SARAH PROVOST, Creator / Puppetry Director
Sarah has been creating and performing in works for puppetry for 15 years. In addition to The Adventures of Charcoal Boy, original work includes Project B in The Voice 4 Vision Puppet Festival at Theater for the New City, A Pipe Dream at the NY Fringe Festival and The Painted Bride in Philadelphia. Other performance credits include Mabou Mines Obie-Award winning Peter and Wendy at the New Victory Theatre, Ecco Porco with Mabou Mines at PS 122, Paula Vogel's The Long Christmas Ride Home at the Vineyard Theatre, and numerous works by Theodora Skipitares at La Mama. Sarah is a recipient of a Jim Henson Foundation Grant and NY State Council on the Arts Grant.
ERIC NOVAK, Creator / Set and Puppet Designer
Original work includes The Bacon/Mingus Triptych performed in The Voice 4 Vision Puppet Festival at Theater for the New City, E-volution at the Henson Festival Cabaret, Rex Rocket in Outer Space at the Center for Puppetry Arts in Atlanta, and a 25-foot praying mantis for the Village Halloween Parade. He has built puppets for The Long Christmas Ride Home at The Vineyard Theatre, A Day in the Death of Joe Egg at the Roundabout Theatre, the feature film The American Astronaut, and Basil Twist's La Bella Dormente, and Symphonie Fantastique. Eric is a recipient of a Jim Henson Foundation Grant.
ELYAS KHAN, Creator / Composer / Musical Director / Narrator
His career in the U.S. began with dance in the Minneapolis based Ballet of the Dolls. While in Minneapolis he co-founded The Famine Chorus Gallery House, a gallery/performance space. After moving to NYC he co-founded, performed, directed and scored music for the Dean Street Field of Operation (FOO). At Exit Art he curated a weekly music series Nightwalks which aired on PBS City Arts. As a musician, under the stage name "KiD (SiC)" Elyas writes and plays music with his band the Nervous Cabaret. Nervous Cabaret is currently performing throughout NYC and Europe.
LUTE BREUER (Puppeteer) is a point guard from Brooklyn. When he's not puppeteering or thinking about puppets, he's at work on his first film and his never ending pataphysical roman a clef.

CEILI CLEMENS (Puppeteer) is a Brooklyn based super-villianess, who is very excited to be re-united with Charcoal Boy. An alumni of UCONN's Puppetry Arts program she can be seen in many downtown shows such as Uncle Jimmy's Dirty Basement, Maya the Bee, Animal Farm: A Musical and Cats Paw Collective's Nosforatu. She also spends her time working as a costumer and theater technician.

BRIAN GELTNER (Percussion) has been playing drums for over 25 years. Recently he's been getting involved in film scoring, writing various compositions under the name Dr. Snitch. He has composed the music for films The Blakey and Every Dogs Day. Brian has worked with many talented artists, such as Nervous Cabaret, Johnny Society, Chris Whitley, Joseph Arthur, Soul Asylum, Church of Betty, Tears for Fears, Johnathan Rice, Tara Angell, John Dyer, and many others.

SAM HACK (Puppeteer) is delighted to be working with the Charcoal Boy crew. She has worked as a puppeteer with Mabou Mines, Janie Geiser, Basil Twist and Ed Woodham. Sam also creates original puppet theater pieces including Sam's Dog And Pony Show, Isolation Island (A Natural History), and the Uberwomen Series, which she is currently adapting into a picture book. Sam teaches art at PS 196 in Forest Hills.

MATTHEW MORANDI (Bass) was born in New York in 1973. He studied contrabass with Homer Mensch. Matt plays bass with Nervous Cabaret. Various musical projects include: Sender-Receiver, Owl Sounds, Bad Credit (Duo). He lives in Brooklyn.

GWEN SNYDER (Vocalist, Guitar) has worked with Meredith Monk, Paul Lazar and Annie B. Parson's Big Dance and Mabou Mines. Indie films include Love God and Cinema Redux's On My Knees. She has released two CDs Twilight and Have Another Pillow on her own label, The Shaz Records. As a vocalist and musician she has worked with Ryuichi Sakamoto, Don Byron, Tears for Fears, N'Dea Davenport, Johnny Society, Dave Pirner, and Jonathan Rice.

KEVIN TAYLOR (Puppeteer) is a puppet artist living NYC. In addition to The Adventures of Charcoal Boy he has had the privilege of working with many great productions over the years. Some recent credits include Mabou Mines' Red Beads, Basil Twist's Petrushka, La Bella Dormente Nel Bosco, Symphonie Fantastique, and Dogugaseshi.

AMANDA VILLALOBOS (Puppeteer) is delighted to tag along on yet another of Charcoal Boy's adventures. She has also puppeteered in Theodora Skipitares' Iphigenia, Helen Of Troy, and Odyssey: The Homecoming all at La Mama, Chris Maresca's Permanent Disruption at the Arts at St. Ann's Puppet Lab, 3 Works by Project B in the Voice 4 Vision Puppet Festival, and Say Uncle! at the Soho Playhouse presented by Not From France (founding member). A graduate of Sarah Lawrence College, Amanda can be seen performing with her drag king act Flash & Pumpkin.

FRED WRIGHT (Trumpet) attended Vestbirk and Front Session music schools in Denmark. He began performing with Elyas Khan in 2001 and is a founding member of Nervous Cabaret. Fred has performed and composed music for the site-specific performance group Red Dive since 2003, most recently in the River To River Festival. Fred has also performed and recorded with: Joseph Arthur, Foreign Islands, Johnny Society, Blueberry, Owl Sounds Orchestra, Made Out of Babies and Chad Parks.