Thursday, November 29, 2012

Workshop Series at PST!

THIS WEEK AT PST...

massmouth inc. Workshop: Family Stories
Sunday Dec 2 | 3 PM

Heirlooms, boxes, old photo albums - is your house filled with the beginnings of great stories?  Learn how to turn mementos and memories into compelling tales that can be sharedwith friends and family - just in time for the holidays!  Bring a photo (or any other object) or a memory that reminds you of a person or an event in your life or your family's history - anything that will inspire you to tell a great story.

About the Workshop SeriesPuppet Showplace Theatre and massmouth, inc. have teamed up to connect YOU to the amazing art of traditional storytelling. Join professional storyteller Norah Dooley for these fun, interactive all-ages workshops that will connect you to this timeless art form and unlock your storytelling abilities. Only 15 spots available, so register ASAP! 

Cost: $25/individual; $15/additional family member
PST Members: $20/individual, $10/additional family member
*Children under age 13 must participate with a parent or guardian.

REGISTER ONLINE

Friday, November 23, 2012

Extended Open Hours for the Holidays

Tis the SEASON!

PST Puppet Store!
The day after Thanksgiving for Americans is many things...a feast of left over turkey sandwiches, a time when families gather for a puppet show here at the theatre while kids are off from school, and there is one more thing...OH YES! SHOPPING!

For many, the day after Thanksgiving marks the beginning of a frantic stretch of shopping for holiday presents.  How do you find that perfect gift? Whether you are a parent looking for the perfect Folkmanis hand puppet for your 5 year old performing puppet shows in your living room, or a grandparent searching for a gift without adding to the pile of "stuff" in the kid's play closet, PST has everything you need: including extended store hours this season!

2012 HOLIDAY HOURS
The Box Office and Puppet Store will be open...

NOV 23 to DEC 24
TUES-FRI: 10am to 6pm
PST will be closed on DEC 25

Puppet Store
Marionettes, hand puppets, and finger puppets, OH MY!  Stop by the theatre during our extended shopping hours this season for the best selection of puppets in the greater Boston area!

Gift Certificates
Shopping for families can often be challenging.  Do they have this book already?  How many action figures, stuffed animals, puzzles, or other toys do kids REALLY need (and parents want)?  A gift certificate to Puppet Showplace Theatre is the perfect gift for families to spend time together, and encourage and engage creativity and imagination. We will mail them for you if you like! Call the Box Office at 617-731-6400 x 101 to place an order.

Membership
A membership to PST is a gift that keeps on giving! Starting at $50, give the gift of puppetry to your loved ones by allowing them to receive discounts on tickets, the puppet store, priority seating and other benefits  all while supporting a local non-profit organization! (Your membership purchase is tax deductible) Each membership level is targeted for a specific family or individual, so ask us in the box office to recommend the perfect membership for your loved ones! 
More information about membership packages can be found HERE

Monday, November 19, 2012

Behind the Scenes at PST: Magic Soup & Other Stories

It's Brad!
Not Just Soup, Magic Soup

It's official, folks.  We are just a few short days away from the biggest of all feasts: Thanksgiving - and what better way to celebrate than to continue this year's Feast of Food and Folktales with The Magic Soup & Other Stories  Put another notch on your belt (or switch to elastic waistband pants) because the show returns to PST the day after Thanksgiving and we'll be adding "soup" to your leftovers.      

About the Show...

The Magic Soup & Other Stories is a collection of six short stories - “The Naked Truth and Resplendent Parable,” “The Egg Seller,” “The Very Small House,” “A Coat Poverty,” “Pleasing All the World,” and “The Magic Soup" - all of which are taken from the vibrant Jewish folk traditions of Eastern Europe.  In these short stories, everybody is looking for something - whether it's a bowl of soup or some peace and quiet - and it is those with wit, a sense of humor, and imagination who have a better chance of making their dreams come true.

...And Its Mechanics

I'm sure you're all familiar with our artist-in-residence, Brad Shur.  Well, since I profiled him for "Behind the Scenes at PST: Dr. Doohickey" just a few weeks ago, I thought it would be neat-o to discuss the work he puts into his puppetry - because it's pretty awesome.

