The Greatest Exhibition

The Greatest Exhibition (Illustration for visual narrative, March 2017, Acrylic on tracing paper mixed on acetate)

 

Artist & Illustrator, Fann Peeti
[See her mouse toy theatre HERE...]

In this project, I created a replica of The Crystal Palace, the building in The Great Exhibition of 1851. This artwork shows ten (10) innovations that changed the world. 


Also, it tells the viewer that the most incredible creation is themselves, hopefully to increase viewer's self esteem.

Pop-up Theater Course!

A unique opportunity to learn, study, meet, and collaboratively work with artists from all over the world from your chair at home...

• Course title: Pop-Up Methods and Techniques as a Basis for Theater.
• Puppets for Pop-Up Stages.
• The last lesson will be dedicated to personal counseling and watching the works.

Opens on Thursday 20.8 at 8 pm Israel time; the course will be held weekly for five consecutive weeks - 20.8, 27.8, 3.9, 10.9, 17.9

The course will be in English and includes personalized online guidance.
Number of participants, about 15, and each lesson will last 2-3 academic hours.

Price: US $ 100, payment via PayPal or Western Union Service)

For more details, contact Galia Levy-Grad

The Oz Head, Wicked Stage Model

Pollock's Toy Museum Exhibition

gal·li·mau·fry 

/ˌɡaləˈmôfrē/ 

a confused jumble or medley of things.
"a glorious gallimaufry of childhood perceptions"

The 14 artists participating in A Pollock’s Gallimaufry have been offered unprecedented access to the Museum’s international array of toys, dolls, puppets, games, gadgets, and the paper theatres for which it is best known, as well as its archive of original engraved copper plates used in the production of those theatres. The resulting pieces, installed as stand-alone displays and interventions across the Museum, span a variety of approaches, processes and media.

A Pollock’s Gallimaufry will be a month long event showing works by contemporary artists working in a variety of crafts and media inspired by the unique, mostly Victorian, collection at the two historic buildings on the corner of Scala Street and Whitfield Street.

Jack Fawdry, whose great grandmother founded the museum, is curating the exhibition and has gathered the artists together to produce the works.

“It’s quite exciting because the toy theatre has had a turbulent past and it almost disappeared completely,” says Fawdry who is an accomplished artist and printmaker.

“Mr Pollock was the last great publisher of toy theatres, then he went out of business. After the Second World War Britain started to modernise and change and its Victorian past was slightly left behind.

“So that’s when Marguerite, my great grandma, comes in and starts the museum in homage to toy theatres,” he says.

- From Museum is keeping the drama of toy theatre alive with a new exhibition

View this post on Instagram

Pheew! What an unusual eve. Me and @chapseth first toy theater performance! Wonderfull way to open @apollocksgallimaufry. Thank you to all who took part and to all those who had part took apon them! Beautiful long live the Toy Theater! Hurrah hurrah hurrah!

A post shared by Jack Fawdry Tatham (@jackfawdrytatham) on Nov 8, 2019 at 12:56pm PST

Peeping Tom: Hand-built Miniature Interiors

Second Annual Winnipeg Crankie Festival

The 2nd Annual Winnipeg Crankie Festival, taking place at Crescent Fort Rouge United Church, NOVEMBER 8-10th, 2019 promises to expand on the inaugural edition as a new, interactive and participatory festival, where audience members can immerse themselves in music and art; on and off stage.

 We are honoured to dedicate this year's festival to Canadian Folk Music Pioneer, Mitch Podolak.

To find out more, visit the festival website here, or check out the poster, below...

Pontine Theatre: Exciting Improvements!

Pontine Theatre announces its 42nd Performance Season at its newly renovated venue located in Portsmouth's West End at #1 Plains Avenue. Audiences will enjoy ample free onsite parking and comfortable seating in the intimately-scaled, fully-accessible studio theatre. This season offers three original productions by the company and two productions by invited guest artsts.

