Monday, February 16, 2009

Happy Presidents' Day


What better way to celebrate President's Day than with finger puppets?  

We found this great kids' activity at kaboose.com.  

What you'll need:
-Blue and black construction paper
-Cellophane tape
-Lincoln-head penny
-Washington-head quarter
-Scissors

How to make it:
  1. Cut two three-inch squares, one from each of the construction sheet colors.
  2. Roll each square into a tube that will slip over your finger.  Secure the roll with tape.
  3. To make the Lincoln puppet, tape the penny to the black paper tube at roughly an inch below the top.
  4. Cut a thin rectangle from the black paper for the hat brim.  Tape the brim along the top of the head.
  5. To make the Washington puppet, tape the quarter to the top of the blue paper tube.
  6. Cut a one and a half inch square from the blue paper for the hat.
  7. fold the square in half, corner to corner, making a triangle.
  8. Cut a slit out of the center fold of the square to make an opening.  Once again fold the square in half, this time folding the opposite corner to corner, making a triangle.
  9. Slip the hat over the top of the tube finger puppet.
  10. Tape both halves of the triangle together.
Tip:
Dress them up by adding details to the puppets using collage materials.  You might want to add a gold sequin medallion to Washington's hat, for example, and some white doily paper to the chin for a lace collar.  For Lincoln, try adding a shirt collar made from white paper, and some buttons.



Friday, February 13, 2009

Critters & Creatures video

For footage of Larry Hunt's performance of Critters & Creatures, please enjoy this sample of shows presented at Puppet Showplace Theatre.  Critters is the last show on the video.

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Larry Hunt of Masque Theatre at PST 2/16 & 2/17

The Puppet Showplace welcomes Larry Hunt of Masque Theatre as part of our Winter School Vacation Week lineup, with performances of Hunt's Critters & Creatures on Monday, February 16th and Tuesday, February 17th. Shows are at 1pm and 3pm both days.

For more information about the show, visit our Family Show calendar on the Puppet Showplace website.

Tickets are still available, though performances often sell out in advance. Tickets can be purchased in person at our box office, over the phone by calling (617) 731-6400, or through our online ticket service.

To learn more about Larry Hunt and his background as a maskmaker and performer, click to watch the video below.


Monday, January 26, 2009

Bread and Puppet Theater Return to Boston


Beginning January 26th and running through February 1st the Boston Center for the Arts (BCA) presents the Bread and Puppet Theater’s Sourdough Philosophy Spectacle & Circus. Performances, Art Exhibit, and Cheap Art Sale all held in the Boston Center for the Arts Cyclorama, 539 Tremont St., South End, Boston. For advance tickets, log onto www.theatermania.com or call 866-811-4111.

Back by popular demand, the award-winning Bread and Puppet Theater, featuring Artistic Director Peter Schumann and his troupe of 8 Vermont puppeteers, returns for a third year to the Cyclorama bringing their signature powerful imagery, masked characters, and giant papier-mâché puppets. The Bread and Puppet touring company, for this residency at the Cyclorama, includes Schumann, along with Danny McNamara, Maura Gahan, Greg Corbino, Diana Sette, Maryann Colella, Federica Collina, Cavan Meese, and Susie Perkins.

The Bread and Puppet Theater is an internationally recognized company that champions a visually rich, street-theater brand of performance art that is filled with music, dance and slapstick. Their shows are political and spectacular, with huge puppets made of papier-maché and cardboard, a brass band for accompaniment, and anti-elitist singing and dance. Most are morality plays — about how people act toward each other — whose prototype is "Everyman." There are puppets of all kinds and sizes, masks, sculptural costumes, paintings, buildings and landscapes that seemingly breathe with Schumann's distinctive visual style of dance, expressionism, dark humor and low-culture simplicity.

Sunday, December 28, 2008

Happy New Year from PST!

The Puppet Showplace Theatre will be closed December 31st and January 1st. This does not mean that you will have a week without puppets. We encourage you to buy your First Night buttons to see some of our regular performers. This year we have performers presenting in three local cities Boston, Worcester, and Providence.

Our performers in Boston are Galapagos Puppets, The Gerwick Puppets, Magpie Puppets and our friends Wayne Martin Puppets, Dan Butterworth Marionettes and the Puppeteers Cooperative. For more info visit www.firstnight.org

Our performer in Worcester is Sylvia and the Magic Trunk. If you missed her at PST on December 28th this is your opportunity to see her. For more info visit www.firstnightworcester.org.

Our performer in Providence is Sparky’s Puppets and our friends Big Nazo. For more info visit www.brightnight.org.

Have a safe and fun evening and we will see you in 2009!!