Brad using shadow puppets
As of I mentioned before, The Magic Soup & Other Stories is made up of six short stories and they're all unique in their use of puppetry.  In "The Naked Truth and Resplendent Parable," Brad uses table top and rod puppets.  In "The Egg Seller," shadow puppets.  In "The Very Small House," table top, hand, and mouth puppets.  In "A Coat Poverty," shadow puppets.  In "Pleasing All the World," table top puppets.  And in "The Magic Soup," table top puppets.

Now, having named all these styles, you're probably wondering: how do they work?  Well, let's take a look at a few examples, starting with the shadow puppets.  Brad begins by creating his puppets digitally, designing them on his computer and adjusting their sizes accordingly - comparing one puppet to the other so they can all work together.  After he prints, then cuts them out, Brad places his finished work on the over-head projector, which allows the puppets to create large, blown-up shadows.

The reason why Brad uses shadow puppets in, let's say, "The Egg Seller," is because he wanted to create the broad and abstract locations that exist within the story.  With shadow puppets, he is able to do just that - create a sense of place.

As for table top puppets - which you'll see a lot of throughout the show - Brad uses paper mache cast-over foam, which he shapes into any form he so desires, to create a wide variety of cast members, including monsters!  He constructs them in such a way that he is able to be in control - of one part in particular: the head, which he uses to create simple yet elegant and powerful movements.

One of Brad's puppets: The Ugly, Naked Truth!
And what of the characters in The Magic Soup?  Brad had one goal in mind: to transform the space and make magical things come out of said space.  In other words, he took everyday objects like coats and trash cans and transformed them to make his characters exist in a magical, story land.  And it worked!   Brad engineered different materials to look out-of-this-world.  Trust me - when you come to see The Magic Soup, you will find that mundane objects have become magical.

In honor of the Feast of Food and Folktales (and Thanksgiving), be sure to come on down to PST this week to see Brad perform in The Magic Soup & Other Stories.  It's a show you won't want to miss!  In case you haven't done so already, tickets can be purchase online HERE.

'Till next time, Fellow Readers!  Yours truly, Esra Erol - marketing intern at PST.

Sunday, November 18, 2012

The Magic Soup at PST!

PST Feast of Food and Folktales 2012!
November 1 - December 2

View Show Calendar

It's official, folks!  It's the week of Thanksgiving and we've got a treat for you: soup!  And not any ordinary soup - magical soup.  Before we get into our winter puppet show season, our Feast of Food and Folktales concludes with...

THIS WEEK AT PST:

The Magic Soup & Other Stories by Brad Shur
Fri Nov 23 | 10:30 AM & 1 PM
Sat Nov 24 & Sun Nov 25 | 1 PM & 3 PM
And then the following week...
Thur Nov 29 & Fri Nov 30 | 10:30 AM
Sat Dec 1 1 PM & 3 PM
Sun Dec 2 | 1 PM

BUY TICKETS

About the ShowUncle Murray is coming over for dinner, but there's no food in sight! A young man's search for a family recipe ends up bringing folk tales to life...in his kitchen. Based on a collection of traditional Yiddish stories, "The Magic Soup" teaches us that it is those with wit, humor and imagination who have the best chance of filling their bellies - and fulfilling their dreams.

About the Performer: Brad Shur, PST's artist-in-residence, has been professionally involved in puppetry for over 10 years.  He first began as a performer with the Providence puppet and mask company Big Nazo while he was a student at the Rhode Island School of Design and has toured nationally with Wood & Strings Theatre, a marionette company out of Tennessee.  As a teaching artist, he teaches workshops and classes for students of all ages. 

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Behind the Scenes at PST: The Day It Snowed Tortillas

It's Snowing...Tortillas?

Get ready, folks.  We're hopping into our time machine and travelling eight months into the future.  That means we'll be going to July, where (more like when) we'll be meeting a poor woodcutter and his wife - both of which are desperate to get rich.  How will they earn that extra cash?  We've got the scoop, much thanks to Crabgrass Puppet Theatre.

About the Show...

The Day It Snowed Tortillas is a show by Crabgrass Puppet Theatre, which we added to our Feast of Food and Folktales repertoire because it's - you know - about tortillas.  Well, it's not just about tortillas.

The show, which is based on the story of the same name, explores the lives of a poor, uneducated woodcutter and his wife.  One day, on his way from work, the woodcutter finds three bags filled with gold.  He takes them home to his wife and she is thrilled, until she realizes the bags most likely belong to someone else and they will come looking for them.  Regardless, she decides to keep them.  Problem is - they would have to keep it a secret, but the husband is a huge blabbermouth!

