BASIL TWIST (Puppeteer /Director/ Designer) originally from San Francisco, is a third-generation puppeteer. He received his training at Ecole Superieure Nationale des Arts de la Marionnette in France. Original productions include The Araneidae Show (The Henson International Festival of Puppet Theatre, Silver Whale Gallery, The Andy Warhol Museum); Symphonie Fantastique (HERE Arts Center, Lincoln Center and other engagements nationally and internationally); Petrushka (Lincoln Center and national touring engagements); and Master Peter's Puppet Show with the EOS Orchestra. Other credits include Theatre Couture's Tell Tale; Mabou Mines' Peter and Wendy; Tectonic Theatre Project’s The Nest; Jane Comfort and Company’s Underground River; Paula Vogel's The Long Christmas Ride Home (Trinity Rep, Vineyard, Long Wharf), and puppetry consultant on the most recent "Harry Potter" film. Twist’s work has received a Bessie Award, an Obie Award, three UNIMA citations of Excellence and two Drama Desk Award nominations. He is a Creative Capital Artist, and has received a commission from The Japan Society for the upcoming Dogugaeshi (November, 2004); he is currently collaborating with director Lee Breuer to develop Mabou Mines’ Red Beads, as well as designing and directing Resphigi's La Bella Nel Bosco Dormente for The Spoleto Festival and Lincoln Center Festival (Spring, 2005). Twist is the director of The Dream Music Puppetry Program at HERE Arts Center.

MATTHEW ACHESON (Puppeteer) originally from Detroit, is a musician and designer who specializes in marionettes. Performances include Dan Hurlin's Hiroshima Maiden, Paula Vogel's The Long Christmas Ride Home, Lake Simon's What's Inside the Egg? and Erin K. Orr's Savage Nursery. A proud member of Fjörk, Matt has performed his own work at Galapagos, HERE, P.S. 122, St. Ann's Warehouse, MTV, and WAX. He's performed in Basil Twist's Petrushka and Master Peter's Puppet Show. Matt joined Symphonie Fantastique in Spring 2003.

OLIVER DALZELL (Puppeteer) has been with Symphonie Fantastique since its original run in 1998, touring with the production throughout U.S. and Europe. Other credits: Paula Vogel's The Long Christmas Ride Home (Vineyard Theater, Long Wharf Theater), Basil Twist's Master Peter's Puppet Show, and a commissioned float for the NYC Village Halloween Parade. Oliver will be performing his own puppet piece, Ice Cream For Diablo at HERE in January.

SOPHIA MICHAHELLES (Puppeteer) has performed with Symphonie Fantastique since 1999 and is very happy to be back in her amphibian suit. She is co-designer for Superior Concept Monsters, a troupe whose large-scale puppets lead NYC’s Annual Village Halloween Parade, as well as other community celebrations from the Hudson Valley to the Italian Alps. She teaches workshops for adults and children in pageant puppetry, shadow puppetry, marionettes and hand puppets.

LAKE SIMONS (Puppeteer) attended Ecole International de Theatre Jacques Lecoq in France. Lake holds a BFA in scene design from the North Carolina School of the Arts. Lake's original creation What's Inside the Egg? was presented by Dream Music Puppetry in 2003, and her and composer John Dyer's adaptation of Alice in Wonderland will be presented in 2005. In NY, she is a puppeteer for Dan Hurlin's Hiroshima Maiden. Lake has puppeteered for Basil Twist for Petrushka, Master Peter's Puppet Show and Red Beads. She has a lifetime association with the Hip Pocket Theatre in Fort Worth, TX, taking part in writing, directing, designing, and performing. She continues to enjoy performing with fellow emerging artists, learning and growing with them. She is a proud member of Fjörk.

KEVIN TAYLOR (Puppeteer) is an artist from upstate NY whose interest in sculpture, music, lighting and set design led him to puppetry some 13 years ago. He joined Symphonie Fantastique in 1999; other shows with Basil Twist include Petrushka, Red Beads, and Dogugaeshi. Recent credits: O.D.C. Theatre, Kunst Stoff's Insight, Robert Hites' Recent Work, Jenny Roger and Clove Galiee's Trick Saddle, Superior Concepts Monsters, the Village Halloween Parade, and Mabou Mines' Ecco Porco and Animal Magnetism. He is a founding member of the Blue Print Collective and is thrilled to be performing at Dodger Stages.

DEANA ACHESON (Swing Puppeteer) is a performer and designer from Pittsburgh. She attended the European Dance Development Center in Holland and holds a Dance Performance B.F.A. from Ohio State University. Deana is a member of the Jordan Fuchs Dance Company and has worked with artists including Dan Hurlin on the UNIMA and Obie Award-winning Hiroshima Maiden. Deana joined Symphonie Fantastique in the Fall 2004.

CHRIS DE VILLE (Swing Puppeteer) has been puppeteering since 1977's Winky's Wellington-Boot Dance. Twenty years later, he became a founding member of Symphonie Fantastique and has remained a devoted, if intermittent, part of the production ever since. Other credits: Dubya Does Dallas, Never Again, Free-Range Tumbleweeds, and Never Ever Again. Recently, his band Sado-Massachusetts released Ghost Town Celebrity, a djibouti-shaking LP of cowpunk ditties.

