Maktub
In life, each of us is walking our own “hero’s journey”, stepping forward, losing our way, and eventually returning as a more open and transformed version of ourselves.
Inspired by The Alchemist, this puppet performance captures a small fragment of that journey, a place where we move like a fool, trusting the call of destiny and the subtle signs that guide us.
Amid these hints and shifts, what might be awakened within us? Is everything already written – Maktub, or are we the ones continuing to write our own story?
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Puppet Slam Hanoi | Nov 2025
Hand Puppet, Mask, Shadow Puppets , music and live sounds.
“Minh” Little stars
“Minh” – a name formed from the sun and the moon – symbolizes light and wisdom. From this tender union, a sky of stars is born. The colorful little stars, co-created with children at the festival, accompany soft movements and symbolic imagery in a poetic puppet performance. If each of us is a star born of family’s love, what kind of star are you?
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Chuncheon, South Korea | May 2025
Rod puppets | Live audience interaction
Stork mommy
The bond between a child and their mother is a quiet force — one that moves beyond space, time, and distance.
This piece is a poetic exploration of unconditional love: a presence that lingers through every moment, no matter where life takes you.
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“Minh” Little stars
‘Minh’ is a Sino-Vietnamese word formed by the characters for ‘sun’ (Nhật) and ‘moon’ (Nguyệt), symbolizing the light created by the union of the sun and the moon. It represents the light of small stars and also the seeds of intelligence, brightness, and hope brought by children within every family.
This is a mini puppet show, part of Finding Seeds, a collection of six short puppet performances by the Mighty Women Mini Puppet Collective—a collaboration of six female puppet artists from Hawaii, the United States, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam.
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sleepless night in hanoi
Capable flow
BREATH OF WATER
A virtual collaboration by Ha Group (featuring Bonnie Kim from Hawaii, Hyang Chu from Vietnam, and Namu Reyoung from Korea).
The work explores the memories of water that connect different moments and places. Through stories and sounds from our homes, we experiment and immerse ourselves in the “Breath of Water.” Inspired by children born and raised in a seaside leprosy village in Vietnam, nurtured and protected by the ocean. I offer a small story about the breath of water—one of nourishment and deep compassion.
Heart Tribe
When we truly “communicate” with one another from heart to heart, every connection becomes a peaceful one.
Go with the flow
The video “Go with the Flow” reflects my personal experiences and emotions during the Covid-19 pandemic, offering a message of embracing a more positive outlook. While Covid-19 brought challenges, it also gave us a “resting rhythm” to appreciate life’s subtleties.
* Best Award prize for the video work “Go with the Flow” at the “2021 International Puppetry Video Campaign” hosted by Unima Korea | April 2021.
LITTLE PEANUT AND THE SNEEZE THEORY
The play is the second chapter of the “Dear Cu Lac” series – puppet shows created by Mat Trần Ensemble with the main character being a girl in a blue scarf named Cu Lac (Peanut)
LITTLE PEANUT AND THE SNEEZE THEORY
The play is the second chapter of the “Dear Cu Lac” series – puppet shows with the main character being a girl in a blue scarf named Cu Lac (Peanut).
This chapter opens a quiet dialogue within each of us — about the journey of growing up, the fragility of love, the presence of death, and the transience of all things.
It gently asks: how do we choose to face impermanence, and how might we carry tenderness through it all?
LITTLE PEANUT AND THE SNEEZE THEORY is premiering for the first time within the framework of the Goethe Institute Hanoi’s ‘Cultural Workshop’ program.
THIS CITY GLOWS WITH BRIGHT SPOTS OF LIGHT
“The Box” begins with our observations of Hanoi, the shapes and structures of the spaces that exist in this city: shopping malls, offices, cafes, cinemas, apartments, collective houses, etc. and we are startled to realize that they are all boxes. We began to wonder “Will there be a day when everything will be put in a box?” With this installation, we want to simulate such a fictional space – where everything takes place in boxes. How will people conflict or adapt to such spaces?
Continuing with these thoughts about the future, Mat Tran will take Mong Mo to the year @x01 to travel and tell stories.
RICE
Dear little peanut
The “Moonlight National Storytelling Tour” is a one-month journey across five provinces in Vietnam, featuring the puppet performance “Dear Little Peanut” (Dear Củ Lạc) alongside gender-education workshops that use puppetry as a storytelling tool.The tour engages diverse groups of children—from primary to secondary school—representing ethnic communities such as H’Mong, Mường, Pa Kô, Êđê, and Kinh (in Lao Cai, Thanh Hoa, Quang Tri, Daklak, Ho Chi Minh City ) | 2018
RICE
A story full of contrasting shades of darkness and light, fragile beauty and fierce ugliness, life and death through the eyes of a child.
Inspiration based on a significant historical event of the 1945 famine in Vietnam.
LOVE letter : unaddressed 02
Everyday moments, inner conflicts, and dreamy visions quietly occupy the body and mind of each of us.
What do we dream of? And what do our “dreams” themselves long for?
This work invites quiet reflection and tender messages of self-compassion for young people — within the small, delicate world that floats between their reality and dreams.
LOVE letter : unaddressed 01