What to do, what to do?  The wife begins to plot.  She sends her husband to get 100 pounds of flour and later that night, she makes countless tortillas and throws them on the grounds outside their home.  When the husband wakes up the next morning and tells his wife about the tortillas, she says that it must have snowed tortillas.

Some time later, three robbers turn up and demand the wife give them their gold back.  The wife explains she knows nothing about any gold, but the robbers insist her husband told the whole village about the gold.  Again, the wife denies everything and the robbers decide to wait for the husband to return home from school - as his wife sent him there to get an education.  When the husband returns home, the robbers ask him and his wife about the gold.  The wife says she knows nothing about any gold and the husband says, "Don't you remember?  It was the day before it snowed tortillas. I returned home with three bags containing gold, and the next morning, you sent me to school."  Upon hearing this, the robbers assume the husband is crazy and they leave.

...And the Performer

It's no secret: Crabgrass Puppet Theatre is a frequent visitor to PST - and we love it!  In case you didn't know, Crabgrass was founded by Jamie Keithline and Bonny Hall.  They met in 1979 while performing in Laughingstock!, a puppet-and-actor production at the University of Connecticut, in which Bonny played Jamie's father.  Three years later, they moved to California and founded Crabgrass Puppet Theatre.  
Jamie and Bonny in 1983

Their first show, What a Clever Ideal, had giant puppets that measured eight feet tall and was selected to perform at the 1983 Pacific Southwest Puppetry Festival.  Their other shows have also featured a variety of innovative and unusual puppets, both large and small.  In Follow That Rabbit, they had a seven-foot crocodile.  In A Renaissance Miracle, they had a smoke-breathing dragon.  And in Crabgrass Uprising!, they has an animated garbage heap.

In 1989, Jamie and Bonny returned to Connecticut.  While there, they re-established their connection with the University of Connecticut, which paid dividends when UConn graduate David Regan joined the company in 1996 to design and perform in The Frog Prince and The Princess and the Pea, a contemporary take on two of the classic tales.


Past Performances
Crabgrass Puppet Theatre has been awarded the prestigious Citation of Excellence from the American Center of the Union Internationale de la Marionette (UNIMA-USA), the highest honor in American puppetry - twice (once in 2001 and again in 2005).  In 2008, Bonny received a Commendation for Design in the Puppet Theatre from the Arlyn Award Foundation. 

They have given many performances in schools, libraries, museums, and arts festivals - and have performed at over two dozen regional, national and international puppetry festivals.  Some of their venues have included the World Trade Center, the Tribeca Performing Arts Center, the Philadelphia Museum, Paper Mill Playhouse, the North Carolina Museum, the New York State Museum, the Smithsonian Institution, the California Academy of Sciences, the Detroit Institute for the Arts, and hundreds of schools, museums, and theaters across the country. 

Crabgrass Puppet Theatre continues to perform more than 200 shows each year, reaching over 100,000 people throughout the United States.  And this week, we're lucky to have 'em back for The Day It Snowed Tortillas.  Make sure you buy your tickets HERE - because it's going to be a blast!  

Till next time.  Yours truly, Esra Erol - marketing intern at PST.

Monday, November 12, 2012

The Day It Snowed Tortillas at PST!

PST Feast of Food and Folktales 2012!
November 1 - December 2

View Show Calendar

With Thanksgiving just a few short weeks away, we know you're getting hungry.  So, doesn't it make sense to come on down to PST to see yet another food-related show?  We think so!  Our Feast of Food and Folktales continues with...

THIS WEEK AT PST:

The Day It Snowed Tortillas by Crabgrass Puppet Theatre
Thursday Nov 15 & Friday Nov 16 | 10:30 AM
Saturday Nov 17 & Sunday Nov 18 | 1 PM & 3 PM

BUY TICKETS

About the Show A poor woodcutter and his wife have the chance of a lifetime – to become rich! All they have to do is keep a secret. Trouble is, the woodcutter is the biggest blabbermouth south of the border. “We have to keep this a secret!” the wife tells him. “Absolutely!” says her husband. “I won't tell anyone. . . except my brother . . . and my best friend . . . and my mother . . . and . . .” “Enough!” says his wife. She cooks up an ingenious plan to divert any unwanted attention. All she has to do is make it snow . . . in July . . . in Mexico! The recipe for this hilarious folktale includes fantastic puppets, hysterically funny action, marvelous music, and one ridiculous chicken.
Rod and table-top puppets, recommended ages 4 & up

About the Performer: The Crabgrass Puppet Theatre is an award-winning touring puppet theatre founded in 1982 by Jamie Keithline and Bonny Hall. Jamie and Bonny met in 1979, while performing in Laughingstock!, a puppet-and-actor production at the University of Connecticut in which Bonny played Jamie's father. They have been working together ever since!


