Developmental Residency Spring 2026
Ben t. Matchstick's
COMBUSTIBLE CABARET
Ben t. Matchstick is in residency at the Flynn from February to May 2026. The residency provides studio space and time for the him to continue to develop his ongoing project, the Combustible Cabaret. The show will play on March 27 & 28, 2026 at the Haybarn Theater on the Creative Campus in Plainfield, VT.
The Combustible Cabaret began at the Puppetropolis Chicago Puppetry Festival in the year 2000 and relaunched at the Alternative Media Conference at Goddard College in 2014. Inspired by the traditions of the Dadaists, Neo-Futurists, Ontological-Hysteric Theater, Bread & Puppet, Pina Bausch, Le Grand Guignol, Spielpalast Cabaret, Bertolt Brecht, Punch & Judy, drag, vaudeville and Burlesque.
The 2025-2026 Combustible Cabaret deploys a barrage of short-form performances to speak out against the assault on the people's pursuit of happiness, safety and identity. By mocking those who seek to steal our hope for the future: oligarchs, technocrats, billionaires, xenophobes, and ultra-nationalists, the Combustible Cabaret aims to make use of our freedom of speech to say what needs to be said with whatever means necessary- wiggly cardboard, fishnet stockings, and bawdy songs not excluded. This is a Combustible Cabaret for an incendiary timeline.
Ben t. Matchstick
Ben t. Matchstick is a performing artist who has been criss-crossing the mediums of cardboard puppetry, vaudeville, burlesque, pageantry, satire and storytelling for the last 20+ years.
Matchstick has worked as a theater maker, youth advocate, librarian, cafe owner, educator, puppeteer, artist, and entrepreneur in Vermont for 20+ years. He is the founder of Cardboard Teck Instantute. As a co-owner, booking manager and artist-in-residence at Langdon Street Cafe, Ben hosted hundreds of performers and was the founder of absurdist interactive community events such as Mystery Fun Night, X-Mess Fest, Shock Therapy, and Geek Week.
Matchstick co-conceived Hadestown (with Anaïs Mitchell), now on Broadway. Hadestown began in Central Vermont and went on to win 8 Tony awards. His work as the original director, designer, dramaturg and performer (Hermes) has informed the production now seen on Broadway and around the world. He can be heard on the original Righteous Babe recording playing the harmonica and barking like a wild dog.
Matchstick is the co-creator (with Pete Talbot) of the award-winning PinBox 3000 cardboard tabletop pinball machine kit. Ben is CEO, production manager and storyteller of PinBox 3000, which has sold over 30,000 units since its invention in 2015, raising over $100k for its initial launch on Kickstarter. Flip the System!
Matchstick was a traveling company member with Bread & Puppet Theater for 4 years and 8 summers. He has traveled to Cuba, Spain, Germany and across North America with the company.
His production of Grottoblaster in 2014 sold out Halloween weekend at the Haybarn Theatre at Goddard College.
He is the artistic director and founder of the Combustible Cabaret. He was founder of the Last Lunar Vaudevillians (Burlington), Chicago Puppet and Rescue Squad, and Solon Apocalypse (Chicago) and has been a cast member of Spielpalast Cabaret (Burlington). He has performed with Vermont Vaudeville (Hardwick, VT) and toured and performed with puppet troupes such as Le Petit Theatre de Absolu (Montreal), Redmoon Theater (Chicago), and Insurrection Landscapers (South Glover, VT). He was a puppeteer of the St. Ann’s Warehouse production of The Barber of Seville directed by Amy Trompetter (Brooklyn). He was the puppet director for The Snow Queen, directed by Frank Galati, at the Victory Gardens theater in Chicago in 2006.
He is a proud member of Generator Maker Space in Burlington Vermont.
Matchstick holds a BA in Theater from Northwestern University. While at Northwestern, he worked with directors Mary Zimmerman (Looking Glass Theater) and Jessica Thebus. He holds an MFA in Interdisciplinary Art from Goddard College, and a Vermont teachers license for 7/8 grade English from Champlain College TAP program.
Ben lives in Montpelier Vermont with his wife Meg Hammond and son Django.