Focus on Toy Theatre: DAVID'S VOICE (film)

David Worobec is a classically trained vocalist who performs musical theater on miniature stages. Not content to play merely one character, he sings and performs every part with the help of an ensemble of action figures he’s carefully cast in each role. Through a series of intimate performances and conversations with David, his mother and others close to him, there emerges a portrait of an artist searching for his place in life.

I've posted about David before. Even other films about him. But this film is my favorite, because it's the most intimate, sharing with us a bit more 'behind the scenes'.  What an amazing performer!

Curious Contraptions: Now through January 20th

Going on right now is a fascinating, fun exhibition of automata at San Francisco's Exploratorium. 

The featured artists are from around the world, and have a wide variety of styles, of which only a few are shown in the above film clip.

To find out more, visit the exhibition's page...

Shadow Smash Hit: Feathers of Fire

Feathers of Fire: A Persian Epic is a visually breathtaking cinematic shadow play for all ages, created and directed by Hamid Rahmanian, a 2014 Guggenheim fellowship-winning filmmaker/visual artist. The play unfolds an action-packed magical tale of star-crossed lovers from the 10th-century Persian epic Shahnameh (‘The Book of Kings’)

6th International Toy Theatre Festival at Vischmarkt

I am happy to pass on that there will be another toy theatre festival in Harderwijk, Netherlands next month, May 9-11, 2018!



The organizers, Harry and Tieneke Oudekerk, have shared:

Eleven paper theater companies from the Netherlands, Germany, and England have been invited to perform at the festival this year.  Over the course of the festival, more than 40 performances will be shown in residential buildings around Historic Vischmarkt. 

It is a special feature of the festival that you not only get to see jewels of this small form of theater, but also have the unique opportunity to look behind the facades of beautiful historic homes and to talk to their residents. A wonderful concept, it allows visitors to feel the familiar atmosphere in which paper theater originally took place. The central meeting place for the players and season ticket holders will be the old synagogue again this year - a wonderful location to meet friends and talk shop.

The theatre companies/individuals and their plays that will be performing are:

• Poppentheater Damiet: "Het Bubbelbabbel bos"
• Haases Papiertheater: "James Honk versus Dr. Kamishibai"
• Paper Theater Fabula: "Kalief Oojevaar"
• Paper Theater Chaya: "Peter en de Wolf"
• Paper Theater Kitzingen: "De Kikkerkoning"
• Roman's Private Theater: "The Hokusai Museum"
• Papiertheater Heringsdorf: "SOS Italia"
• Papirniks' Paper Theater: "The Flying Dutchman"
• Poppentheater Belletje Sterk: "Ssst! De Tijger slaaps"
• Phoenix Paper Theater: "De Nachtegaal Chinese"
• Alice's Upside Down Theater: "Alice in Wonderland" (Ted Hawkins)

Private Toy-Theatre Exhibition Opens in Preetz

About 50 toy theatres, hundreds of sceneries and tiny paper models - the lovely, private collection of Dirk and Barbara Reimers - has found an official home in the Heimatmuseum (Local History Museum)  in Preetz.

All of the toy theatres have been part of a show once upon a time. The oldest is an original from 1869.

You can combine your visit with a private toy theatre show of Dirk and Barbara Reimers in their theatre room, upon request.  To get an impression of the exhibition, click here.

The Attic at the Preetz Local History Museum,  is the new home of the Reimers' Collection

In the Heimatmuseum in Preetz:  Dirk and Barbara, the founders of the International Preetzer Papiertheatertreffen, recently celebrated the official opening with Mayor Jörg Demin along with several journalists. 

AutomataCon 2018

AutomataCon hasn't been around all that long. But it's picking up steam. There has been a growing renaissance around kinetic, mechanical art, aka automata, in recent years. All around the world. Enter Brett King, who decided it was time to showcase the creations of all these amazing artists from around the world. And not only showcase, but provide a forum where they can network and collaborate.

AutomataCon 2018 is coming up May 18-20, 2018.  You can find out the details here, including what artists will be attending.  It looks like it'll be an amazing convention!

Take a look at the video below, showing highlights from the last convention...

Maker Spotlight: Maggie Rudy & Mouseland

Recently, I discovered a wonderful article about  Maker Maggie Rudy, who invited us into her studio where all the magic happens for Mouseland...

Artist & Author, Maggie Rudy

Maggie’s fascination with mice began in the third grade, when her family moved to Lancaster, England, where her father, a biologist, had a two-year postdoctoral fellowship in physiology. She awoke from her “baby stupor” to an English aesthetic that would remain hugely influential in her life: hedgerows, gypsy carts, and a field trip to the home of Beatrix Potter. From a shop in Lancaster, the Rudy household acquired some mice made of felt. She and sisters Susy and Annie dressed them and placed them in a variety of settings. The “rapture of the tiny” that she celebrated in childhood has never left her.
- Rapture of the Tiny

The short film below is fun to watch, where Maggie lets us in to her studio, and shows us a few of her secrets on how she makes the magic happen!


Currently, Maggie has a traveling diorama touring the US, as shown below. Be sure and check it out if you can, when it comes near you!

House of Automata

In a wood in the far North of Scotland, there is a magical workshop where Maria and Micheal Start work preserving and restoring antique automata. With over 25 years experience, they painstakingly bring these pieces back to life...

The House of Automata from Euan Myles on Vimeo.


(BBC) - Automata in The Modern Age from Matthew Knight on Vimeo.

Matthew Knight, the filmmaker, says: 

"Automata are mechanical moving figures; throughout history their lifelike movements have fascinated such creative minds as Da Vinci and Faberge. 

"One century ago however, production fell silent. Now though, in a fortuitous twist, the computer age is turning the gears of an automata revival. Michael and Maria Start who run the House of Automata in Scotland are two of the world's foremost restorers of antique automata. 

"Here, they discuss their love for automata, and why more people are drawn to the craft."

Japanese Theatre Traditions to be Featured at Lincoln Center

On March 8th, Zach Dorn will join Julie Taymor in conversation regarding his experiences in Japan studying Edo Era mechanical puppetry and fusuma karakuri.  They will also be joined by the other 2018 fellows, Hector Flores Komatsu and Jesca Prudencio. The event is free! You can reserve tickets for the event here. Reservations are recommended! 


Taymor World Theater Fellowship WRAP-UP 2018 from MINORapocalypse on Vimeo.

Enchanted Dolls

I love making dolls because it allows me to work with several mediums at once. Making dolls is a creative process that combines the disciplines of industrial design, sculpting, ceramics, painting, engineering, drawing, engraving, jewelry making and textiles. It generates a whole that is greater and richer than the sum of each comprising medium put together. 

- Marina Bychkova

Mechanic of the Past

Brittany Nicole Cox is one of the only antiquarian horologists in the world. She's basically a mechanic—a mechanic from the 17th century. Cox fixes old machines with watch or clock mechanisms inside them for a living. Often, these machines are missing parts that frequently no longer exist, so Cox fashions them herself. To visit her workshop is to see what the future looked like centuries ago, and while Cox's trade is laborious, time-consuming and incredibly intricate, she is preserving a magical part of humanity's past.