Sunday, November 11, 2012

Storyteller, Doria Hughes on PST Partnership with massmouth inc.


GUEST BLOGGER- DORIA HUGHES

Doria Hughes
On October 18th, massmouth hosted our first Adult Folk Tale Slam at Puppet Showplace Theatre. Our theme was "Grimm & Twisted," in honor of the bicentennial of the publication of the Grimm brothers' famous collection of folktales, and the Slam was a blast. Folks at the show may not have known it, but returning to PST as co-host of the Grimm & Twisted Adult Folk Tale Slam was a kind of Homecoming for me.

MEET THE PUPPETS!
I couldn't have been older than six years old when I first walked into the Puppet Showplace Theatre. I was aware of a high ceilinged room, made of cozy brick walls festooned with colorfully painted papier maché characters. Children and adults swirled about and laughed, waiting eagerly to pass through the enticingly curtained doorway to whatever lay beyond. Once through, the performance space felt well contained, rows of comfortable benches and cushions cradled between the embracing bricks and the modest stage. The walls gave an impression of softness, decorated with fanciful examples of the puppeteer's art, frozen in the midst of mysterious motion. The lighting was warm and inviting, not harsh the way other theater spaces had always felt to me. I felt fearless and thrilled, with no notion of what to expect, other than the certainty that I would like it.

Circa 1980, with my Dad, who read folk tales
 and fairy tales aloud to me all the way through
High School, and who took me to
 Puppet Showplace Theatre.
When the show began, I noticed straight off that the grownup who made the magic happen remained unobtrusive in the background, instead of dominating the stage, as was usually done in the theater shows I’d been to. The other children and I in the audience weren't fooled; we knew that the intricately fashioned creatures cavorting and speaking for our amusement were neither alive, nor independent of human agency. However, our understanding didn’t lessen our delight. In fact, it was enhanced; we enjoyed being allowed to view the arcane relationship of the dancing strings to the buoyant puppets and their clever master.

Beyond the beauty and clever movements of the puppets, I was struck by how well and truly the art of Puppetry served the art of Storytelling. And I was awed by the humility of the puppeteer, who lived only, it seemed to me, to serve the puppets, who in turn told and acted out the Story. I had always loved stories, which I had (and still do) eagerly read in books, but it was not until my first visit to the Puppet Showplace Theatre that I realized how beautiful and magical live Storytelling could be. My experience at PST taught me that books did not represent the limit of story transmission. In fact, books are a starting point, a key to an exciting and limitless world: the world of Storytelling.

MOUTHING OFF
Skip forward 25 years and I found myself a Professional Storyteller, with little more than a website and some homemade business cards to prove it. I was the rookie in a gang of four storytellers who meant to drag our ancient art form, kicking and screaming if need be, into the 21st century. Norah Dooley, Andrea Lovett, Stu Mendelson and I co-founded the Storytelling organization massmouth. Our goal was to spread the Gospel of Story beyond the traditional venues of libraries and schools, into more adult haunts - pubs, night clubs, and the web.
Telling at massmouth’s first Story Slam, in 2009

We launched an ambitious first series of Adult Story Slams and Mouth Offs throughout greater Boston. Story Slams offered ordinary people 5 minutes to share a personal story in public. The response showed that we had clearly tapped a vein of need in our community.

As gratifying as the popularity of the Slams has been, we didn’t want massmouth to be limited to the genre of Personal Narratives. Our passion for folktales had driven us to start massmouth, and we wanted to get those stories told - and heard. How? An Adult Folk Tale Slam series. Lots of folks were itching to tell those stories, and audiences wanted to hear them. But where would the magic happen?