First up on the schedule is Pontine's adaptation of Nathaniel Hawthorne's Gothic Romance, The House of the Seven Gables, playing October 11- 27. Set in Salem, Massachusetts, the story follows several generations of the ill-fated Pyncheon family, bowed under a curse dating from the famous witch trials, and trapped in the once magnificent but now decrepit family mansion. This production is underwritten by Piscataqua Savings Bank.

November 8-10, guest artists, Great Small Works, perform their original production Three Graces & Other Works. This company is a collective of artists who draw on folk, avant-garde, and popular theater traditions to address contemporary issues. Based in New York City, they produce works on a variety of scales from outdoor pageants with giant puppets to miniature "toy theater" spectacles. The company has received a Puppeteers of America Jim Henson Award, a Village Voice OBIE Award, and an UNIMA Citation for excellence in puppetry.

Pontine celebrates the Holiday Season, November 29 - December 8, with its annual New England Christmas production. This year's rendition features a story by South Berwick, Maine's celebrated author, Sarah Orne Jewett (1849-1909). A Neighbor's Landmark: A Winter Tale with a Christmas Ending, is a tale set in a rustic coastal fishing village populated by taciturn Yankee characters who struggle to bring their community together in time for Christmas.

January 24-26, Pontine presents guest artist, Sarah Frechette, founder of Puppetkabob, in her original production, The Snowflake Man. The piece is inspired by Wilson "Snowflake" Bentley, the self-educated farmer and scientist who attracted world-wide attention when he bccame the first person to photograph a single snow crystal. The play features creative storytelling, intricately designed Czech-style marionettes, and a striking pop-up book of water color scenery. This UNIMA-USA award-winning show tells a little known story to magical effect. Ms. Frechette studied marionettes in Germany with legendary Master Puppeteer, Albrecht Roser.

The season culminates March 27 - April 12 with Pontine's premiere of a new production, Robert Frost's New Hampshire, based on the early poems of the long-time summer resident of Franconia NH. Known for his New England settings, his down-to-earth, stark depictions of the difficulties of rural farm life, and his use of colloquial speech, Frost is widely admired as a true American Master.

Performances are Fridays at 7pm, Saturdays at 3pm and Sundays at 2pm. The five-event Season Subscription Package is $108 and may be purchased online at www.pontine.org. Tickets for single shows are $27 and may also be purchased online. All productions are designed for adult audiences. Performances are offered at Pontine's resident venue located at #1 Plains Avenue in Portsmouth's West End. Pontine Theatre is supported by a grant from the NH State Council on the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Source:  Broadway World

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.

The Chelm Legend: Fool Moon

A theatrical adaptation based on the humorous stories of Chelem and Eastern European Jewish folklore. Leimech and Laizer set out on an adventure to find a new moon for the town of Chelem to replace the one that was stolen.

The plot unfolds via a pop-up book, combined with puppets and shadows and incorporating original klezmer...



Reviews:

Galia Levy Grad has created a world of magic and beauty using the simplest, most minimalist techniques: the entire drama materializes out of a pop-up picture book. The visibility of the theatrical mechanism to the audience only serves to enhance the magic and liveliness of the two-dimensional figures. Galia has created exhilarating theatrical moments by means of inventive, aesthetic and highly imaginative elements. 

 - Comments by Judges’ Panel, 22nd Haifa International Children's Theatre Festival, 2012

A brilliant adaptation of the Chelm stories for paper theater, created jointly by Naomi Yoeli and Galia Levy Grad. (The latter is also the narrator and manipulates the characters, engaging in lively dialogue with them.) It’s impossible not to fall in love with Levy Grad, who brings to life the townspeople made of beautifully decorated papercuts; they appear, in fact, from an old book of tales, like pop-up postcards. The show reminds us of the true magic of theater and is an extraordinary glimpse at some wonderful stories from Jewish culture.

