ShadowLight Productions

06/02/2026

We are incredibly proud of our Managing Director, Caryl Kientz, and ShadowLight member, Lydia Greer, for their remarkable shadow theater adaptation of "The Odyssey"! “The Odyssey in Shadow” is currently being showcased at the UC Davis Department of Theater and Dance. For more details, please read the article below!

Homer’s ancient epic is given new life in the UC Davis department of theater and dance’s presentation of “The Odyssey in Shadow,” a large-scale cinematic shadow theater experience. The production

05/28/2026

THE NEW FARM SF will be screening ShadowLight’s In His Own Words: An Invocation (2025) at The New Farm Film Series on June 26th 5PM!

This will be an evening of shorts by ShadowLight, Kara Herold, William Farley, Jarico Reese, Peter McCandless, Anne Hamersky, and more! Learn more about The New Farm SF by visiting thenewfarmsf.org.

“In His Own Words: An Invocation” is an avant-garde shadow theater production inspired by the early life of painter Marc Chagall. Drawing from Chagall’s autobiography “Mein Leben,” the production uses Chinese-style puppets to animate his words and artwork. Directed by Larry Reed, with Art Direction by Naomie Kremer, the ShadowLight Productions team vividly portrays the artist’s childhood in a shtetl and his creative inspirations. In a nod to traditional animation, the crew employed various physical planar layers to manipulate shadows and puppets, which were ultimately flattened by the output of a video camera.

Director Larry Reed’s Statement regarding the project:

“In His Own Words: An Invocation” is an avant-garde shadow theater production inspired by the early life of painter Marc Chagall. Drawing from Chagall’s autobiography “Mein Leben,” the production uses Chinese-style puppets to animate his words and artwork. Directed by Larry Reed, with Art Direction by Naomie Kremer, the ShadowLight Productions team vividly portrays the artist’s childhood in a shtetl and his creative inspirations. In a nod to traditional animation, the crew employed various physical planar layers to manipulate shadows and puppets, which were ultimately flattened by the output of a video camera.

05/21/2026

Earth Paper Cut: A Shadow Play & Hands-On Puppet Building Workshop

FREE • ALL AGES • Family Friendly
Sunday, June 14, 2026 1-4 PM
Red Poppy Art House
2698 Folsom Street
San Francisco, CA
RSVP & more info at https://www.facebook.com/events/870868911934554/
Note: RSVP guarantees admission but does not guarantee a seat. Seating is first come, first served.

Created and performed by ShadowLight’s Jess Nguyen, Earth Paper Cut is a youth-scripted, surreal story translated into a shadow show: Earth Paper Cut follows two children navigating the moral quandaries around staying or leaving their planet behind at the end of the world as we know it.

This performance will be followed by a guided exploration of transforming a story into a shadow play and a puppet building workshop.

This event is part of Red Poppy’s Family Art Program (Arte entre Familia).

Featuring:
Jess Nguyen, Puppeteer and ShadowLight Teaching Artist

ABOUT THE ARTISTS:

Jessica Nguyễn specializes in movement and visual arts disciplines ranging from dance, puppetry, and circus to science illustration and sculpture. As a core member, performer, and frequent collaborator with Shadowlight Productions Jess specializes as a shadow puppeteer and designer, but is also versed in other forms of puppetry. She has performed and collaborated with Facing West Shadows, OddSavvy, Driveway Follies, SF Youth Theatre, and the SF Opera. Jess is always up to shenanigans with the youth, and is a multi-disciplinary educator across the Bay. You can often catch her, unsurprisingly, mulling over fun facts to share with you.

Artist Links

Jess Nguyen
FB:https://www.facebook.com/phantomcardium/
IG:
Website: www.ghosthearted.com

05/14/2026

Sojourner ZY (2023) is an original play written by Eugenie Chan with new music composer Paul Dresher performed by ShadowLight Productions in their signature large-scale cinematic shadow theater style, directed by Larry Reed.

Sojourner ZY is co-produced by ShadowLight Productions, New Performance Traditions/Paul Dresher Ensemble and The Presidio Theater.

In ZY’s galactic travel, he encounters an array of contrasting societies, from the uber-authoritarian to the uber-altruistic: in a liquid world where beings shapeshift among sexes, ethnic and sexual identities within miniature bubble-spheres in total anarchic paradise (until it’s not); a moonscape of mammal-headed creatures who find abundance by adopting the animal mind to live harmoniously with nature and who follow an authoritarian leader, (until they do not); and a light-filled asteroid of intangible beings.

05/12/2026

Proud members of UNIMA-USA!

Give a hand for this week’s Member Monday feature: ShadowLight Productions. Founded in 1972 by filmmaker/theatre director/shadow artist Larry Reed, ShadowLight strives to preserve indigenous shadow theater traditions and explore/expand the possibilities of the shadow theater medium by creating innovative interdisciplinary, multicultural works. This San Francisco-based company is available worldwide for consultation, development, and production. We thank them for their essential work and membership with UNIMA-USA

05/08/2026

Poro Oyna: The Myth of the Ainu (2015)

PORO OYNA was developed over three years in Hokkaido and Tokyo, Japan.

This production introduced five master Ainu musicians and innovators in their respective fields to US audiences. It provided a platform to further their cause of promoting their culture in a broader context. The production also offered a rare chance for audiences to experience the centuries-old sacred world of the Ainus and the complexity of Japanese cultural/social tapestry.

05/07/2026

In honor of the 2026 remounting of “The Magic Flute” by Ballet Austin, check out some behind-the-scenes shots of ShadowLight consulting on some shadow scenes! Learn more about this year’s run by visiting

05/02/2026

Happy International Worker’s Day from the shadow world!

Watch the full short film this snippet came from on our YouTube channel! “Shadows For Carlos Villa”