ABOUT THE COMPANY

Arm-of-the-Sea is an arts ensemble that fuses visual storytelling with live music in large-scale works of mask and puppet theater. Founded in 1982 by Marlena Marallo and Patrick Wadden, the company’s hybrid performance style channels the evocative power of the arts as a force for joy, insight, and community uplift. Their low-tech devices of theatrical enchantment illuminate relations between humans and the life-support networks of this blue-ocean planet.

Under the direction of Marallo & Wadden, the 2024 creative team includes musicians Maclain Maier and Helen Houghton, and performers Kerry Bergin, Trey Daniels, Kira deCoudres, Joanna Grabiarz, Douglas Keller, Dee Dee Maucher, Nick Panken, Rakel Stammer, Soyal Smalls and MJ Smythe.

Arm-of-the-Sea tours to cultural centers, festivals, and community venues throughout New York and adjacent states. The organization is transforming the ruins of a 19th century papermill into a waterfront cultural park - The Tidewater Center - in Saugerties, NY.

Recent recognitions include: 2024 Hudson River Watershed Alliance Wave-Makers Award, 2018 Ulster County Executive's Arts Award for Arts Organization, 2016 Environmental Champions Award from the US Environmental Protection Agency, 2014 Excellence in Arts Award from Mill Street Loft, 2014 Distinguished Environmental Achievement Award from Mohonk Consultations. Marallo & Wadden were 2013 Artists-in-Residence at SUNY Ulster (Stone Ridge, NY), and 2014 Artists-in-Residence at the Cary Institute for Ecosystem Studies (Millbrook, NY).

TOURING COMPANY

  • Helen Houghton

    Music Co-Director

  • Maclain Maier

    Music Co-Director

  • Trey Daniels

    Puppeteer

  • Soyal Smalls

    Puppeteer

  • Rakel Stammer

    Rakel Stammer

    Puppeteer

  • Nick Panken

    Nick Panken

    Puppeteer

  • MJ Smythe

    Puppeteer

  • Dee Dee Maucher

    Puppeteer

  • Douglas Keller

    Puppeteer

  • Joanna Grabiarz

    Puppeteer

  • Kira deCoudres

    Puppeteer & Videographer

The Founders

Marlena Marallo and Patrick Wadden are the backbone of Arm-of-the-Sea’s creative team and the original founders of the company. They are an eco-conscious couple with a longtime homestead in Saugerties and have been actively contributing community members since the 1980s. Patrick and Marlena have greatly impacted Saugerties, NY with their dedicated work in community theater and environmental education.

Patrick is a playwright, puppet performer and poet. He writes fantastic scripts aimed at educating and bringing light to local history, ecology and environmental issues. Additionally, he creates the sets, directs the productions, choreographs the shows and performs as a puppeteer. Patrick is responsible for bringing Arm-of-the-Sea performances all over the Northeast USA.

Marlena sculpts and paints nearly all of the vivid imagery that creates the sets, costumes, and masks, using elements of painting, sculpting and printmaking. In addition, she is a spectacular printmaker and mosaic artist creating interpretations of local ecology and history. Her colors, textures and imagery make the one-of-a-kind look that is uniquely Arm-of-the-Sea.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS 2024

  • Deborah Conathan

    CHAIR & FINANCIAL OFFICER

  • Jolanda Jansen

    CO-CHAIR

  • Susan Murphy

    SECRETARY

  • Victoria Decker

    BOARD MEMBER

  • Shabazz Jackson

    FOUNDING BOARD MEMBER

  • Abby Newton

    BOARD MEMBER

  • Josephine Papagni

    FOUNDING BOARD MEMBER

  • Shelley Wyant

    BOARD MEMBER

  • Peter Varner

    BOARD MEMBER

  • Eli Winograd

    Board Member

  • Eliza Blum

    Board Member

  • Zach Redmond

    Board Member

STAFF

  • Helen Houghton

    Music Co-Director

  • Maclain Maier

    Maclain Maier

    Music Co-Director

  • Laura Rock Kopczak

    Director of Giving and Tidewater Center Project Manager

  • www.annalaurahafner.com

    Anna Laura Hafner

    Director of Marketing and PR

  • Eli Winograd (music director 2015-2024), Dean Jones (Music Director 1999-2014), Thomas Workman (music director 1996-1999), Brian Farmer (music director 1989-1996), Juan Basilio Sanchez, Sarah Underhill, Joakim Lartey, Dennis Yerry, Noah Wadden, Malcom Cecil, Robin Ludwig, Chas Griffiths, Tani Tabal, Zoe B ZaK, Bill “Otto” Ylitalo, Tim Allen, Peter Buettner, Shane Kirsch, Chris Cullo, Joel Schuman, Dan Einbender, Ella Ray Kondrat, Katie Kondrat, Quince Marcum, Maclain Maier, Laura Crimmins, Helen Houghton

  • Photo: L Ryan Smith, Bart Friedman, Phil Kamrass, Jim Peppler, Michael Nelson, Rachel Saltzman, Roy Gumpel, Fionn Reilly, Fred DeVan, Sam Brook, Elijah Vanaver, Dave Gordon, Sienna Wildfield, Stephen Ruttan, Tania Barricklo

    Video: Matthew Fass, Kira deCoudres, Bart Friedman & Michael Nelson

  • Kira DeCoudres, Anna Laura Hafner, Sam Shippee, Laura Kopczak, Steve Smith, Keenan Cleary, LeeAnne Richards, Carl Welden, Zzoe Rowan, Eli McNamara, Cathy Muller, Monika Szrek, Julie Novak, Dale Gibbons, Jason West, Trey Daniels, Lisa Abbatomarco, Steve Thomas, Colette Lemmon, Marie Daniels, Grian MacGregor, Hannah Mittenberg, Sandy Lamerson, Lillian Harden, Vanessa Norton, Sean Williams, Sophie Kravitz, Kevin Taylor, Nick Jones, Kevin Downing, Amy Kotel, Adam Green, Travis Jeffery, Josh Gordon, Mina Hansen, Eva Berger, Titso Markoshasvilli, Gavin Hoesch, Debra Noble, Lucinda Knaus, Joel Schuman, Lynn Duval, Lynne Gilson, Bob Lavaggi, Melissa Ortquist, Pat Humphrey, Joe Ferris, Adelinda Hyde, Claudia Rose, Karen Hinderstein, Raven Hone.

  • Principal Assistant Designer: Jean Whelan - Costume designer and artist extraordinaire. Jean’s skills and sensibilities have helped shape characters and scenic elements in numerous productions including: The Water Tree, Dreambones & Lightning, Feast of Life, Rip Van Winkle on the River of Time, City that Drink the Mountain Sky, At the Turning of the Tide, and the 2014 Esopus Creek Puppet Suite.

    Design & Production Assistants: Bob Lavaggi, Rae Stang, Olga Micińska, Zoe Rowan, Sean Williams, Leslie Bender, Reid Beilenberg, Titso Markoshasvilli, Maka Markoshasvilli, Steve Thomas, Anna Laura Hafner, Sam Shippee, and more.