“The Adventures of Alvin Sputnik: Deep Sea Explorer” | Press Releases

Fairfield University presents award-winning one-man show on Feb. 6 & 7

Fairfield University’s Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts presents “The Adventures of Alvin Sputnik: Deep Sea Explorer,” a wildly inventive and award-winning one-man show, at 6 and 8 p.m., Friday, February 6, and at 5 and 8 p.m., Saturday, February 7, in the Quick Center’s Wien Experimental Theatre.

Tickets are $30. For tickets, visit www.quickcenter.com or call the Box Office at (203) 254-4010.

Take a peek inside Alvin’s world: http://vimeo.com/26481978

Winner of best solo show at the New York International Fringe Festival and created for adult audiences, “The Adventures of Alvin Sputnik: Deep Sea Explorer” is an unusual tale set in the deepest dark blue ocean. Seas have risen, billions have died and tiny Alvin Sputnik is our only hope. In a fusion of puppetry, animation, mime, song and projections, he must venture to the bottom of the sea to find his wife’s lost soul and save humanity.

The work couldn’t be more timely: With 2014 logging in as one of the hottest years in recorded history, this performance’s environmental theme is sure to resonate with audience members.

“I was wanting to make a show that was about the bleak environmental catastrophe that we find ourselves in, but that dealt with it with a sense of hope and joy, and this puppet seemed like such a good fit,” said “Alvin” creator Tim Watts, who first dreamt up Alvin in a 2007 puppetry workshop.

Watts, an Australian, worked with creative advisor Arielle Gray to refine and augment the performance, which has won several awards in addition to the New York Fringe Festival nod, including Best Puppetry at the 2010 Adelaide Fringe Awards, Best Theatre at the Auckland Fringe in 2011 and Best Male Performer at the Dublin Fringe. It was nominated for Australia’s top performance prize, the Helpmann Award, in 2012.

The work, which The New York Times called “akin to a theatrical ‘Wall-E’,” has been performed in the United States, New Zealand, India, South Korea, Japan and other locales around the world.

Though Watts originally performed in “Alvin,” St. John Cowcher will take the role at the Quick Center. Cowcher is a founding member of The Wet Weather Ensemble and an associate artist with Spare Parts Puppet Theatre. He is the winner of the Blue Room Theatre Audience Award for “The Bearskinner” and performs in the improv comedy group The Big HOO-HAA.

“Alvin” was created for adults, but it is suitable for older children.

Tickets are available through the Quick Center Box Office at www.quickcenter.com or by calling (203) 254-4010, or toll-free 1-877-ARTS-396 (1-877-278-7396).