GUEST ARTIST SERIES: Puppetry
HAPPY ACCIDENT Presents
EVERYTHING IS NOTHING
May 8 & 9, 2026
Miracle cures. Rejuvenation. Youthful glow. Neutral tones.
Happy Accident returns to the Twin Cities with a new puppet dispatch from our beautiful cultural sewers. In their new show, EVERYTHING IS NOTHING, your favorite Saturday morning super pals take you on another trip through the dark alleys of modern life.
Everything is fun. Everything is fabulous. Everything is what you want, when you want it.
Picking up where their last piece (the acclaimed Vol. 1) left off, EVERYTHING IS NOTHING takes us further into our fractured collective psyche and OH MY it’s a BLAST. liz HOWLS and Drew Simpson pull inspiration from multi-level marketing, health and wellness culture, Mad About You, relentless pharmaceutical commercials and abhorrent technological “advancements” to create a surreal garbage world full of glitches, easy listening and flat, functional lighting. It’s like a trip to the dentist without all of the annoying paperwork and anesthesia.
If there was a pill that would make it all go away, why wouldn’t you take it?
About Our Guest Artist Series
In addition to our MainStage productions, Open Eye is deeply committed to curating and presenting a dynamic Guest Artist Series that highlights emerging local artists and innovative performing ensembles who tell stories in ways that are fresh, fun, and experimental.
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TICKETS
$15–25 — SLIDING SCALE
Limited Pay-As-Able, walk-up only on show night.
AGE RECOMMENDATION: Ages 15 and up (language, themes).
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PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE
Friday, 5/8, 7:30pm
Saturday, 5/9, 7:30pmRUN TIME: TBD
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ACCESSIBILITY
Contact us at 612-874-6338 or boxoffice@openeyetheatre.org for accessibility information and requests.
Punctuate the Moment: a workshop in sound, light and movement
May 9, 9:00am at Open Eye Theatre
Liz Howls and Drew Simpson (Happy Accident) crack open their playful, curious process. What makes an object steal the scene? How do you sharpen focus, land a moment, or surprise an audience. Through hands-on experiments, participants will layer movement, sound, and light to transform object theatre-proving that small shifts can make big.
Age requirement: for ages 13 and up
About the Artists
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Happy Accident is the collaborative absurdist performance work of puppeteer/visual artist liz HOWLS and musician/lighting designer Drew Simpson. They have been building and performing together since early 2024, so not that long. But long enough. They find most of their inspiration digging through bins full of refuse, spending late nights binge-watching horrible sitcoms, and trying to figure out how everything ended up this way. While most of their performances are based around puppetry and sound, they also incorporate mask work and elements of what is often referred to as “performance art”.
Their first full-length piece, Vol. 1, debuted at the 2025 New Orleans Giant Puppet Festival and was toured nationally for 3 months in that same year. They have been guest performers at Outta Hand Puppet Slam in Portland, OR; Fussy Cloud Puppet Slam in Seattle, WA; Full Moon Puppet Show in Minneapolis, MN (which liz also runs & curates); Puppets in the House Regional Festival in Verona, WI and are tickled pink returning to NOGPF in 2026 with a new show.They are available for punk shows, art museums, theaters…basically anywhere with a floor, a place to crash for the night and a few hundred bucks.