- Merav Yudilovitch, Ynet

18th Century Mechanical Theatre

"An 18th-century mechanical theatre was a technology of tricks and devices..." - Read more.

On exhibit at the Victoria & Albert Museum through February 25, 2018...

Driveway Follies

There is a very special place in Oakland, California, where a very special program is performed every October 30th and 31st.  It all started with an idea from the mind of Larry Schmidt...



Below are some highlights from the show - excerpts that demonstrate the sharpness of wit,  skill of puppetry, and comic brilliance - that you'll be sure to enjoy.  First up, Mysterious Mose, followed by, The Skeleton and the Roundabout, and finally, Hanky Pank's T'ain't No Sin! Check them out...

Iconic Model Theatre Needs Good Home!

  Incredible infrastructure!  Wiring, controls, lighting, spotlights, fades - you name it, it has it...

A few weeks ago I was contacted by email about a Model Theatre that is looking for a good home. The model is described as a Model Cinema/Theatre with revolving stage. Cine films can be shown through the back wall of the Model if required. There is only one theatre with a revolving stage that comes to mind, and that is the London Palladium. Although sadly, the revolve was removed some years ago when the Theatre was bought by the Really Useful Group owned by Andrew Lloyd Webber. I am not sure if this is a scale model of the Palladium itself. The gentleman who made it was a Mr. Sam Witham, from Reading. He was a member of the then, Reading Society of Model and Experimental Engineers. He won First Prize with his Model in 1951.

A Portrait of the Puppet Master as a Young Man

Barnaby Dixon is a very talented young man, with an innate ability to create both visually (puppets) and orally (character voices), as well as write/ad lib some VERY funny stories for his puppets. Check his videos out to see for yourself...

Toy Theatre Aficionado: Ulrich Chmel

A wonderful video of a toy theatre production by Ulrich Chmel of Vienna, Austria...

Here we see Ulrich with a nifty idea - a wearable toy theatre!  He appears to be doing some audio effects with a tambourine/drum and singing.  I think he is doing a demonstration of toy theatre at a school, from the context on his blog I found this image at.  It is all in German, and not very friendly to translation programs.

We find toy theatre enthusiasts around the world.  It is fun to meet others who love the same thing we do, even if all we can do and smile and nod!

West End Live: Pollock's Life-Size Alice!

As they do every year, Pollock's Toy Shop has set up a stage right along with the big guys they were originally modeled after (pun intended) at West End Live! all this weekend.

On their Instagram, they posted that, "We'll be down at Trafalgar Square all weekend with our giant life size #AliceinWonderland extravaganza - come and be photographed down the rabbit hole..."

The Mad Hatter strikes a pose during a break in the tea party...
[Source:  Benjamin Pollock's Toyshop Instagram]

"I'll be 'mother', shall I?" asks the Mad Hatter...
[Source:  Benjamin Pollock's Toyshop Instagram]

Feature: Little Theatre of Dolls

I've discovered an exciting duo of performers, named Raisa Veikkola and Frida Alvinzi.  I love how they are willing to use old-style ideas and make them really pop!!

Take a look at the still shots below, followed by two videos, to get a taste of what they have done so far...

The Holy Dress is a creation story that draws on ancient cosmic origination myths. From a universal egg a thought was born that evolves into Eve and Adam.

This story of creation happens inside of a dress and both puppeteers are stuck inside. They work as the dual forces: the night and day, dark and light,good and evil manipulate the elements of creation.

In beautifully crafted sceneries the audience gets to experience magical realities and stories acted by exquisite hand made puppets that all have been created by The Little Theatre of Dolls.

- Dolly of London

The Story Machine is a magical technicolor love story about a girl and a boy trapped inside a television with nothing but objects of desire. Using puppets and live action, The Little Theatre of Dolls has created a surreal world made out of recycled materials and charity shop treasures - and in this world anything is possible. The Story Machine is also a satire of our world of consumer-driven greed.

