Mission
Pointless Theatre is dedicated to creating bold, visceral, and affordable spectacles that gleefully smash the traditional boundaries between puppetry, theatre, dance, music, and the visual arts. Through our work we excite a passion for adventurous art in the nation’s capital and nurture a diverse, active, and inspired audience.
Company Overview
Pointless Theatre was started in the summer of 2009 by Matt Reckeweg and Patti Kalil as a group dedicated to performing innovative and exuberant puppet theatre. Pointless presented its first show, The Sleeping Beauty: A Puppet Ballet, at the Capital Fringe Festival in the summer of 2010. Since then, the company has grown to include sixteen company members and thirteen artistic associates. Pointless Theatre incorporated as a non-profit organization in the District of Columbia in 2012. Over the course of its history, the company has created and produced eight completely original theatrical pieces and has won numerous awards. In 2013 and 2014, Pointless was honored to receive the Best Emerging Theatre Company award from Washington City Paper’s Best of DC Reader’s Poll. In April 2014, Pointless received the John Aniello Award for Outstanding Emerging Theatre Company, a Helen Hayes Award that recognizes “groups that have shown great promise in their early years, and that have proven their lasting commitment with a body of work that is both groundbreaking and compelling.”
Every one of Pointless’ productions has the end goal of successfully merging ensemble work among the actors with puppets and the vivid imagery of stage design. We employ an ensemble approach to creating theatre through play and improvisation that informs all of our work. There is an overwhelming passion for the work we do with the Pointless family - it is intensely personal to all of us. We hope to charge our audiences with that passion and in doing so bring a new theatrical experience into the DC community.
Production History and Awards
Gimme A Band, Gimme A Banana! The Carmen Miranda Story
Rite of Spring
2010
The Sleeping Beauty: A Puppet Ballet
- Winner of the Pick of the Fringe for Best Experimental (Capital Fringe Festival)
2011
Hugo Ball: A Super Spectacular Dada Adventure
- Winner of the Pick of the Fringe for Best Experimental (Capital Fringe Festival)
- Washington Post, Going Out Guide Editor’s Pick
The Solar System Show
- Commissioned by the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum
- Toured DC and performed at Malcolm X Elementary School in Congress Heights, The Puppet Co. at Glen Echo Park, and the National Theatre
2012
Cab Calloway's Minnie the Moocher
Imagination Meltdown Adventure
- Director’s Award (Capital Fringe Festival)
- Washington Post, Going Out Guide Editor’s Pick
2013
Canterbury
- Presented as part of Mead Theatre Lab Program at Flashpoint
Mark Twain’s Riverboat Extravaganza
- Washington Post, Going Out Guide Editor’s Pick
2014
Sleeping Beauty: A Puppet Ballet
- Presented as a part of the Mead Theatre Lab Program at Flashpoint
A Very Pointless Holiday Spectacular
2015
A Very Pointless Holiday Spectacular
2016
Gimme A Band, Gimme a Banana! The Carmen Miranda Story
- Presented as a part of the Women's Voices Theater Festival
Hugo Ball: A Dada Puppet Adventure
2017
2018
Imogen
- Presented as a part of the Women's Voices Theater Festival
2019
2020
Helen Hayes Award Winners with the 2014 John Aniello
Award for Outstanding Emerging Theatre Company
Best Emerging Theatre Company, 2013 and 2014
Washington City Paper, Best of D.C. Reader’s Poll
Board of Governors
Caroline Wilkins, Chair
Principle Lecturer - English, University of Maryland
Melanie Douglass, Vice-Chair
Preschool Teacher, Little Folks School
Alison Beyrle, Development Chair
VP, Programs & Grant Administration, The Rales Foundation
David Lloyd Olson, Chair Emeritus
Managing Director, Quintessence Theatre Group
Patti Kalil
Co-Artistic Director, Pointless Theatre
Matt Reckeweg
Co-Artistic Director, Pointless Theatre
Coming Up Next
ARTIST WORKSHOP SERIES
AUGUST 2021
For press inquiries, please contact Wendy Walker, Deputy Director at wswalker68@gmail.com
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Pointless Theatre Co.
PO Box 43033, Washington, DC 20010
www.pointlesstheatre.com