Join us for an afternoon of puppetry and song! With Erik Ruin, Elizabeth LaPrelle, and the Boy-Chiks. Sunday, Feb. 23, 3:00-5:00 PM, at Lost Origins Gallery (3110 Mt. Pleasant St. NW, DC, 2nd Floor). $10-15, no one turned away for lack of funds

Folk musician Elizabeth LaPrelle (Doran, Anna & Elizabeth) and visual artist Erik Ruin (Justseeds) combine forces for an afternoon of ballads and crankie puppet shows. From the mountains of Appalachia to the isolation wing of a German prison, the duo will explore haunting songs of love and loss, playful lullabies, passionate protests of the world as it is — and dreams of how it could be. The Boy-Chiks open up the afternoon with a rousing set of klezmer tunes.

Erik Ruin is a Michigan-raised, Philadelphia-based printmaker, shadow puppeteer, paper-cut artist, etc., who has been lauded by the New York Times for his “spell-binding cut-paper animations.” Elizabeth LaPrelle is a scholar and singer of Appalachian Ballads from Rural Retreat, Virginia, who has built her style and repertoire from research into archival recordings, and family and friends. The Boy-Chiks are your friendly DC neighborhood anti-fascist klezmer band.