Cave Dogs presents a startlingly original way of telling a story. Fluid shadows and images dance in wild imagination across the screen. Each performance promises a healthy dose of the sublime, the exciting, the absurd, and the downright fun that results in something infinitely compelling. On Friday, July 19 and Saturday, June 20 at 7 p.m. Cave Dogs perform at the Lincoln Theater, 2 Theater St., Damariscotta. Doors open at 6:30.

Our current performance, Liquid States, explores water as substance, metaphorical allusion, and engage debates relating to the geographies and socio-politics of water. Through the divergent lenses of micro and macro perspectives, we examine mankind's complicated relationship to this essential natural resource. Water is the lifeblood of our bodies, our economy, our nation, and our well-being. Our goal is to explore and raise awareness about the finite nature of this precious resource. It is also to produce work that is thought provoking, inclusive and entertaining.

Cave Dogs brings together visual artists, musicians, dancers, and storytellers in the spirit of interdisciplinary collaboration. The performances consist of innovative, large-scale shadow projections cast onto a screen from sculptures, props, costuming and the human body, in concert with projected video imagery, spoken narrative, and an original soundtrack. The mobility of the light source allows Cave Dogs to create multiple, richly layered visual tableaus and effects that conjure both the dreamlike quality of early experimental film and the humor of contemporary animation. The imagery and sound weave together to create a rich multi-media artifact that documents, celebrates and preserves important cultural voices, social identities and environmental perspectives. 

We use scale to create complex dynamics and images to enhance meaning in sound. We coax trees to grow and teach whales to sing. It’s magical, like watching dreams cross into the conscious world.Cave Dogs principal members are Suzanne Stokes, Jim Fossett, Adam Mastropaolo, Dillon Paul, Ted Conway, Felipa Gaudet and Alchemy Mastropaolo. Grammy Award winner Dean Jones creates the soundtracks, with additional audio by Emerson Fossett.

We attract a diverse audience with varying levels of experience with art and performance. Our interdisciplinary approach to combining visual images, movement, light, sound, and voice crosses cultural and language barriers ensuring that the work is accessible to all audiences. The dialog between audience and artist is one that we nourish. Our performances include a Q & A where we invite the audience to become more knowledgeable and involved in our collective processes, and perhaps to spark interest in telling their own stories. cavedogs.org

Tickets: $35 general admission / $30 members / $10 youth. Purchase on the theater website: https://lincolntheater.net or call the theater office at 207-563-3424; or  buy at the door!

On Saturday, July 20, Cave Dogs will present a  Paper Cutting & Lighting Workshop at Lincoln Theater from 1 to 4 p.m. Fee: $60 (cash, check or Venmo). This workshop, for up to 15 participants (ages 15 and up) will focus on creating an intricately cut paper panel. We will then create shadows and movement from the cut panels, using our unique lighting techniques. Bring in a specific image you would like to turn into cut paper for shadow please make sure the image is 8” x 10” or larger.