Puppet Happenings Newsletter
Featuring highlights from the complete online listings:
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PUPPET HAPPENINGS - TOP PICKS |
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Dimanche *
Physical Theater
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May 3 - 13
Wednesday - Friday - 7:30pm
Saturdays - 2pm & 7:30pm
Sunday - 3pm
Magical and profound, Dimanche gives fantastical theatrical form to our precarious existence. Winds rage, rain pours down, and the storm has only just begun. Three wildlife reporters attempt to document the last wild animals on Earth. Meanwhile, in a quiet city center, one family is dead set on having their usual Sunday dinner... Spinning dreamlike fiction and humor with urgent reality, Belgium’s Cie Focus & Cie Chaliwaté weave together low-fi effects, video, puppetry, and clowning in a wondrous work of physical theater.
* Recipient of a Jim Henson Foundation Presenter's Grant (2023)
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XPT: Xperimental Puppetry Theater
Center for Puppetry Arts, Various Artists
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May 4 - 7
Thursday, Friday & Saturday - 8:00pm
Sunday - 5:00pm
What happens when artists join forces to create original puppetry works for adult audiences? XPT! Celebrating 36 years of experimentation, come find out what this year holds! From traditional forms of puppetry to films and installation pieces, artists of all disciplines employ puppetry in startling new ways. XPT offers an array of stories, puppetry styles, and sensibilities in a single evening. Guaranteed to inspire, surprise, amuse and provoke. Inspired? – see the XPT application to find out how to get involved in the process!
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Wink * - FAMILY
Spellbound Theatre
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April 22 - May 7
April 22 - 11am & 3pm
April 23 - 11am & 3pm
April 29 - 11am & 3pm
April 30 - 11am & 3pm
May 6 - 3pm
May 7 - 11am & 3pm
Good night, sleep tight, close your eyes and let your dreams take flight! Fall fast asleep and wake up in the world of Wink, where mountains morph into oceans, twinkling stars turn into fish and ships sail into the night sky. With playful shadow puppetry, magical movement, whimsy and wonder, Spellbound Theatre (The World Inside Me, 2019) brings you the sweet dreams of a small girl and her teddy as they adventure across land, sea and air. After all, anything is possible under moonlight’s spell!
* Recipient of a Jim Henson Foundation Presenter's Grant (2023) & Family Grant (2013)
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Now Playing
Tuesday - Saturday - 8:00pm
Saturday - 2:00pm
Sunday - 3:00pm
Life of Pi, the award-winning play, comes to Broadway. After a cargo ship sinks in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, a sixteen-year-old boy named Pi is left stranded on a lifeboat with the most unlikely of companions: a Royal Bengal tiger. With time and nature against them, the two must learn to trust one another if they are to survive. Winner of five Olivier Awards including Best New Play.
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The Crazy Adventures of Don Quixote / Las Locaventuras de Don Quijote - FAMILY
Directed by Manuel A. Morán
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May 6, 7, & 13
3:00pm
A loving interpretation for all ages of Cervantes’ classic tale, complete with an original score and beautifully handmade puppets. Book and Lyrics by Radamés Gavé and Manuel A. Moran. Directed by Manuel A. Moran
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Shakespeare's Stars - FAMILY
Spellbound Theatre
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May 11 - 21
Thurs & Fri - 1pm & 4pm
Sat & Sun - 10am & 1pm
A baby’s first smile. A child’s first steps. Sometimes the littlest in our lives are proof of life’s greatest wonders. Created by Spellbound Theatre (The World Inside Me, 2019), Shakespeare’s Stars invites tiny hands and feet to discover infinite possibilities in an intimate multisensory experience. Bringing The Bard’s best lines about the cosmos to life with starlit props, musical instruments and mesmerizing movement, this gentle show reminds us that “we are such stuff as dreams are made on.”
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demons.
Written and Directed by Keelay Gipson
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May 16 - June 2
7:00pm
* Students + Seniors: $15 preview tickets and $20 reg. tickets with code STUDEN0523
* Black Theater Night on 5/25: $15 with code DEM0525
* LGBTQIA+ Community Night on 5/27: $15 with code DEM0527
The Bushwick Starr is thrilled to partner with JAG Productions and Oye Group to present demons., a new Afro-Surrealist play written and directed by award-winning playwright Keelay Gipson. When the death of their patriarch draws family members home, they must reckon with grief and the haunting realities that death often brings to the surface. A surreal dark comedy, demons. is a meditation on the reality of getting older, of losing a parent, and that ever-elusive quest to exorcize the trauma a family passes down through the generations. Puppet Design by Cedwan Hooks, Puppetry Direction by Jon Riddleberger.
