Michael Montenegro’s puppets run an astounding gamut, from tiny Punch and Judy figures to a headless, life-size doppelganger of the puppeteer.

Most beautiful is a delicate moving sculpture of bones in the 2004 Sublime Beauty of Hands, which tells an oblique, poetic story about evil munitions makers, the vulnerability of the body, and the limitations of puppetry.

Matters turn much less serious in the delightful Klown Kantos: six very funny puppet bits, loosely connected by the ensemble’s clowning.

Montenegro’s interactions with his creations–comic revelations of the tender, antagonistic, complicated relationship between puppet and puppeteer–are a highlight.

Display running Friday & Saturdays at 7:30pm and Sundays at 3pm from October 16, 2009 – November 1, 2009.

For more information, please call 847-350-9275 or visit http://www.zarkotheatre.org.