Lauren Bon and the Metabolic Studio

In affiliation with the Creative Time Summit, The Gopher Plan was a twenty-five minute-long puppet show musical for all ages about ending veteran homelessness. A formerly homeless veteran performed the show from a VW van—his residence—while he prepared to travel to Washington D.C. to present a solution to veteran homelessness to the President. Like an old style traveling marionette show, this musical production unfolded in Times Square for all audiences and concluded with a Q&A with the performers. This production brought a challenging subject packaged as engaging artwork to international audiences.Performed shortly before Veterans Day, The Gopher Plan asserted that we must uphold the promises made to our veterans. The project's coast-to-coast hosts and partners included: Combat Paper, Warrior Writers, The Telling Project, The Soldiers Project, Veterans for Peace, Dryhootch, Vietnam Veterans of American and Disabled American Veterans. All performances concluded with a dialogue about veteran homelessness with local members of our partner groups, moderated by a licensed mental health professional from The Soldiers Project.