Adelka Polak

founder and artistic director

Adelka Polak, founder of Sova Dance & Puppet Theater, based in CT & mainly serving schools, arts venues and community organizations in New England and NYC, including performances at Madison Square Park and Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge. In 2023 we had our first tour that included Wolf Trap Children’s-Theatre-in-the-Woods, the Ballard Institute & Museum of Puppetry, and the Puppet Showplace Theater! Adelka is a dancer, puppeteer, mask-performer and movement director whose work has brought her to Denmark, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Taiwan, Scotland and Turkey.

In an original theatrical production of "Ajijaak on Turtle Island” at the New Victory Theater she worked with puppets from the Henson Creature Shop in a show led by artists Heather Henson, Jim Henson’s youngest daughter, and Grammy-Award winner Ty Defoe. She also worked with Squonk Opera who went “from junkyards to Broadway” and performed at Lincoln Center Outdoors and LaMama, E.T.C. with the Czechoslovak-American Marionette Theater of NYC. Ms. Polak was featured on CPTV’s “Spotlight on the Arts” with Masque Theatre & Larry Hunt in a segment nominated for a cultural Emmy in 2010 and produced by Ed Wierzbiecki.

She shares her knowledge of dance, puppetry and crossing artistic disciplines with audiences across the U.S. and abroad. She has worked with children across CT & the east coast building over 20,000 puppets with participants over the years. She also teaches with Z. Briggs and the Jim Henson Foundation in order to train educators, therapists and special education professionals how to use puppetry effectively in the classroom. She has worked as a professional puppeteer now for two decades, since she graduated from Chatham University with honors with a B.A. in Theatre and Cultural Studies in 2002.

Kendra Garnett

Company Performer & Puppeteer

Kendra Garnett is a CCSU BFA Theatre Performance graduate with a passion for acting and dance .

She has appeared in many productions such as Sweeney Todd as The Beggar Woman, Mother Courage and Her Children as Mother Courage, Kimberly Akimbo as Debra and more.

She also had the pleasure of performing in the one woman show, The Shape of a Girl as Braidie in The New York City Fringe Festival in 2018 and also at the Mattatuck Museum in Waterbury, CT. Kendra is excited to be jump starting her grad life with such fun and influential work like that of Sova Dance and Puppet Theatre.

TJ Jacobs

Company performer/puppeteer

TJ Jacobs (he/him) is a professional puppeteer, teaching artist, and meditation teacher based in the northeast region of the United States. He is the Puppet Theatre Director at Stepping Stones Museum for Children in Norwalk, CT. There, along with his staff, TJ’s day-to-day includes producing new productions, workshops, exhibitions, and interactive experiences. Outside of Stepping Stones, TJ is the founder of Basically Good Puppet Theatre, which presents as the resident company of the We Wiggle Dolls Puppet Slam in Bushwick, NY. TJ specializes in dharma art, mindfulness meditation [Certified by Dharma Moon + Tibet House], and cardboard butchery.

Justin Perlman

co-artistic director & Resident designer

Justin Perlman is a sculptor and fine artist living in Bethlehem, CT.  The pursuit of various artistic processes has taken Justin on diverse roads as exemplified in his work. From studies in anthropology at Hampshire College he journeyed to focus on sculpture at the Art Students League of NY, under Lori Gulet, and Gary Sussman.  From there he moved to Pietrasanta, Italy so that he may work with master sculptor and artisan, Nathaniel Katz and Gino Lombardi.  Seeking deeper knowledge in sculptural processes, Justin returned to the USA as an apprentice and master chaser at Coopermill Bronze Works, where he trained in all facets of fine art bronze casting.  In 2004, Justin moved to Connecticut where he continues to create works of art for exhibition, as well as private and public commissions.  Through all of his travel and studies, he has maintained the belief taught to him by his father, “Whatever you do, take care in it, and do it well.”  This belief and understanding guides his hand along with his heart.  Justin is also teaching sculpture and bronze casting at the Silvermine Art Center in New Canaan, CT.

Anitra Brooks

Musician & Sound artist

Anitra Brooks is a CT-grown musician, singer-songwriter, actor, teaching artist and eclectic facilitator of healing experiences. A graduate of Brown University and The Integrative Sound and Music Institute, she toured internationally with puppet performers and masked musicians Big Nazo, Drama Desk Award-nominated “bad-ass masters of vocalogy” Hotmouth, and with the dance and live music performance installation echo::system. She has been working in theater, television and radio for 25 years and as a recording artist, she has released two albums of original music, Flood and I Walk in Your Light. Locally, she has performed with her band at the Greenwich Town Party, offers music programs at Cos Cob Library, facilitates quarterly drum circles and teaches Music & Movement at Greenwich Country Day School. She started her career as a wilderness educator in 1989 and continues to weave her passion for nature connection through all aspects of her musical practice. www.anitrabrooks.com

Sarah Visina (Era)

Teaching Artist

Sarah Visina, known as Era, is a multidisciplinary artist whose work is rooted in storytelling, truth, and authenticity. As a dyslexic, queer, and non-binary individual, Era's unique perspective fuels their creativity and innovative ideas. They embrace all pronouns but prefer they/them.

Era's artistic journey began in their preteens with a jewelry-making business and caricature drawing at craft shows. They later delved into lost wax casting and foundry work at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design, earning a BFA in Sculpture. Their desire for vibrant expression led them to silicone casting, which they refined further through a Maxillofacial program at the James J. Peters VAMC, where they became an Anaplastologist, specializing in medical prosthetics and honing interpersonal skills.

Continuing their creative evolution, Era attended the Make-Up Designory in NY, earning a diploma in Master Make-Up Artistry. Today, they work in a self-built commercial lab, contributing to the SFX industry across television, film, editorial, and other mediums. Era's work spans genres like beauty, surrealism, science fiction, fantasy, gore, and horror showcasing their versatility and passion for creative exploration.

Cynthia Jadwiga Quintanal

Music & Composition

Cynthia: “My world opened when I found the language of poetry and song at an early age singing hymn's in our local church choir and songs to my beloved forest where I would play and sing all day. As time progressed I became seduced by the world of Rock and Funk singing in bands and folk groups. As my illusions of grandeur popped and I returned to nature, I met myself again in poetry and songs to the beloved through the study of sound and spirit. This is where my husband and I began to collaborate in the studio and gathered the musicians we felt supported our vision and were able to drop in to the space of creation where sound and spirit meet.”

Rick Quintanal grew up near San Francisco and majored in music at the University of California at San Jose. He studied with Maestro Eugene Graves and Anthony Cirone (principal percussionist with the San Francisco Symphony) as well as with Chuck Brown, a well-known Bay area teacher whose former students include Terry Bozzio and Dave Garibaldi.

Rick has toured and recorded with a range of artists including  Kenny Rankin, The Don Ellis Orchestra, George Duke and Jorge Santanas’ Malo. He also worked extensively in both the L.A. and San Francisco recording scenes with numerous artists. Now living in Connecticut, Rick performs with Crystal Cymbalogy, Otis and the Hurricanes, The Grand Slambovians and Terra Coda. He also teaches full time at the School of Rock in Ridgefield.