In addition to being a fabulous place to see puppet theater, Puppet Showplace is a great resource for artists developing new works. Every other week, we host our puppet incubator where artists of all persuasions meet to discuss and develop their works-in-progress. I love getting feedback from artists who work in different mediums or puppetry styles, and I always leave incubator fired up to build or write or rehearse.
Our puppet slams are also great ways for artists to try out pieces of a larger work in front of an audience. At our last slam, Diane Kordas of Romper Rhythm & Puppets performed part of her "Pirates and Tales of the Sea" show, which she will perform as a full piece at PST in September. Also, Bonnie Duncan of They Gotta Be Secret Agents performed an excerpt of her show Poste Restante, which I saw in its complete form (twice! once with my Mom! it was that good!) over the weekend at the Charlestown Working Theater. We're also waiting with great anticipation for the day when our friends and regular slam performers Z. Briggs and Chad Williams of Wonderspark Puppets will present a full-length show at PST. (Z. recently informed me that she did her first solo performance as a puppeteer at PST. We're so proud!).
For artists who are not working on a full length show but who still want to advance their puppetry skills, PST is a great educational resource. This weekend we are hosting a workshop with master puppeteer Dan Hurlin of Mapp International Productions while he is in Boston performing at the Institute of Contemporary Art as part of the Emerging America Festival. Then on Sunday, the Boston Area Guild of Puppetry (BAGOP) will present (PST board member!) Eric Bornstein of Behind the Mask as part of their Guild Meeting at PST. New members are welcome!
Still not sure how to take advantage of the artist resources that PST has to offer? Email me or drop by the theater and we'll talk! We had two puppeteers (Allison Daniel of Chicago and Agus Nur Amal of Indonesia) serendipitously drop in last week and wow us with their work. Our doors are open to you too!
Puppet Showplace is New England's Puppet Theater; the first and only theater in the region solely dedicated to high-quality puppetry performance and education for audiences of all ages. Our blog helps readers plug into the puppetry community, learn about upcoming events, or take a behind-the scenes-tour of our many shows and classes.
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