MATCH MADE IN (PUPPET SHOWPLACE) HEAVEN!
Our Story Slams are often held in restaurant bars, following the unerring logic that personal stories and beer are old friends and belong together. But what about folk tales, where could they find a home? And, even more importantly, could folks still have a drink while enjoying them?? Norah, a Brookline resident, suggested the Puppet Showplace Theatre as a perfect venue for an evening of Adult Folk Tale Telling. I loved the idea, but worried they’d think we were a bunch of weirdos, somewhere between zebra feeders and bassoon repairmen. We introduced the idea of co-hosting a Slam series to Roxie, PST's Artistic Director, and were received with open arms - huzzah! While going over details, Roxie let slip that PST had recently acquired a liquor license, and could serve beer and wine at shows. Norah and I exchanged mental high-fives and tried hard not to grin like a pair of crazy Storytelling lushes. Which, to be clear, we're not, by any means.

COMING HOME
The night of the first Slam, I was nervous, excited, and all the other things you are when you're about to perform in a place that is more of an iconic archetype than a simple theater space. Yet the moment I stepped foot inside PST, all the old memories and impressions came rushing back in an instant. There was the high ceilinged entry space, the alluring curtain, the puppets all around, and those beloved brick walls! It all looked just as I remembered it from childhood, lovingly preserved in all its sweet and colorful glory. Only now, for the first time, it was my privilege to step onto that modest stage, and tell a story. In the heady rush that is my personal experience of Storytelling, it felt so good to feel the Puppet Showplace Theatre simultaneously all around me and beneath my feet, florid and fragile as a puppet, solid and warm as a brick. I could have sworn one of the puppets on the wall winked at me, as if to say, Welcome Home!

On stage at PST for the first Folk and Fairytale Slam, 2012!


Want to experience Adult Folk Tale telling at PST? Our next Slam is on Thursday November 15th, from 7 to 9pm. The theme will be "Feast & Famine," co-hosted by Danielle Shulman and Laura Packer. Doors open at 6:30, and incidentally, beer and wine are available for purchase. Click here for more details.





Want to be a guest blogger for the Puppet Showplace Theatre blog? Please contact Brenda Huggins for details. 617-731-6400 x 201 info@puppetshowplace.org
www.puppetshowplace.org

Friday, November 9, 2012

Puppet Slam Returns to PST!

THIS WEEK AT PST...

NOVEMBER "VOTE FOR PUPPETS" SLAM!
Saturday Nov 10, 2012 8:00 PM 

BUY TICKETS

Are you reading this?  Are you an adult?  Well, then - do we have something for you: rude, crude (and therefore hi-larious) puppets!  

About the Show: Join us for an evening of short varied theatrical mini-plays for adults that use (or sometimes abuse) puppets for all or part of the drama. Each piece is performed by a different artist or artists, and the content can be wide-ranging; some are elegant or poignant, others are satiric, irreverent, or humorous, and still others can be passionate, political, or spiritual in nature. The performers range from the seasoned professional to the nascent puppeteer, and often include musicians, dancers, mimes, actors, and other sundry affiliated artists.

About the Performers Just to name a few...Britt Juchem and Ariel Gregory - a.k.a. Bat Honey Puppeteers - have collaborated on stop-motion animations, murals, children’s books, board games and puppet shows.  Evan O'Television has been dazzling and perplexing audiences with his one-man-double-ac and video ventriloquism since 1995.  And Tom and Marianne Tucker - a.k.a. Tuckers' Tales Puppet Theatre - have performed at puppet, folk, ethnic and street festivals, and at craft fairs, shopping centers, theaters and schools around the country. 

Monday, November 5, 2012

From the PST Vault: Aesop's Fables

Mary performing her rendition of Aesop's
Aesop's Past...

Greetings, Readers!  Welcome to the PST Vault.  Feels pretty cozy, right?  That's because you're surrounded by lots of fun facts and what not.  Yes, get ready, because you're about to learn about (*drumroll, please*) the woman who founded PST, Mary Churchill!

Now, you may be wondering: what's the connection between Mary and Aesop's Fables?  Well, in addition to being a very skilled puppeteer, Mary was also a visionary educator.  She believed that puppet shows are a great way to educate young children about everyday issues.

