greatest course.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
We like to have our shows try out in New
York and if they're good enough there, we'll consider bringing
them to Louisville.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
Exact great attitude. I love the feel of that whole thing.
And then are there is the visual spectacle here? Are
there a lot of people performing? Or is it? Is
it you and another person who are or tell me
about the show itself.
Speaker 3 (03:22):
We're eight puppeteers on stage and eight thousand puppets if
you count all the all the grains, all the all
the small ones, and there's it's a it's a visual spectacle.
We have great visuals from our video artists. She's from Greece.
(03:44):
We have a great composer. His name is Thor. He's
the god of Thunder. Of course heard of him exactly.
He's from Iceland.
Speaker 1 (03:54):
When you take on these various puppets, do you, like
an actor, have to assume their personality? So are you switching?
Are you going back and forth as to your different
like characters?
Speaker 3 (04:05):
We do a lot of switching. Yeah, So there's a
lot of characters in the play. There's a lot of puppets.
There are more puppets than people. And sometimes we're three
people on one puppet just to bring these small creatures
to life.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
Oh, three people work in that same puppet. Oh my goodness.
Speaker 3 (04:22):
Oh it's a we're doing some advanced.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
So on scale. Then someone who's sitting in the back
can still take in a great visual experience. Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
Now, don't let Curion be humble here. He's not just
a performing puppeteer. He designed and built all of these
puppets as well. I read about that, and they range
from like a very detailed little boy who has dexterity
in his hand and in his jaw and his eyes
light up and has like a lot of personality all
in one little body, to a giant wooly mammoth that
(04:55):
takes up, you know, a third of the stage. So
a real rain of the different mechanics of puppetry, the
different visual aspects, and they're they're unlike anything I've personally
ever seen before.
Speaker 1 (05:07):
I've heard, I mean, I've been reading about you and
that you are so unique. There are very few people
like you in the world.
Speaker 3 (05:15):
We're all unique.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
There, but your skill set is pretty rare.
Speaker 3 (05:21):
Yeah, there's not very many puppeteers.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
So is there a club? Is there an online group
of people with your skill set that you communicate with?
Speaker 3 (05:29):
Absolutely, there's a there is there is. There are many
clubs of puppeteers around. There's like the you know, the
the Marrionettes, the people who corean nets. They have their
own little clubs around, and there are guilts. People are
organized in guilds, and of course there's a There are
(05:49):
hubs like New York City is a big course, that's
where you have them, whether the Muppets were based or
where the Muppet Workshop is still there and where Jim
Manson was.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
How long do you think your tour can last? This
show has fascinated people in so many ways.
Speaker 3 (06:06):
We've been told that this show by somebody who used
to work at the Saint Louis. I think that they
could tour easily for ten years.
Speaker 1 (06:18):
How do you feel about That's that's quite a commitment.
Speaker 3 (06:22):
Oh well, we're hoping to We have breaks in between.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
And then are you are you developing in the back
of your mind? Are you developing another project for down
the road? Because this one? Yeah? Because this show is set.
Speaker 3 (06:35):
Yeah, this one, this one's set, and we will be touring.
We're going to Chicago next year. We're going to Boston.
We'll be going to Taiwan. We've been invited to a
big festival in Norway and Bergin on the West coast.
We have been invited to the Spoleto festival in Italy.
We've been invited to another festival in Bertrigramo, Italy. We're
(06:56):
looking to go to Lisbon, Lisbon in Portugal.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
Wow, yeah, do you so? You have to have an
unders You have to have understudies available to in case
someone that breaks their arm or whatever.
Speaker 3 (07:09):
So far only the puppets I've broken.
Speaker 1 (07:12):
You have to think all these things here. It's like
a football team. You know, somebody's injured, send them the
next one.
Speaker 3 (07:17):
We do, say, break a puppet leg and that's what
we hope for them, because we don't want anybody else
to reck a leg, but we can find.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
Them in there. What's the show schedule this week, Amelia?
How many days are we talking about?
Speaker 2 (07:27):
We have performances on Friday, two on Saturday, and one
on Sunday, So people come check it out. November seventh
through ninth, Actors.
