Skipitares' works are so highly regarded for their artfulness of design that her "scientific" content is often overlooked. In "Optic Fever," she appears to have been, quite literally, inspired by the scientific acuity of Leonardo da Vinci. "His curiosity was so grand, so big!" she asserts, admiringly. Da Vinci was, beside one of the Renaissance's greatest painters, possibly its greatest engineering mind. Skipitares notes that he was also "Europe's greatest anatomist" prior to the giants of that field who later emerged in 18th century England. Skipitares' enthusiasm for the Science of Art comes through more clearly in "Optic Fever" than in any of her previous works. The piece is certainly an antidote to the myth of the artist as an ideopathically helpless personality without a grasp or vision of nature and its realities.

To investigate the source of Leonardo's greatness, Skipitares has five Freuds reading from their psychoanalysis of him. She also has a "dance of the eyeballs," a procession of puppets based on Leonardo's anatomical drawings, and sections that deal with a fly's vision, the geometry of perspective, eye scanning (an identification system far more foolproof than fingerprints) and Iridology (the assessment of health and diseases through changes in the iris).

Theodora Skipitares became regarded as the most provocative miniaturist now working in New York following such formative works in the 1980's as "Micropolis," "Defenders of the Code" and "The Radiant City." She made her La MaMa debut with "Underground" (1992), a work which explored a wide variety of subterranean cultures, from mineshafts to fallout shelters. David Richards (New York Times) wrote, "She wants you to look hard and close into dark nooks and spooky crannies. You'll discover all sorts of mini-revelations and Lilliputian enchantments if you do." She went on to mythologize the history of medicine with "Under the Knife I, II and III," all at La MaMa, between 1994 and 1996. This developing work was her first use of La MaMa's large Annex Theater as an enveloping, multi-level installation as, in a series of 24 miniature environments, she fabricated a spectacular interactive marketplace of medical ideas through the ages.

Trained as a sculptor and designer, Skipitares avoids the label puppeteer as too limiting in view of her multi-media approach. Alisa Solomon (Village Voice), reviewing her "The Age of Invention" (1985), claimed Skipitares fulfilled Gordon Craig's call for Uebermarionette to replace actors because only puppets could convey the "noble artificiality" he considered necessary for the stage. That work had life-size puppets of Ben Franklin, Edison, and Michael O'Connor--a 20th century salesman who passed as a surgeon and performed operations in five states. Skipitares' work has been cited for its particular and rigorous historicity. She says that when she does research, she tries to find the false side of an event or character, and upon finding it, uses it as a peephole into what might be really true. This results in a chilling sort of theater, where real first-person narrative becomes heightened through puppet theater, becoming as brazen and atavistic as myths which are delivered side-by-side.

When "Micropolis" (1982), her first major work, was revived in 1992, the Village Voice (Pam Renner) call it "the work of a possessed and clairvoyant miniaturist." The work contained miniature scenes from urban life: some real, like an unnoticed murder, some fanciful, like a dinosaur waking up on a superhighway. Her "Defenders of the Code" (1987) was picked in the New York Times' "ten best plays" list. It dramatized Plato's "Republic," Darwin's "Origins of the Species," and James Watson's "Double Helix" with Bunraku-style puppets. "The Radiant City" (1991) presented the legacy of master-builder Robert Moses. Her "The Harlot's Progress" (1998) was a chamber opera, with music and lyrics by Barry Greenhut, based on the engravings of William Hogarth. The New York Times (Lawrence Van Gelder) wrote, "Like its inspiration, 'A Harlot's Progress' is striking, timely and admirable art." Her "Body of Crime" (La MaMa, 1996) and "Body of Crime II" (La MaMa, 1999) enacted scenes of women in prison from medieval times to the present.

Skipitares has been repeatedly nominated for the American Theater Wing's special design award and won the 1999 prize for "A Harlot's Progress." She has received Guggenheim, Rockefeller and NEA grants. In 1999, she was a Fullbright Fellow in India, collaborating on a theater production at Yakshagana Theater in Bangalore.

"Optic Fever" is conceived, designed, written and directed by Skipitares. Additional texts are by David Adjami. The puppeteers are Sarah Provost, Preston Foerder, Alissa Mello and Chris Maresca. Narrator is Michael Moran. The continuous score is composed by David First. Lighting is designed by Pat Dignan and video is designed by Kay Hines.

The musical score by composer David First uses sound samples derived exclusively from authentic Renaissance instruments which are then warped, morphed, and mangled to create a dense, highly charged, yet melodic sonic landscape full of hypnotic droning textures and polyrhythmic grooves. His opera, "The Manhattan Book of the Dead, was presented by LaMaMa in 1995. Kyle Gann of the Village Voice wrote, "The music grew and grew in scintillating, illusionary beauty long past the point at which you thought it could still surpass itself." First's music has been performed in New York at Experimental Intermedia, the Kitchen, La MaMa, Roulette, Merkin Hall, Exit Art, the Knitting Factory, Bang on a Can Festival, The Cooler, Tonic, and CBGB's. His works have been widely produced in Europe. His grants and awards include the NEA, the Phaedrus Foundation, Casio Inc. and the Yamaha Communications Center. He was a nominee for the Cal Arts/Alpert award in 1994.