Animal Cracker Conspiracy Puppet Company

Visual artists and performers, Bridget Rountree and Iain Gunn, joined forces in 2005 and began collaborating in a series of performance art pieces that combined mixed media, physical theatre, and puppetry. In 2007 they launched Animal Cracker Conspiracy a contemporary hybrid puppet company and co-founded Zirk Ubu: live arts ensemble. Zirk Ubu with a cast of nine performers produced over fifteen pieces of original work dedicated to physical theatre, puppetry, circus, and sideshow, from 2007-10 in San Diego and Mexico. In 2010 Bridget and Iain focused solely on Animal Cracker Conspiracy after receiving their first grant from the Sator Arts Foundation for an adult piece of puppet theater “The Collector”, which received two Jim Henson Foundation Grants in 2011 and 2012.  In 2010 Animal Cracker Conspiracy began hosting quarterly shows, The Adult Puppet Cabaret, producing and fostering an audience for adult puppet performances in San Diego, which has received three Puppet Slam Network grants and has been highlighted in Puppetry International. During this time Animal Cracker Conspiracy has participated in both national and international artist residencies and workshops with Bread and Puppet, North American Creative Laboratories, La Pocha Nostra, RosenClaire, and the Old Trouts Puppet Collective.