"Friend's puppets are beautifully designed and animated."
-- NYTheatre.com
Ego deconstructs the creative process and the agony that an artist goes through. Blending live performance with puppetry, it is a story of the infinate possibilities that make up the final presentation of art. Set pieces range from the cardboard cut-outs to intricate stage environments, while the puppets vary from naive sock puppets to masterfully crafted bunraku.
Ego follows a puppeteer dissatisfied with the state of his art, who is on the cusp of completing his latest theater piece. Stumbling through the theater world with a handful of loyal troupe members, he continually creates mediocre puppet shows for minimal audiences, employing a series of gimmicks to tell stories with watered down human conditions.
As the last few nights of his current piece come to an end, his thoughts drift to his next show, hoping it wil be the breakthrough masterpiece he craves. As he trudges through the creative process, inner conversations convince him that in order to create the exceptional show he desires, an alteration must be made to the way he controls both his puppets and his fellow actors. As his search for perfection intensifies, so too does the artist's self-assurance, tempting him to transcend to a higher level of control.
Ego explores this double-edged sword of self assurance and how it effects the surrounding environment. As it grows, how does the notion of a "finished" piece mutate amidst the brain waves of the talented. Every artist is egotistical, whether they want to admit it or not. But not every artist can control it this demon.
MORE INFO: www.dmfriend.com
Check out video clips of David's work:
-- Ego comes to an epiphany as as rants about the failings of puppetry.
--A one minute teaser for “Moonfishing,” a film about a fisherman journeying out to sea to replensish his town’s source of light and hope.
--A man must contend with an incorrigible fate and the hell he is put through in The Typist.










