[1] Its six founding members—John Bell,[2][3] Trudi Cohen,[4] Stephen Kaplin,[5][6] Jenny Romaine,[7] Roberto Rossi,[8] and Mark Sussman[9]—draw on avant-garde, folk, and popular theater traditions to address contemporary social issues in a various scales, from tiny toy theater spectacles to giant puppet pageants.
Since their inception, Great Small Works has hosted frequent Spaghetti Dinner events, where the company members cook and serve spaghetti with vegetarian sauce to their audience, followed by a cabaret-style variety show involving puppetry, music and other forms of live entertainment.
[13][14] Great Small Works members create and perform their own toy theater productions, and as a collective have made ten installments of Terror As Usual, an episodic toy theater serial that combines surrealism with current events.
[15][16] "Toy Theater Faust" and "Olivier's Hamlet", directed by John Bell and designed by Stephen Kaplin;[17] "A Walk in the City", adapted from a story by Italo Calvino, directed and designed by Roberto Rossi;[18] "Soil Desire People Dance", directed and designed by Mark Sussman and Roberto Rossi;[19] "Three Books in the Garden", about the renaissance and religious tolerance in Cordoba, Spain, created by Trudi Cohen, John Bell, and Isaac Bell;[20] "The White Pajamas",[21] directed by Jenny Romaine.
"A Mammal's Notebook: The Erik Satie Cabaret" 2001;[31] The Memoirs of Glückel of Hameln,; " The Man Who Was Thursday: A Nightmare",[32] 1997-’98 "The Rapture Project" 2007[33] Great Small Works received a 2005 Puppeteers of America Jim Henson Award for Innovation in the Field of Puppetry,[34] a 1997 Village Voice OBIE Award grant,[35] and a 1997 UNIMA Citation for excellence in puppetry.