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Tin Iso and the Dawn *
Tristan Allen
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May 7
8:00pm (doors at 7:30pm)
Tin Iso and the Dawn is a shadow puppet symphony performed alongside an original album. The project shares the origins of an imaginary world, the first chapter to a grand overarching story told through music and puppetry. Tin Iso and the Dawn is operated by a solo puppeteer, composed and performed to explore the hidden turnings of a world at its genesis. Lights dim to black as a delicate melody slips into abstraction. Iso awakens to a bang as Tin crashes through the sky forming a hole above, light pours through and they meet. Their journey through shadow brings forth a rising sun and the beginning of life. Wordless narrative, magic lanterns, and detailed sound design collide in examining the universal longing to make sense of loss and what's beyond.
* Recipient of a Jim Henson Foundation Workshop Grant (2023)
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Go Home Tiny Monster * - FAMILY
The Gottabees
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May 6
2:00pm
After a sudden storm, Sylvie and her loving family of homespun creatures suddenly find themselves in need of a new home. Luckily, they have an audience full of people who can help them out! Go Home Tiny Monster is a wildly creative theatrical ode to a community's generosity. The show, told entirely without words, features The Gottabees’ signature mix of puppetry, live music, physical theater, and joyously absurd silliness.
* Recipient of a Jim Henson Foundation Family Grant (2018)
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Squirrel Stole My Underpants * - FAMILY
The Gottabees
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May 10 - 13
10:00am & 12:30pm
In this poignantly silly adventure tale for families, Sylvie is sent to the backyard to hang up the laundry. The moment her back is turned, a mischievous squirrel steals her favorite piece of clothing and runs off. When Sylvie gives chase, an entire world emerges from her laundry basket, and curious characters show her the way through mysterious lands. Blending puppetry, dance, and physical theater, The Gottabees create a world that transforms in scale, color, texture, and time! This award-winning puppetry show with live music accompaniment is created and performed by Bonnie Duncan with music by Brendan Burns and Tony Leva.
* Recipient of a Jim Henson Foundation Family Grant (2013)
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Time and Energy: A Puppet Show About Thermodynamics & Rabbits * - FAMILY
Deva North & Zach Bramel
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May 13
4:00pm & 7:30pm
"Time & Energy" is an hour-long puppet show for families and puppetry fans of all ages. Full of animals, humor, music, and minor injuries, this silly yet poignant play uses The Four Laws of Thermodynamics to illustrate how the scientific truths that govern our world might also compel us to care for ourselves and to help each other. Original live music accompanies each performance.
* Recipient of a Jim Henson Foundation Family Grant (2023)
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The Magic Weaver
Toybox Theatre
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May 6
11:00am
Toybox Theatre, in collaboration with The Magnetic Theatre, presents The Magic Weaver, the sold-out sensation awarded Funniest show at the 2023 Asheville Fringe Arts Festival. Based on a traditional Russian folk tale, An old soldier helps a young boy find his mother, who's been kidnapped to a magical underwater kingdom in a remote Russian lake. Toybox Theatre has been entertaining audiences from coast to coast with their unique brand of humor and art for over 20 years! Garnishing many "fan favorite" and "funniest show" awards, Toybox has also received an UNIMA Citation for Excellence in the Art of Puppetry, and funding from The Jim Henson
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The Monarch Report
Upper Jay Art Center & Coyote + Badger Productions
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May 12 - 20
Fri & Sat - 7:30pm
Sunday - 3:00pm
The Monarch Report is a multimedia performance exploring the relationship between humans and insects. The story follows two humans in isolation who raise and release hundreds of monarch butterflies in captivity. The more invested they become in their hobby, the more they begin to reflect on their own role in the ecosystem around them. This fun and visually compelling performance employs various puppetry techniques, live feed video and quirky humor to make-large the tiny lives of monarch caterpillars and their metamorphosis into butterflies.
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WORKSHOPS, LECTURES, PRESENTATIONS, FILMS, SPECIAL EVENTS |
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The Jim Henson Legacy - A 30th Anniversary Celebration
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May 13
1:00pm
To commemorate 30 years of The Jim Henson Legacy’s work preserving Jim Henson’s art, past and present members of the Board of Trustees and staff will discuss the organization’s accomplishments. Following the panel, clips from historic footage located and preserved by The Jim Henson Legacy will be presented. Panelists include The Jim Henson Legacy Trustees Craig Shemin, Karen Falk, Cheryl Henson, Heather Henson, and Bonnie Erickson. Copies of The Jim Henson Legacy’s 30th anniversary commemorative book will be available to the public as a gift with a $20 donation to Museum of the Moving Image.
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Puppet Playground Monitor Classes (All Levels) - ONLINE
Little Shadow Productions
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May 7 - August 27
Sundays at 2:00pm & 5:00pm
4 months of live, weekly play and professional development all via Zoom! Be live in the room with all of the upcoming “Muppet-style” classes and practice times including: 4 Guest Hosted Monitor Time Sessions, 4 Basic Monitor Classes or Intermediate Monitor Classes (Intermediate Level participants should be proficient with eye focus and lip sync as well as a command of the puppet in space), 7 Open Monitor Playtime Practice Sessions, 1 Set of Peepers Puppets, 1 Copy of “Puppetry 101: Creating Film and Television Style Puppetry” signed by Adam Kreutinger, Access to our closed Puppet Playground Facebook Group, Certificate of completion - All for ONE LOW PRICE!
