Dov Weinstein is the creator, producer, and lead puppeteer of Tiny Ninja Theater, a theater company comprised entirely of toy ninjas and complementary sundry plastic figurines. Since 1999 he has been touring the world in his one man and many ninja renditions of Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, and Hamlet, each a shortened yet faithful adaptation of the original Shakespearean folios. Using ironing boards, cardboard boxes, first aid kits and other very basic items as his backdrops, Weinstein manipulates the ninjas on a stage or small suitcase with his fingers, magnets, wires, and similar devices.
Audiences are invited to watch his productions with binoculars or on screens projecting video captured by two spy cameras set up around the performance area. Throughout the course of his career, Weinstein has been committed to “expanding performance opportunities for vending machine thespians,” holding steady to the belief that there are “no small parts, only small actors.”
Where did the idea to do theater with tiny plastic ninjas come from?
I just noticed the toy ninjas in vending machines on the streets and thought there was something striking about them. I was impressed at how well-made they were for just a quarter, and thought it was cool how they came in a lot of different colors, different body positions, and had different weapons. I started collecting them, and I really don’t know how else to say it – I just realized that no one was doing classical theater with them. So I took that on. I was in NY, I was acting, doing small productions, not having a lot of success and feeling frustrated with the whole process. I wanted to do something more independent, something I could take responsibility for and really create. I first did it as part of the NY International Fringe Festival, and from there, that gave us (the ninjas and I) the exposure which got us a little bit of attention, good press, and allowed me to build it into new shows and a full-time job.
Tiny Ninja Theater is your full-time job?
This is what I file on my tax returns.
Where do you get the ninjas from?
I go and get them out of vending machines — I like that — I feel like it’s part of the process to go hunt them down. I have a backup set — (pointing to the medium-sized ziploc bag full of Fruity Pebbles colored plastic ninjas) but these don’t appear in any show yet — they’re understudies. I’m not going to drag out the ones who do the shows to do interviews as well! The ninjas come and go because once you empty out the vending machines they’re not necessarily refilled with ninjas again. I basically have to be on the lookout and always prepared with quarters. You can’t find these machines on places like 5th Ave; you have to go to bodegas and other out of the way places to get them.
Why Shakespeare Ninja Theater?
I think Shakespeare works really well because of the obvious contrast. Shakespeare assumes a very big place in our culture. Taking texts which people are familiar with and putting them onto very small figures creates this wonderful tension, which I like to call “grand spectacle on a tiny scale.”
Any chances of adding Henry IV to your repertoire? Falstaff would be a very funny as a ninja, no?
I think to do a comedy with tiny ninjas is somewhat redundant. I prefer the history plays because they’re easier to condense and have a limited number of strong characters that people can easily follow. Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, and Hamlet are also all plays that people are likely to have expectations of. I like being able to meet those expectations in an unexpected way.
So these plays aren’t spoofs or pastiche?
No, I’m really trying to do the best production of these plays that I can in the rather strange circumstances that I put myself in. I’m not trying to ‘wink wink,’ ‘nod nod,’ these are very conservative productions — they’re not set on the moon, they’re not musicals. They’re just straight productions edited and with ninjas, which adds a certain flavor all on its own.
Have you ever done Shakespeare plays before Tiny Ninja Theater?
Yes, but I was always third spar carrier on the left, I never played the big roles.
How do you construct the different sets for your shows?
I mostly use household objects and things that I find hanging around as set pieces. Whenever I’m building a new show, my mantra is that I’m not trying to do "precious dollhouse theater." I get these ideas like ‘I’ll build a little house, a little chair, a little tree, a little this…’ but that’s not the image; it’s much more about finding a neutral surface and letting the figures do the talking in a simple way. I’m not a visual artist, I come at it much more from a theatrical perspective, my concern is more about problem-solving; how do I create a ballroom in a simple way that will communicate effectively what I’m doing? Because I’m using tiny ninjas, I’m not trying to fool the spectator into thinking that they’re real, so there’s no point in building a delicate stage. The point is to get the spectator to understand the relations between the setup, the ninja, and the original character. If he’s willing make that first investment and play along with the ninja theme, he’s likely to buy the whole world. However, if the spectator says no, ‘I think that’s silly, they’re just toys,’ the fact that I have a well-painted background isn’t going to change anything.
Do friends ever give you ninjas that you’ve later used as characters?
Yes, things people have given me have shown up future shows. I got the figure that plays Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet from a friend of mine — my mom gave me this extendable fork thing that shows up in one of the shows. I also use forks in Romeo and Juliet — three green plastic forks and napkins make up Juliet’s orchard.
Casting figures is not so different from casting people. Most actors think that they’re chameleons, but the fact is that some people are simply better at doing some things than others. When casting a play you try to find people whose strengths match those that you’re looking for, and it’s all the more so with a figure that only does one thing, but does it very well — you want to fit their very particularly talent to the character.
Any particular coup de théâtre that you can do with the ninjas, but that would be impossible with a human cast?
Well, the classic is that Ophelia drowns in a champagne glass. That’s a very dramatic moment, but people usually laugh. When I first started Hamlet, I had very mixed feelings about the laughter. I was thinking, "I’m doing Hamlet, what are you laughing at? This is high drama!" I’ve come to understand that some of it is just giddiness of seeing the ninjas, but some of it actually people opening up and experiencing the play through laughter. My favorite thing is a laughter that ends in an "awwww," — Ophelia drowned and it’s very funny, but she did drown after all. Eliciting that mix of emotions in the audience is my ideal.
You’re getting married at the end of December. How does your bride to be feel about your profession?
The advantage is that I’m not another lawyer, I’m not another doctor, and I’m not another accountant. Girls get tired of sitting across the table from the same kind of guy. On the other hand, you know what the problem is? I’m not another lawyer, I’m not a doctor, and I’m not an accountant. These things have a double-edged sword. At least very soon after I met my fiancé, she had a chance to see the shows and that was good. I’m always worried that when I meet people and they hear that I do this, they think ‘wow, that’s so cool!’ but I always think it’s important to see the shows, because if they hate them, that’s going to be a bit of a barrier. Luckily, she liked them, and she liked me.
After seven years of the same gig, how much longer of a run do you think Tiny Ninja Theater will have?
I do the business aspect as well, so it’s like any job, not all of it is super fun – but the fact that I’ve been able to do it for so long is what really makes it. I love doing the shows, and I’m hopeful to be able to do them for as long as that’s still true.
More info on Tiny Ninja Theater here: http://www.tinyninjatheater.com/