Speaker 1 (07:36):
Theater, Carrie, This, it's great to meet you. You you're
a fascinating person. I know people want to hear more
about your life. They can read it about you online.
You're You're just an interesting cat. So I'm curious to
see where you go next For us here in Louisville, Amelia,
you and the other leadership teammates, you've you've got a
(07:57):
new or an improved vision of actors Theater or a
new dimension is probably the right way to put it.
Tell me, what's what's your thought process in where Actors
Theater goes forward?
Speaker 2 (08:08):
Yeah? Thank you? Well, really, for us, it's all about
that balance, right. We are the state theater of Kentucky,
so it's important that we serve a little bit of
everybody and that we offer a range of things. So
with this amazing all ages show. You know, we're happy
to welcome both families, adults, young kids. Right after this,
we'll go into a Christmas Carol, which of course has
(08:28):
been a long standing tradition here in Louisville. It's been
sorely missed the last few years, so it's critical we
bring it back, and we're so excited. We have an
amazing all local cast for that, really showcasing Louisville talent.
And then in the new year, we're bringing back the
Bingham Signature Shakespeare Series. Excellent, so we've got Comedy of Errors,
a new production with original music that's just fantastic that's
(08:51):
going to be playing in March. And then closing out
our spring with a New Works Festival. Of course, actors
Theater internationally known for new work, so will premiere a
new play. We'll have other companies bring in new work
and really bring back that celebratory festival atmosphere where people
can just get together. You know, I think we're not
(09:12):
trying to compete with streaming TV on your couch, but
what we do offer that streaming TV doesn't offer is
really connecting with other human beings, right, having that chance
to not only see a show but also like, share
a drink in the lobby, talk about it. Have Maybe
you'll like some stuff, maybe you'll hate some stuff, but
at least you'll have that really special experience at a
(09:33):
festival where you can go, oh, what was your favorite?
Oh I love that one, Oh I actually like this
other one. So we need that feeling in our city.
We need people downtown celebrating and participating in art together.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
Yeah, it's the collaborative effort that you can't get setting
on your couch exactly. Well, good Amelia, it's great to
talk with you face to face, like and Kiri in
great to meet you, and just keep it up. It's
a fascinating realm you're in, that's for sure. And we're
just thrilled that Actors Theater feels like it's really lighting
the lights again. And that's exactly what we need in
(10:04):
this city. So many amazing people have come through Actors
Theater over these decades, launching these magnificent careers, and they
some of them were starting here there in the early stages.
Speaker 2 (10:15):
That's right. Yeah, if you're seeing the next Kevin Bacon,
the next Kathy.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
Bates, right, I saw Kathy Bates here and it was
just like, Wow, things seem to have worked out for
her for sure. Great to see you. We're back in
a minute Actress Theater's website. People can go there actorstheater
dot org and learn more about everything you need for
tickets and the upcoming shows as well. Back in a
minute on news radio Wait forty whs
You're a news radio eight forty whas well an Actors Theater.
They've got a whole news great leadership team, including Amelia
Acosta Powell. It's good to see you, Amelia.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
Dude, you were all over the news when you got
this job. You are the artistic director at Actors Theater
right now, and you know, we know the glorious history
of Actors, but breathing a new sort of breath, isn't.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
I It absolutely is. I'm so thrilled to have joined.
I've been with the theater for four years, just announced
as the artistic director in September, and we've launched a
new season with a glorious world premiere that just closed
and now playing a really special spooky season show as well.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
Den Is a Dodo, I understand, is the show that's
on there now, already there for a week and is
continuing this week at Actors Theater and with me is
Kieran Vogue. Am I close you nailed. I'm there, brother.
It's good to see you. You're the man with the
magic hands, right, A puppeteer, That's true.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
I am one of the many puppeteers of Dead as
a Dodo so dead is a dude. We've got puppets all.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
Right, So did this start as an infatuation as a
child the artistry of puppeteering. Absolutely.
Speaker 3 (01:21):
I was in Norway, since I'm Norwegian, and for children.
When I was a kid, they didn't have Sesame Street.