You see the connection?  Mary believed in education and Aesop's Fables is all about educating its audience.  You know the stories, I'm sure.  Take a look at "The Ant and the Grasshopper" and "The Tortoise and the Hare."  One is about the virtues of hard work and planning for the future and the other is about how ingenuity and trickery (rather than doggedness) are employed to overcome a stronger opponent.  These are just some of many lessons Mary considered to be valuable when performing for children.  Why?  Because, in a way, morals like these help boys and girls grow into fine men and women.
Mary's puppets
Also - just for fun - did you know that Mary had a Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon-like relationship with a very special person?  You know The Muppets, I'm sure.  What about the man behind The Muppets, Jim Henson?  Well, he visited PST once and took a liking to some of Mary's puppets.  Take a look:
Jim Henson (*Oh my god!*) with the Lion
Did you just die and go to heaven?  Me, too!  How cool is that - Mary knowing Jim Henson way back when?!  I mean, what a woman, right?  Thanks to her, we puppet enthusiasts here at PST are able to look back and revisit a wonderful history she left behind - and we love her for that.

And Aesop's Present...

Aesop's Fables by Tuckers' Tales
Now, this week we welcome back Tuckers' Tales as they perform Aesop's Fables for the PST Feast of Food and Folktales.  We hope you're just as excited as we are because not only is this show a fun and interactive sing-a-long, but it's also a steal - three stories in one: "The Fox and the Crow," "The Ant and the Grasshopper," and "The Tortoise and the Hare" - all of which are guaranteed to teach the wee ones several valuable lessons.

In case you didn't know - Tuckers' Tales Puppet Theatre is the performing division of Puppet Perceptions, Inc., a Philadelphia based performing company founded in 1981.  Co-directors Marianne and Tom Tucker have performed at puppet, folk, ethnic and street festivals as well as craft fairs, shopping centers, theaters and schools around the country.  In addition to Aesop's Fables, they've also performed Three Bears!, The Sorcerer's Apprentice, and Peter Rabbit Tales.
The Tuckers themselves!
Tuckers' Tales Past Performances
Yes, be sure to come on down to PST this week and see the Tuckers perform their version of Aesop's Fables (BUY TICKETS).  We promise you this: it's going to be a blast!

Till next time!  Yours truly, Esra Erol - marketing intern at PST.


Aesop's Fables at PST

PST Feast of Food and Folktales 2012!
November 1 - December 2
View Show Calendar


It's official, folks.  Halloween's over - has been for a few days now.  So we hope you're in food-and-folktales mood because the feast continues with - drumroll, please...

THIS WEEK AT PST:

Aesop's Fables by Tuckers' Tales
Thursday Nov 8 & Friday Nov 9 | 10:30AM
Saturday Nov 10 & Sunday Nov 11 | 1PM & 3PM
Monday Nov 12 | 10:30AM & 1PM

BUY TICKETS

About the ShowAesop, one of the greatest storytellers of the ancient world, also had a great sense of humor. And it's a good thing, because when Tuckers' Tales tells his stories, they take a few unexpected twists! Learn a lesson or two from the Fox & the Crow, prep for the winter with the Ant & the Grasshopper, and cheer on the Tortoise & the Hare in this fun, interactive, sing-a-long show!

About the Performer: Tuckers' Tales Puppet Theatre - the Performing division of Puppet Perceptions - Inc., is a Philadelphia based performing company founded in 1981. Co-directors Marianne and Tom Tucker have performed at puppet, folk, ethnic and street festivals; and at craft fairs, shopping centers, theaters and schools around the country. Audiences from small children to senior citizens have enjoyed the variety of styles skillfully displayed in their interesting programs.

Sunday, November 4, 2012

Behind the Scenes at PST: Puppet Slam!


NOVEMBER "VOTE FOR PUPPETS" SLAM!

Saturday Nov 10, 2012
8:00 pm at Puppet Showplace Theatre

BUY TICKETS

First Thing's First...


What is a puppet slam?  Well, for those of you who don't know, a puppet slam is a contemporary short-form puppet-and-object theatre experience for adult audiences.  They're often performed late at night in small venues like nightclubs and art spaces.


What's it like at PST?  It's an evening of short varied theatrical mini-plays for adults that use (or sometimes abuse) puppets for all or part of the drama. Each piece is performed by a different artist or artists, and the content can be wide-ranging; some are elegant or poignant, others are satiric, irreverent, or humorous, and still others can be passionate, political, or spiritual in nature. The performers range from the seasoned professional to the nascent puppeteer, and often include musicians, dancers, mimes, actors, and other sundry affiliated artists.


