Great Small Works will present A Mammal's Notebook: The Erik Satie Cabaret at La MaMa Experimental Theater Club Dec. 20-30. The production is directed by John Bell and features Margaret Leng Tan on the piano. An unprecedented event in American theater, Satie's miniature opera for marionettes," Genevieve de Brabant," will be featured as well. Erik Satie was a French modernist composer. A very prolific musician, Satie wrote for cabaret shadow puppet shows, theatricals, solo piano, popular tunes, puppet operas and oratorios. A Mammal's Notebook scrutinizes Satie's life through obscure pieces as well as recognizable works such as the three "Gymnopedies." Satie's drawings, letters and speeches are used as the backbone of the play. The performance combines dance, shadow theater, mask performance, film puppetry and vaudeville performance forms.

A Mammal's Notebook: The Erik Satie Cabaret will include performances by John Bell, Trudi Cohen, Aya Kanai, Stephen Kaplin, Margaret Leng Tan, Alessandra Nichols, Jenny Romaine, Roberto Rossi, Mark Sussman and Isaac Bell. Please call La MaMa's box office for more information (212)475-7710.

— by Zoe Andrada