They had this. The only TV channel in Norway bought
the Muppet Show. So so as a kid, I had
the Muppet Show, not the Right, not Sesame Street.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
Yeah. I came later, so you learn and now now
you have to protect your hands all the time. Those
are the tools of the train.
Speaker 3 (01:49):
I've been told that I need to insure them.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
Of course, Lloyd's in London. I know what's dead the
dead as a Dodo. The premises everybody's dead in the show,
is that right? Yeah?
Speaker 3 (02:01):
Pretty much except for the puppeteers. We're very much alive
on stage.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
This is not some AI trickery, right.
Speaker 3 (02:09):
No, no, But there's a little bit of AI involved.
We do have a sort of an AI world that comes.
Speaker 1 (02:16):
It's lurking and of course, but it's it's just a
small part of it. Is this for children and adults.
Speaker 3 (02:21):
The show all ages for age inclusive.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
So once we bumped past Halloween. The premise is still there.
It kind of goes with the season, right.
Speaker 3 (02:32):
We've been performing this show all year long. We were
in January this yeah, this January in New York City
performing at Under the Radar Festival, and the New York
Times picked our show to be the best out of
all thirty three shows in the festival. And that's that's
on paper.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
That's why you had to have it here.
Speaker 3 (02:51):
That's why we had to have it here, because the
greatest city in the world needs to have the greatest course.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
We like to have our shows try out in New
York and if they're good enough there, we'll consider bringing
them to Louisville.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
Exact great attitude. I love the feel of that whole thing.
And then are there is the visual spectacle here? Are
there a lot of people performing? Or is it? Is
it you and another person who are or tell me
about the show itself.
Speaker 3 (03:22):
We're eight puppeteers on stage and eight thousand puppets if
you count all the all the grains, all the all
the small ones, and there's it's a it's a visual spectacle.
We have great visuals from our video artists. She's from Greece.
(03:44):
We have a great composer. His name is Thor. He's
the god of Thunder. Of course heard of him exactly.
He's from Iceland.
Speaker 1 (03:54):
When you take on these various puppets, do you, like
an actor, have to assume their personality? So are you switching?
Are you going back and forth as to your different
like characters?
Speaker 3 (04:05):
We do a lot of switching. Yeah, So there's a
lot of characters in the play. There's a lot of puppets.
There are more puppets than people. And sometimes we're three
people on one puppet just to bring these small creatures
to life.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
Oh, three people work in that same puppet. Oh my goodness.
Speaker 3 (04:22):
Oh it's a we're doing some advanced.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
So on scale. Then someone who's sitting in the back
can still take in a great visual experience. Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
Now, don't let Curion be humble here. He's not just
a performing puppeteer. He designed and built all of these
puppets as well. I read about that, and they range
from like a very detailed little boy who has dexterity
in his hand and in his jaw and his eyes
light up and has like a lot of personality all
in one little body, to a giant wooly mammoth that
(04:55):
takes up, you know, a third of the stage. So
a real rain of the different mechanics of puppetry, the
different visual aspects, and they're they're unlike anything I've personally
ever seen before.
Speaker 1 (05:07):
I've heard, I mean, I've been reading about you and
that you are so unique. There are very few people
like you in the world.
Speaker 3 (05:15):
We're all unique.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
There, but your skill set is pretty rare.
Speaker 3 (05:21):
Yeah, there's not very many puppeteers.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
So is there a club? Is there an online group
of people with your skill set that you communicate with?
Speaker 3 (05:29):
Absolutely, there's a there is there is. There are many
clubs of puppeteers around. There's like the you know, the
the Marrionettes, the people who corean nets. They have their
own little clubs around, and there are guilts. People are
organized in guilds, and of course there's a There are
(05:49):
hubs like New York City is a big course, that's
where you have them, whether the Muppets were based or
where the Muppet Workshop is still there and where Jim
Manson was.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
How long do you think your tour can last? This
show has fascinated people in so many ways.
Speaker 3 (06:06):
We've been told that this show by somebody who used
to work at the Saint Louis. I think that they
could tour easily for ten years.
Speaker 1 (06:18):
How do you feel about That's that's quite a commitment.