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Mid-Week Monitor Night: Lights, Camera, Puppets! - IN-PERSON
Beau Brown
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May 10
7:00pm - 9:00pm
Practice makes perfect! We will set up a camera, plug in some monitors, and get some puppets up in the air! This will be a casual and fun night of hand and rod TV puppetry practice. Puppets will be provided, but feel free to bring your own hand and rod puppet if you’d like. Wear comfortable clothes that allow for movement. Hosted by professional television and film puppeteers with years of experience, you’ll have a blast learning from and playing with the pros and meeting new puppetry pals.
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Ecological City Procession for Climate Solutions
Earth Celebrations
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May 13
11:00am-5:00pm, puppet volunteers call time: 10:00am
Earth Celebrations' Ecological City - Procession for Climate Solutions is a collaborative art project engaging the community on urban climate solution initiatives throughout the community gardens, neighborhood and waterfront on the Lower East Side of New York City. Months of Art & Climate Solutions Workshops creating giant puppets, costumes, visual art and performances culminates in the 10-mile procession visiting 21 sustainability sites. The spectacular procession features site performances of music, dance, theater and poetry celebrating and advocating for community cultivated climate solutions that are vital to city and global climate challenges. VOLUNTEER PUPPETEERS NEEDED - SIGN UP - BECOME A CLIMATESOLUTION - explore an urban ecological wonderland! Wear a spectacular climate solution costume, help as a marshal, assist with puppets and visuals.
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2023 New England Puppet Intensive - IN-PERSON
New England Puppet Arts / Old Trout Puppet Workshop
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July 7 - 17
Arrive in time for 6pm dinner on July 7
Depart the morning of July 17
* $150 discount for Puppet Happenings Subscribers - mention "Puppet Happenings Newsletter" at time of registration *
Join us for a special performance edition of the workshop and a deep dive into creating expressive puppetry -- including physical training, devising processes, and mindful practice. A final showing of our work will be presented at the internationally renowned Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, MA. This year we will introduce participants to the Garden Puppet -- a philosophical approach to puppet design using fully biodegradable materials and traditional Italian Cartapesta techniques -- puppets which exist in harmony with the Land, safe enough to compost, and indeed containing seeds which will flourish in your garden and feed off your puppet when its performance duties have concluded.
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Puppeteers of America Rufus and Margo Rose Endowment Fund
Grants for New Puppet Theater Works
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Deadline to Apply: May 31
The Puppeteers of America Rufus and Margo Rose Endowment Fund was established in 1975 to honor the passing of fine performers and great friends of puppetry, Rufus and Margo Rose. The Endowment Fund makes possible financial grants to active puppeteers for projects that will further the growth and development of the art of puppetry.
Grants are available to support the development and creation of new professional puppet productions. For the 2023 cycle, two grants of $750 each will be awarded to Emerging Artists and two grants of $750 each will be awarded to Established Artists. Any North American puppet company or individual puppeteer may apply for a grant from the Endowment Fund. Either the person making the application or one member of the applying company must be a current member of Puppeteers of America.
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2023 National Puppetry Festival
Puppeteers of America
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July 18 - 22
We are excited for you to join us at the University of Maryland for the Puppeteers of America 2023 National Puppetry Festival and Academic Symposium. Puppeteers, enthusiasts, educators, and friends will all be gathering to celebrate the puppetry arts and experience our first festival together in four years. The festival will focus on the theme of Generations, honoring those that went before, celebrating those who are with us now, and encouraging those to come.
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MUSEUM & GALLERY EXHIBITS |
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Screen and Stage: Maurice Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are
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Closes June 18
Tues & Fri - 9am-5pm
Saturdays - 10am-5pm
Sundays - 12pm-5pm
Last Admission - 4:30pm
Journey to the world of the wild things in this exhibit that explores adaptations of Maurice Sendak’s classic children’s book, Where the Wild Things Are, for the stage and screen. See wild things, Max’s costume from the 2009 Spike Jonze film adaptation, and a full-hand puppet set created by artist Amy Luckenbach for a stage production. Get a behind-the-scenes peek into the production of the 2009 film and learn about how the wild things were created and adapted on set during filming. This exhibit was created in partnership with the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry at the University of Connecticut.
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PUPPET HAPPENINGS - COMPLETE LISTINGS |
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The Jim Henson Foundation's Puppet Happenings Newsletter are highlights from the complete online listings, updated every Wednesday:
Puppet Happenings Submission Form:
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