Speakeasy Dollhouse: The Bloody Beginning

An immersive theater experience transports the audience back to the Prohibition era, interpreting a murder mystery from a new angle each week

On 14 March 1935 in the Bronx, New York, a man named Frank Spano was shot to death in front of his 12-year-old son Dominick. John Guerrieri, the man who held the gun, was their neighbor and father to Dominick’s friend—and would later get off scot-free with no jail time. Nearly eight decades later, Spano’s granddaughter and artist Cynthia Von Buhler, has tried to solve …

Studio Visit: Jen Spectacular

The San Francisco-based artist creates stories from remodifying dolls and dollhouses

Forget Barbie and her Pepto-Bismol pink Dreamhouse, Jen Furman (better known as Jen Spectacular) creates stories by making and modifying dollhouses. Growing up in Romeo, MI (about an hour north of Detroit) she hung out with The Muppets, spent countless hours playing Zork, and fell in love with Star Wars. Later, Spectacular worked in Detroit as an advertising illustrator for 15 years, and after a …