More about… “Sleeping Beauty" by National Marionette Theater - PST PREMIERE!

FEBRUARY SCHOOL VACATION WEEK
Friday, Saturday & Sunday | February 25, 26 & 27 | Fri: 10:30AM & 1PM; Sat/Sun: 1PM & 3PM

About the show: The princess Aurora has been asleep for almost one hundred years when our hero, Prince Steffon learns of her story. He resolves to find the sleeping princess and rescue her from the evil fairy Belladonna. Told from the prince’s point of view, our newest production combines beautifully crafted marionettes with the timeless music from Tchaikovsky’s ballet.

Performed with marionettes. This show is recommended for ages 4 and up.

About National Marionette Theatre: National Marionette Theatre is one of the oldest continually running marionette theaters in the United States. Founded in 1967 by artistic director David A. Syrotiak, this award-winning company has been entertaining audiences around the world with their extraordinary productions for over forty years. Noted for their amazing manipulation technique and imaginative fully staged productions, National Marionette Theater is committed to bringing you the very best in family entertainment.

The company has received critical acclaim both here in the United States and abroad and was the first American Marionette Theater to receive the prestigious UNIMA award for excellence in puppetry.

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More about… “The Legend of The Banana Kid" by Frogtown Mountain Puppeteers

FEBRUARY SCHOOL VACATION WEEK
Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday | February 22, 23 & 24 | 10:30AM & 1PM

About the show: Chucky, a boy with a dream, goes West. Along the way, he meets a mysterious cowboy who takes him to a remote western town that is being harassed by a seedy group of outlaws. Pretending to be a local hero – “The Banana Kid” – Chucky leads an effort to outsmart the thugs and bring justice back to the town.

Performed with hand puppets. This show is recommended for ages 5 & up.

About Frogtown Mountain Puppeteers: Frogtown Mountain Puppeteers is a puppetry troupe based in Bar Harbor, Maine, comprised of three siblings: Erik, Brian, and Robin Torbeck. They’ve been performing mostly “down east” at festivals, schools, libraries, and “some of the finest petting zoos on the East Coast.” They’re also an audience favorite at the Puppet Showplace Theatre!

The Torbecks write their own shows and make all of their puppets. They have brought other wonderful shows to the Puppet Showplace Theatre stage in years past, including The Headless Horseman of Sleepy Hollow and Everybody Loves Pirates.

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More about… “The Banana Princess" by Galapagos Puppets - PST PREMIERE!

FEBRUARY SCHOOL VACATION WEEK Saturday, Sunday & Monday | February 19, 20 & 21 | Sat/Sun: 1PM & 3PM, Mon: 10:30AM & 1PM

About the show: The monk Tang and his disciples find their path to India blocked by a blazing fire mountain. Only a magical fan owned by the powerful Banana Princess can put out the fire, but she doesn’t want to lend it. The disciples use their powers of transformation and persuasion before finally winning the fan.

Please note that the Chang Chung Hsi ('theater of the palm of the hand') tradition includes "wen", or literary, characters such as princesses, scholars and emperors, as well as "wu" characters who are often warriors. Galapagos puppeteers include some of the skillful gungfu of the "wu" puppet tradition. Children may see sword or gungfu fighting in our shows, presented as contests of gungfu.

Performed with traditional Chang Chung Hsi puppets and choreography. This show is recommended for ages 5 and up.

About Galapagos Puppets: Margaret Moody loves the way two hands and a few puppets can present a whole story. She studied with master puppeteer Li Tien-lu of Taiwan for three years, and continues to use the intricate puppets and choreography of Chang Chung Hsi (‘theater of the palm of the hand’) in performance. Margaret lives in Arlington with her family and many puppets.

Galapagos Puppet Theater was founded in 1987 by Margaret Moody and Madeleine Beresford. Their work has been funded in part by grants from organizations such as the Henson Foundation and the Puffin Foundation.

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More about… “A Woodland Cinderella” by Deborah Costine, Puppeteer!

Wednesday and Thursday | February 16 & 17 | 10:30AM

About the show: In this original version of Cinderella, the story takes place in the land of the Woodland Fairies. The King of all Woodland Fairies wants his son to marry a fairy princess, but they are very rare. So the King hosts a great ball and commands that every single young fairy maiden in the land must attend. He is hoping that the missing fern fairy princess will come, and he knows the secret to identifying a true fair princess. Will he find her? Come and find out!

Performed with hand puppets. This show is recommended for ages 3 & up.

About Deborah Costine, Puppeteer!: When Debbie was 10 years old, she made her first puppet. She had no idea how to go about it, but she made a papier mache puppet which sits in her puppet studio today!

Debbie designs and performs shows for young audiences, and was recently awarded an UNIMA Citation of Excellence for her show “Cinderella, A Woodland Fairy Princess”. The UNIMA Citation of Excellence is the highest honor in American puppetry.

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More about… “The Three Billy Goats Gruff" by Pumpernickel Puppets

Saturday and Sunday | February 12 & 13 | 1PM & 3PM

About the show: Two classic tales make up this wonderful show. In The Three Billy Goats Gruff, the quick-witted billy goats outsmart the troll, but the troll isn’t really mean – he’s just green, has a snaggletooth, and lives under a bridge. In The Lion and the Mouse, two unlikely friends – one very big and one very small – learn to help each other to solve their problems.

Performed with colorful, friendly hand puppets. This show is recommended for ages 3 & up.

About Pumpernickel Puppets: The Pumpernickel Puppets are the creation of John McDonough of Worcester, Massachusetts. Four years old when he saw his first puppet show, John immediately knew that he wanted to be a puppeteer, and he never considered anything else.

By his teens he was presenting shows all over the New England area. The Pumpernickel Puppets have had the honor of appearing at The Puppet Showplace Theatre, Boston Children’s Museum, The Institute of Professional Puppetry Arts at the Eugene O’Neill Theatre Center, The Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C., The Cultural Olympiad at The Center For Puppetry Arts in Atlanta, Georgia, and the prestigious International Festival of Puppet Theatre sponsored by the Jim Henson Foundation at the Joseph Papp Public Theatre in New York. For each production, John creates all of his own puppets, which range from small hand puppets to larger than life-sized figures. He also manipulates the entire cast alone and provides the voices as well.

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More about… “The Magic Soup & Other Tales” by Brad Shur

Saturday and Sunday | February 5 & 6 | 1PM & 3PM
Wednesday and Thursday | February 9 & 10 | 10:30AM

About the show: The Magic Soup presents stories taken from the rich Jewish folk tradition of Eastern Europe. In these six short tales, everyone is looking for something, whether it’s a bowl of soup, a bit of peace and quiet, or the perfect pair of shoes. It is those with wit, humor and imagination who have the best chance of finding their dreams.

Performed with mixed styles of puppetry, including rod, shadow and tabletop. This show is recommended for ages 4 and up.

About Brad Shur: Brad has been professionally involved in puppetry for nearly 10 years. He first began as a performer with the Providence puppet and mask company Big Nazo while a student at the Rhode Island School of Design and has toured nationally with Wood & Strings Theatre, a marionette company out of Tennessee. Brad recently finished working with the Vermont PuppetTree as a freelance puppet designer and performer.

He has experience teaching workshops and classes for students of all ages and hopes to be known in the future as an Arts Educator. Brad has a passion for performance and describes his style as “carnival barker” driven by interactive audience dialogue.

He is thrilled to be with the Puppet Showplace Theatre as its Artist in Residence!

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