Speaker 3 (06:22):
Oh well, we're hoping to We have breaks in between.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
And then are you are you developing in the back
of your mind? Are you developing another project for down
the road? Because this one? Yeah? Because this show is set.
Speaker 3 (06:35):
Yeah, this one, this one's set, and we will be touring.
We're going to Chicago next year. We're going to Boston.
We'll be going to Taiwan. We've been invited to a
big festival in Norway and Bergin on the West coast.
We have been invited to the Spoleto festival in Italy.
We've been invited to another festival in Bertrigramo, Italy. We're
(06:56):
looking to go to Lisbon, Lisbon in Portugal.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
Wow, yeah, do you so? You have to have an
unders You have to have understudies available to in case
someone that breaks their arm or whatever.
Speaker 3 (07:09):
So far only the puppets I've broken.
Speaker 1 (07:12):
You have to think all these things here. It's like
a football team. You know, somebody's injured, send them the
next one.
Speaker 3 (07:17):
We do, say, break a puppet leg and that's what
we hope for them, because we don't want anybody else
to reck a leg, but we can find.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
Them in there. What's the show schedule this week, Amelia?
How many days are we talking about?
Speaker 2 (07:27):
We have performances on Friday, two on Saturday, and one
on Sunday, So people come check it out. November seventh
through ninth, Actors.
Speaker 1 (07:36):
Theater, Carrie, This, it's great to meet you. You you're
a fascinating person. I know people want to hear more
about your life. They can read it about you online.
You're You're just an interesting cat. So I'm curious to
see where you go next For us here in Louisville, Amelia,
you and the other leadership teammates, you've you've got a
(07:57):
new or an improved vision of actors Theater or a
new dimension is probably the right way to put it.
Tell me, what's what's your thought process in where Actors
Theater goes forward?
Speaker 2 (08:08):
Yeah? Thank you? Well, really, for us, it's all about
that balance, right. We are the state theater of Kentucky,
so it's important that we serve a little bit of
everybody and that we offer a range of things. So
with this amazing all ages show. You know, we're happy
to welcome both families, adults, young kids. Right after this,
we'll go into a Christmas Carol, which of course has
(08:28):
been a long standing tradition here in Louisville. It's been
sorely missed the last few years, so it's critical we
bring it back, and we're so excited. We have an
amazing all local cast for that, really showcasing Louisville talent.
And then in the new year, we're bringing back the
Bingham Signature Shakespeare Series. Excellent, so we've got Comedy of Errors,
a new production with original music that's just fantastic that's
(08:51):
going to be playing in March. And then closing out
our spring with a New Works Festival. Of course, actors
Theater internationally known for new work, so will premiere a
new play. We'll have other companies bring in new work
and really bring back that celebratory festival atmosphere where people
can just get together. You know, I think we're not
(09:12):
trying to compete with streaming TV on your couch, but
what we do offer that streaming TV doesn't offer is
really connecting with other human beings, right, having that chance
to not only see a show but also like, share
a drink in the lobby, talk about it. Have Maybe
you'll like some stuff, maybe you'll hate some stuff, but
at least you'll have that really special experience at a
(09:33):
festival where you can go, oh, what was your favorite?
Oh I love that one, Oh I actually like this
other one. So we need that feeling in our city.
We need people downtown celebrating and participating in art together.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
Yeah, it's the collaborative effort that you can't get setting
on your couch exactly. Well, good Amelia, it's great to
talk with you face to face, like and Kiri in
great to meet you, and just keep it up. It's
a fascinating realm you're in, that's for sure. And we're
just thrilled that Actors Theater feels like it's really lighting
the lights again. And that's exactly what we need in
(10:04):
this city. So many amazing people have come through Actors
Theater over these decades, launching these magnificent careers, and they
some of them were starting here there in the early stages.
Speaker 2 (10:15):
That's right. Yeah, if you're seeing the next Kevin Bacon,
the next Kathy.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
Bates, right, I saw Kathy Bates here and it was
just like, Wow, things seem to have worked out for
her for sure. Great to see you. We're back in
a minute Actress Theater's website. People can go there actorstheater
dot org and learn more about everything you need for
tickets and the upcoming shows as well. Back in a
minute on news radio Wait forty whs
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