Janie Geiser

The new film "The Beaver" stars Mel Gibson as a mentally ill man who begins to speak through a battered hand puppet that he retrieves from a dumpster in a moment of despair. Although the controversial star made a point to puppeteer the beaver himself, on the set, puppet wrangler Anney McKilligan Ozar was tasked with grooming the creature's fur and even brushing its prominent teeth. "I had to keep his teeth nice and shiny because things wear down," she said. On an average day on the job, McKilligan Ozar said she needs "everything from 18 different sizes of needles to 18 different sizes of drill bits.

MOVIES Janie Geiser: 'Nervous Films,' Secret Stories The celebrated experimental filmmaker, who has screened work at the Whitney Museum, the Guggenheim and many film festivals, has a new series of shorts — "Ghost Algebra" (2009), "Kindless Villain," (2010), "The Floor of the World" (2010) and "Ricky" (2011). Geiser's work weaves textures of overlaid visual and aural elements haunted by lonely, frightened or sinister figures. Geiser will be there to discuss her work. REDCAT, 631 W. 2nd St. 8:30 p.m. (213)

Vi's in hot water. She's not sleeping with her husband anymore. Her kids think she's a shadow of her former self and the endless news of war on her Sony sends her into a suburban tizzy. Vi's a 13-inch rod puppet--as are most of the forlorn beings in her world. Pulling the strings: New York visual artist, Janie Geiser, who uses puppets to engage audiences about choices between involvement in social issues or passive alienation.

The new film "The Beaver" stars Mel Gibson as a mentally ill man who begins to speak through a battered hand puppet that he retrieves from a dumpster in a moment of despair. Although the controversial star made a point to puppeteer the beaver himself, on the set, puppet wrangler Anney McKilligan Ozar was tasked with grooming the creature's fur and even brushing its prominent teeth. "I had to keep his teeth nice and shiny because things wear down," she said. On an average day on the job, McKilligan Ozar said she needs "everything from 18 different sizes of needles to 18 different sizes of drill bits.

MOVIES Janie Geiser: 'Nervous Films,' Secret Stories The celebrated experimental filmmaker, who has screened work at the Whitney Museum, the Guggenheim and many film festivals, has a new series of shorts — "Ghost Algebra" (2009), "Kindless Villain," (2010), "The Floor of the World" (2010) and "Ricky" (2011). Geiser's work weaves textures of overlaid visual and aural elements haunted by lonely, frightened or sinister figures. Geiser will be there to discuss her work. REDCAT, 631 W. 2nd St. 8:30 p.m. (213)

Every year since 1989, the Library of Congress-sponsored National Film Registry has selected significant American films as worthy of preservation. Many of these films are well-known features such as "Casablanca," but the registry also selects excellent but little-known shorts. Now Filmforum has come up with the smart idea of showcasing eight of these films, ranging in time from Winsor McCay's 1911 "Little Nemo" to Chuck Workman's 1986 "Precious Images." Workman will attend, as will Janie Geiser, director of "The Red Book."

The backdrop is tiny, but the themes are large. A man unravels emotionally and spiritually. Life and death are confronted. And it's all done with puppets, in a space the size of a bookshelf. "Frankenstein: Mortal Toys" will be presented via a 19th century form of miniature -- also called toy -- theater at the new location of the Velaslavasay Panorama in the West Adams district.

The term "doppelganger" is the impetus for "Invisible Glass," which ends its REDCAT run on Sunday. This multimedia look at Edgar Allan Poe's short story "William Wilson" runs the German word for each human's shadow self to avant-garde extremes. "Invisible Glass" is the handiwork of director-puppet designer Janie Geiser, playwright Erik Ehn and the Center for New Theater actors.

What happens when you pay artists $10,000 each and invite them to spend it however they please? Ten years ago, local officials found out when the city of Los Angeles' Department of Cultural Affairs began handing out so-called COLA grants to individual creative types. The only strings attached: In exchange for the money, each recipient would have to produce work the city could present in a public venue. The latest fruits of this annual experiment in nonbureaucratic arts funding are on view in "C.

Vi's in hot water. She's not sleeping with her husband anymore. Her kids think she's a shadow of her former self and the endless news of war on her Sony sends her into a suburban tizzy. Vi's a 13-inch rod puppet--as are most of the forlorn beings in her world. Pulling the strings: New York visual artist, Janie Geiser, who uses puppets to engage audiences about choices between involvement in social issues or passive alienation.

With her new work-in-progress at the CalArts Cotsen Center for Puppetry and the Arts, center director Janie Geiser has attempted in "Ether Telegrams" to make the raw physicality and handicraft of puppet theater express the ineffable nature of dreams and the afterlife.

One of the best theatrical performances this season comes from an actor who stands about a foot tall and weighs less than a pound. He can't speak, so a narrator delivers his lines for him. His joints are stiff, but his arms move gracefully. He can traverse vast distances in a few leaps. And he's made almost entirely of wood. If you haven't already guessed, this remarkable thespian is a puppet.