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Piehole’s Christmas Mountain—an interactive “advent calendar” window display that features animatronics, embedded videos, and original music on a handcrafted diorama—appears December 2022 in the windows of The Greene Space at WNYC and WQXR in SoHo / Hudson Square.
The story of Christmas Mountain unfolds for passersby and viewers online at xmasmountain.com for 21 days, culminating on the Winter Solstice on December 21.
WNYC radio talk show host Brian Lehrer narrates the story that takes place in a snowy hamlet populated by mice at the base of Christmas Mountain, which is topped by an antenna that funnels signals from the “Christmas-sphere” into the town and onto the mice’s TVs. This year, the signal is on the fritz, and one grumpy mouse–the story’s hero–must descend to the center of the mountain to fix it so that the town can fulfill their beloved pastime of watching TV on the Winter Solstice. The clock is ticking! Along the way, our plucky hero encounters adventure at every turn, including a visit to a magical costume shop, a ride with a benevolent bus full of nuns, and broadcasts from an alternate Crust-mas dimension.
In creating this family-friendly installation—which drew inspiration from a range of Christmas traditions throughout history—Piehole has brought together the work of over 20 artists from different disciplines, backgrounds and aesthetics, who convey the delightful, layered, incongruous, kitschy, profound and fraught aspects of this seemingly monolithic holiday. In Christmas Mountain, a holiday we think we know becomes a journey into the unknown.
Piehole (Jerome Finalist 2021) is an NYC live arts collective driven by an ongoing pursuit of surprise, delight and beauty in unexpected places. Since 2008, Piehole has produced boundary-pushing live art for theaters, galleries, and digital spaces, including collaborations with the LA-based Tender Claws in AR and VR: Tendar (Sundance 2018) and The Under Presents (Oculus, Sundance 2019, Emmy Finalist). Piehole’s latest work Disclaimer (Drama League Award Nominee, NYC Women’s Fund) premiered at The Public's Under the Radar 2021. Piehole’s core group: Tara Ahmadinejad, Alexandra Panzer, Emilie Soffe, Ben Vigus, and Jeff Wood. To learn more about Piehole, visit pieholed.com.
Piehole
Christmas Mountain
The Jerome L. Greene Performance Space
The Greene Space is New York Public Radio’s intimate performance space and multiplatform production studio with a mission to channel the collective genius of New York City to produce forward-looking live art, theater, and journalism that sparks change. It provides a space for fostering artistic experimentation and exploration, convening challenging conversations and forging connections between New York City’s diverse communities. Since 2009, The Greene Space has hosted luminaries including Janelle Monáe and The National, actors Frances McDormand and the late Philip Seymour Hoffman, writers Nikki Giovanni, Hilton Als, and Roxane Gay, and newsmakers Mayor Bill de Blasio and Chelsea Manning, among many others. For more information, visit www.thegreenespace.org.
Credits
WNYC’s The Greene Space Presents
CHRISTMAS MOUNTAIN
Conceived and Created by Piehole
Dedicated to Elliot B. Quick’s laugh
STORY BY
Tara Ahmadinejad
Alexandra Panzer
Emilie Soffe
Ben Vigus
Jeff Wood
DIRECTED BY
Tara Ahmadinejad
Alexandra Panzer
Emilie Soffe
Ben Vigus
Jeff Wood
COMMISSIONED ARTISTS
Christmas Magic Show (featured in Episodes 2, 6, 10, and 18): Maiko Kikuchi
Episode 5 and 9: Danny Cannizzaro & Toni Ann DeNoble
Episode 15, 16, and 17: Erma Fiend
CAST
Narrator: Brian Lehrer
Christmas Mouse: Emilie Soffe
Silver Dormouse: Benoit Johnson
Softstocking White: Jeff Wood
Edam Meriweather: Alexandra Panzer
Parliamentarian Spindle: Ben Vigus
Nuns: Toni Ann DeNoble
Lady Vermin: Allison LaPlatney
Gent Vermin: Brendan Crowley
Wooden: Kathryn Wallem
Teaspoon: Alexandra Panzer
Marble: Ben Vigus
Yaldo: Emilie Soffe
Ulbee: Alexandra Panzer
Bweedle & Bwaddle: Jeff Wood
Baby Mouse: Rowan Tong
Original Music: Jason Sigal
Lyrics: Jeff Wood
with “Christmas Socks” written and composed by Allen Riley
Line Producer: Kathryn Wallem
Video Editing (Non-commissioned episodes):
Emilie Soffe, Ben Vigus, Alexandra Panzer
Production Design: Alexandra Panzer
Technical Director: Mitchell Dose
Set Decoration: Alexandra Panzer, Natalie Hill, Sarah Lammer,
Kathryn Wallem, Elise Wunderlich
Animatronics Lead: Kyle “Motor Mouse” Luntz
Animatronics Designers: Sarah Lammer, Jeff Wood
Installation Lighting: Masha Tsimring
Lighting Assistant: Emily Schmit
Lead Creative Technologist: Nick Hussong
Creative Technologists: Nick Chimienti, Jamie Godwin
Systems Integrator, Network Engineer: Steven Blasberg
Sound Design: Ben Vigus, Emilie Soffe, Alexandra Panzer
Installation Sound: Ben Vigus
Installation Vinyl Design: Emilie Soffe
Web Design, XmasMountain.com: ruth tang
Mobile Interface Web Development: Luyang Yang
Research Lead: Allison LaPlatney
Produced by Piehole
in collaboration with New Georges
Associate Producer: Jefferson White
SPECIAL THANKS
The Greene Space at WNYC
Jennifer Sendrow
Ricardo Fernandez
Chase Culpon
Amber Wright
Brian Lehrer
Dalia Dagher
Jennifer Houlihan Roussel
Elizabeth Cornell
Kate Schlesinger
K Letter
Eric Weber
Kristina Newman-Scott
Jefferson White
Allen Riley
Jacqueline Soffe
Natalie Jenkins
Beam Center
Stefania Bulbarella
Ryan Gedrich
Natalie Jablonski
Rachael Balcanoff
Andrew Cerrito
Emily Savin
Jeff Doyle
Mac Graphic Services LLC
Maureen MacCutcheon
Tim Maccutcheon
Five Ohm
Ryan Douglass
Shane Ruth