BRENNA ST. GEORGE JONES (Production Stage Manager) is proud to again be getting her feet wet with Symphonie Fantastique. Other shows with Basil Twist include Petrushka, Master Peter’s Puppet Show, Red Beads and Dogugaeshi. With Target Margin Theater (of which she is a member): Mamba’s Daughters, Tulpa, Dido Queen of Carthage, The Marriage of Figaro, and The Sandman. Other recent favorites include Dan Hurlin's Hiroshima Maiden and Rachel Dickstein/Vijay Iyer's In What Language. She has toured nationally and internationally with such artist as Michael Moschen, Les Ballet Trockadero de Monte Carlo, Rinde Eckhert and Chen Shi Zheng.

ELIZA JOHNSON (Assistant Stage Manager) recently completed a two-year Production Stage Management Fellowship at Lincoln Center Institute. Favorite credits include the VIA Dance Collaborative premiere and This Ain’t No Rodeo with Monica Bill Barnes. Eliza is thrilled to be back with Symphonie Fantastique, having first been part of the show at Lincoln Center.

ANDY GAUKEL (Running Crew) is originally from Kentucky.  He moved to NYC in 2003 after graduating with an M.F.A. in Acting from the Trinity Rep. Conservatory in Providence, RI.  Since moving to NYC, he has appeared is several national TV commercials, and this past year he worked with Basil as a puppeteer in Trinity Rep. and The Long Wharf Theatre’s co-production of Paula Vogel’s The Long Christmas Ride Home.

ANDREW HILL (Lighting). Other collaborations with Basil Twist include Petrushka, Master Peter's Puppet Show, and The Araneidae Show. Other work includes GAle GAtes et al's So Long Ago I Can't Remember, Big Dance Theater's Shukin, Flea Theatre's Benten Kozo and Len Jenkin's Like I Say, and Geva's production of John Beluso's Pyretown.

HECTOR BERLIOZ (Composer) was born in 1803. Symphonie Fantastique, his earliest and greatest success, premiered when he was 27 years old. It is through this work that we can date his unremitting influence on 19th century composers. He soon wrote Lelio, its sequel, in Italy after being awarded the Prix de Rome. In 1833, he married Harriette Smithson, the Irish actress who inspired Symphonie Fantastique. Other major works: Messe Solenelle, Waverly, King Lear, Rob Roy, Le Corsair, Harold in Italy, Benvenuto Celinni, Requiem (Messe de Morts), Romeo and Juliet, Roman Carnival, Damnation of Faust, The Trojans, Beatrice and Benedict. He wrote his memoirs in 1852 and his music criticisms were frequently published later in his life. Berlioz died in 1869.

TANDEM OTTER (Producer) is an independent production company based in NYC dedicated to the development, creation, touring and presentation of new work created by Basil Twist among other notable artists.  By design Tandem Otter remains adaptable to the needs of its current artist projects and the interests and the vision of its key staff. Credits include Symphonie Fantastique: Lincoln Center (NY), Zeum (San Francisco), Just for Laughs Festival (Montreal), The Gunston Arts Center (Washington DC), Worldwide Festival of Puppet Theatre (France), The London International Mime Festival (London), The Tollwood Festival (Munich), Ravinia Festival (Chicago); Petrushka: Lincoln Center (NY), The Irving J. Gilmore Keyboard Festival (Michigan), The International Festival of Arts and Ideas (Connecticut), Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival (Massachusetts), The Walker Art Center/Heart of the Beast(Minneapolis); and Master Peter’s Puppet Show: Eos Orchestra (NY), Ravinia Festival (Chicago), The Cleveland Art Museum (Cleveland), as well as PBS/WNET Great Performances "From Sorcery to Science."

DODGER STAGE HOLDING (Presenter) is a theatrical producing partnership comprising Michael David, Robin de Levita, Des McAnuff, Rocco Landesman and Edward Strong; originated at BAM in 1978; migrated to the New York Shakespeare Festival and then off and on Broadway where they have shared in a host of Tony and Obie Awards. Currently on Broadway: 42nd Street, Dracula. Other Broadway: Urinetown, Into The Woods, The Music Man, Blast!, Titanic, Wrong Mountain, Footloose, Mandy Patinkin: Mamaloshen, High Society, 1776, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, The King and I, The Who’s Tommy, Ralph Fiennes' Hamlet, Guys and Dolls, Once Upon a Mattress, How to Succeed in Business…, Jelly’s Last Jam, The Secret Garden, Into The Woods (original), Big River, Prelude to a Kiss, The Gospel at Colonus, Pump Boys and Dinettes. Off-Broadway: Barbara’s Wedding, Savion Glover Downtown, Adobe Theatre’s Duet. Dodger is a partner in the STAGE Holding Group, an international group of live-entertainment companies, assembled and founded by Joop van den Ende, whose head office is situated on the Museumplein in Amsterdam. Opened in September 2004, Dodger Stages is a complex of five theatres located in the heart of the theatre district and operated by Dodger Stage Holding.