Gathering influence from vaudeville, burlesque, and performance art, puppet slams are rude, crude, and downright hi-larious!


PST'S Recent Puppet Slam History

You didn't know?  Just a few weeks ago, we hosted a puppet slam - better known as "Puppets @ Night" - here at PST and it was a huge success.  Full house, basically.  We think the reason why it was such a huge success is because we were able to showcase a wide variety of vignettes for our audience, including "The Golden Stoat" - the story of a royal princess and her dyslexic lover - which featured PST's very own Communications Director, Brenda Huggins, who served as the story's narrator and the Executioners.
Brenda Huggins in "The Golden Stoat."
Who knew the late hours of the night could bring out the "crazy" in these performers (in a good way).  It's a good thing, though, because without crazy, puppet slams are not as entertaining.

This Week...


In addition to celebrating the holiday season with the Feast of Food and Folktales, PST will also be hosting yet another puppet slam.  For those of you who attended our last one, you know what you're in for (kind of), but for all you first timers?  This will be a great break from the norm.


Featuring the Iron Will Tate puppet show by Bat Honey Puppeteers plus new works by Evan O'Television, and musical guests Tom and Marianne Tucker - this month's puppet slam is sure to be just as hi-larious as our last.


About the Performers...


Let's start with duo of Britt Juchem and Ariel Gregory (a.k.a. Bat Honey Puppeteers).  They have collaborated on stop-motion animations, murals, children’s books, board games and puppet shows.  Britt Juchem was raised in Pennsylvania.  Loving the excitement and close proximity of the East Coast, Britt would draw inspiration from the unique sights and sounds of the city and the crowds.  Ariel Gregory was raised in New Mexico.  A lad armed with a spear and the wide open desert, Ariel’s work reflects a boy’s wild imagination.

An example of Bat Honey
Next is Evan O'Television.  He's been dazzling and perplexing audiences with his one-man-double-ac and video ventriloquism since 1995.  Evan also serves as a co-founder and resident Artistic Co-Director of the underground performing arts space, Pan 9.  In 2007 he was profiled in An Encyclopedia of Vaudeville Performers by Routledge Press.  Evan’s full-length solo theatrical work - Double Negatives” - premiered at the Perishable Theatre in March 2008 and will be appearing in new venues throughout 2009.
An example of Evan O'Television
And Tom and Marianne Tucker.  You may know them better as the team behind Tuckers' Tales Puppet Theatrethe Performing division of Puppet Perceptions, Inc., which is a Philadelphia-based performing company founded in 1981. Both Marianne and Tom Tucker have performed at puppet, folk, ethnic and street festivals, and at craft fairs, shopping centers, theaters and schools around the country. Audiences from small children to senior citizens have enjoyed the variety of styles skillfully displayed in their interesting programs.  They also teach workshops in puppetry and construct puppets as requested.
An example of Tuckers' Tales
What a colorful cast of characters, eh?  Just imagine what the performers are like...at night.  Oh, the comedic genius is endless.  They will all razzle and dazzle you.

Finally...


Be sure to come on down to PST the night of November 10th.  Once the sun goes down and the moon rises, PST will host the craziest (therefore funniest) of performers you can ever imagine.  Tickets may be purchased HERE.  


Till next time!  Yours truly, Esra Erol - marketing intern at PST.  




Thursday, November 1, 2012

PST Thanks Our Members This Thanksgiving!


Turkeys and Tortillas: A Puppet Party for All Ages!
Exclusive Members Event!*

Saturday Nov 17 | 4:00PM 

FREE Admission! Fun for all ages!

Join us the Saturday before Thanksgiving for a special, members and donors only event, following the 3:00 performance of Crabgrass Puppet Theatre's show, The Day It Snowed Tortillas (BUY TICKETS).

This event is our way of saying THANK YOU to our wonderful members and donors who support Puppet Showplace Theatre.


Featuring: Refreshments!Music!Puppet making activities!Performance activities!Prizes!
A special THANKS to Anna's Taqueria for providing yummy food and drinks!
*Donors who are not members, please call the box office at 617-731-6400 x101 to register.  Or...if you would like to become a member, CLICK HERE.  
Remember: your membership helps us continue our mission, plus you'll receive great benefits including: (1) up to 33% off the price of tickets, (2) discounts on workshops, products, and special events, (3) exclusive members-only newsletter and events, (4) VIP treatment and reserved seating