We were lucky to catch up with Night Shade recently and have shared our conversation below.

Night Shade, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?

We are currently on tour with WHITE KNIVES which is our shadow puppet’s death rock band. This project plays out like a punk zine with handheld lights and hand-cut illustrations that conjure imagery to follow our existing character Necro Nadia as she resurrects her boyfriend using panty gravy and now she and Dead Mike have a band.

NIGHT SHADE is our shadow collective and this project has been most meaningful because it allows us to use our own original songs. We have always created original scores but this music allows us to compose through our character’s personal perspectives instead of our own.

In the past we have performed shadows illuminating a form of live music videos that incorporates the band behind the projection screen. We bring the bands into handmade psychedelic realms related to each of their songs and perform together in front of a living/breathing audience.

NIGHT SHADE formed back in the early 2000’s by performing at The Arm Gallery in NYC with the band JAPANTHER and since have performed with them multiple times as well as with the bands Golden Triangle, Immaterial Possession, and with the brilliant trio of Paz Lenchantin (Pixies, A Perfect Circle), Guy Blakeslee & Henry Lee Hopper.

Night Shade, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

We illuminate the senses with our innovative style of shadow puppetry animating depth and space – in a live cinematic shadow experience never seen before.

As NIGHT SHADE we have been rebelling against traditional flat-surface silhouettes and revolutionizing the ancient art of shadow puppetry for close to 20 years y’all! Touring internationally with epic hand-cut shadow shows and experimental short films, all while also honing their skills by working in stop-motion animation.

The hands & heart of NIGHT SHADE are award-winning puppeteer Sarah Frechette & filmmaker Jason Thibodeaux.

We are a Portland, OR-based clique formed after a collaboration with the band Japanther back in 2005.

Earlier this year NIGHT SHADE cut a live music video with Quintron & Miss Pussycat as part of Mississippi Records Music & Film series in Portland, Oregon; and resurrected our shadow band at the Contemporary Art Center in New Orleans. We have twice lit up the Boulet Brothers Dragula Ball; collaborated with bassist Paz Lenchantin in Los Angeles, CA; performed under the full moon at the Bakken Museum in Minneapolis, MN; streamed live on Adult Swim’s BLOODFEAST; and traveled overseas to the 11th Internationales Schattentheater Festival in Schwäbisch Gmünd, Germany.

Members of Night Shade have worked on popular tv series like Adult Swim’s “The Shivering Truth” and such Hollywood hits as “Coraline”, “ParaNorman”, “The Boxtrolls” and “Kubo”, along with Guillermo Del Toro’s “Pinocchio” and Netflix’s “Wendell & Wild” bringing the refinement and mastery of minute details gained on these productions to our own repertoire of touring shows. It is with these tiny details our lives have felt industrious.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

“When I came into puppetry and began NIGHT SHADE with Sarah, I came into it in a rebellious fashion. I wanted to tear down all my preconceived notions which was that it was stagnant and silly. For 20 years I have pushed to bring in my own way of performing, writing, and directing ~ and as a result I have come to acknowledge that this ancient art form with roots extending into all mediums of art and storytelling had actually taught me a-lot through its use of symbolism, allegory and the power of the live storytelling experience. I now believe that puppetry as an art contains an exponential amount to teach the modern age. For it’s history is vast and it continues to grow undefinable” … JASON

Are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

Lessons on “INSPIRATION”

In middle school we did a ton of marker on paper drawings capturing a famous painters style in crayola basics. I was told that my depiction of green and blue eggs in a basket was inaccurate (even though my Grandfather’s poultry barn showed me different). These first experiences, or lack there of, lead to a deep insecurity around creativity.

In High School another art student placed their name on my paintings and collages. After fighting to reverse this was given a lower grade on each piece. Perhaps I should thank both of these jerks ~ this injustice led me to discover sanctuary in the theater and solace in the music department.

It was my clarinet playing that gained me a spot in the University of Connecticut’s unique Puppetry Arts Program.
I loved learning the history, styles, and building techniques but still in my four years did not gain the concept of where “inspiration” come from.

When I connected with Jason (my partner in both love and art) my favorite thing to do was hang close in art museums listening to him place the various forms and techniques into history to define creative movements of both conformity and rebellion. It was through observation that I finally was able to look beyond the whole of a composition to pluck out an element of “inspiration” that could in turn unlock a new idea to further push the development of our puppetry work as NIGHT SHADE.

This rekindled my creative spirit! … SARAH

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @thehandandtheshadow
• Youtube: @thehandandtheshadow4532

Image Credits

We own every flyer and photo except….

the one titled: NightShade+ShadeyShayla_GiantFest8_HighRes3.jpg was taken by Invisible Harness photographer Tim Neighbors

and the one titled: NightShade_PupFest2023-2270.jpg was taken by New Orleans photographer Caitlin Ridenour