The puppeteers shown as the mystical masters of the universe seem to know the secrets of the story they tell, using the machine as the tool of creation. The piece shows the confusion in being human and over the collective consciousness of memories. The machine wants to transform the characters into what they desire; to transform it's victims and to make them transcend between worlds and to constantly capture their imagination.

- Dolly of London

The Story Machine from Raisa Veikkola & Frida Alvinzi on Vimeo.


The Holy Dress from Rainstar Boutique on Vimeo.

Anomalisa: Stop Motion Alive & Well

Anomalisa co-director Duke Johnson, setting up a shot...

Movie Poster [Click to enlarge]

An amazing stop-motion film is about to be released, entitled "Anomalisa".

It's nice to see the older technologies still not only being done, but being done brilliantly.

It's a painstaking process, taking much longer to set up and film shots than in live-action.  But if done right, it's something very special.

In one of the first reviews, the writer states,

       Anomalisa is a movie with wit to burn and enough incidental touches that the total achievement feels immense.

Featured: One Man Show

A recent article featured the amazing David Lewis Worobec
[Click to Enlarge & Read]

Coming Soon: Three Countries, One Great Show!

GREAT SMALL WORKS  &  FACTO TEATRO  perform together

      

TWO NYC SHOWS  -  MANY SHOWS THROUGHOUT NEW ENGLAND

Three countries meet on one small stage: Great Small Works members Trudi Cohen and John Bell are teaming up with Facto Teatro from Mexico City and Barbara Steinitz from Berlin to share a program of Paper Theater for venues across New England and New York City.

Facto Teatro's Don Chico con alas (Don Chico with Wings) is based on a story by the Mexican writer Eraclio Zepeda. To go from one village to another Don Chico must come down the mountain, cross the jungle, then the river and up the opposite hill. He decides he needs to build himself a pair of wings and fly, to reach the sky before national holidays.

Great Small Works' Living Newspaper, Episode Two: Sidewalk Ballet contemplates the life of the city, featuring Jane Jacobs, Robert Moses, a burning bush, and the sidewalk.

Where noted, Living Newspaper will be replaced by Great Small Works' Lyzer the Miser. Based on a story by Isaac Bashevis Singer, clever Todie teaches greedy Lyzer a lesson about generosity.

In Facto Teatro and Steinitz's collaboration Duraznos azules (Blue Peaches), Pedro asks his grandmother why the peaches in her garden are blue.

In Paper Theater, also known as Toy Theater, flat paper figures evoke grand worlds, as they did centuries ago in the living rooms of European homes. Through international Toy Theater Festivals in New York and Mexico City, performances around the world, and workshops for people of all ages and persuasions, Great Small Works and Facto Teatro have been responsible for a resurgence of interest in this accessible, inexpensive form. The grandest of tales with the simplest of means! And—you can do it yourself!

TOUR ITINERARY:

Sunday, August 30, 5:30 PM: Bread and Puppet Theater, Glover, VT. FREE. www.breadandpuppet.org

Wednesday, Sept. 2, 7:30 PM: AS220, 95 Empire Street, Providence, RI. $15 https://www.as220.org/event/paper-theatre-by-great-small-works-and-facto-teatro/

Thursday, Sept. 3, 7:30 PM: Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry, University of Connecticut, 1 Royce Circle, Storrs, CT. $12 http://bimp.uconn.edu/

Saturday, Sept. 5, 7:30 PM: Mayo Street Arts, 10 Mayo Street, Portland, ME. $12/advance, $15/door. http://mayostreetarts.org/event/trudi-cohen-john-bell-with-members-of-great-small-works/

Sunday, Sept. 6, 7PM: Temple Stream Theater, Temple, ME. $10/general; $5/students and seniors; pay what you can

Tuesday, Sept. 8, 7PM: Pontine Theater, 959 Islington Street, Portsmouth, NH. $18. http://www.pontine.org/

Sunday, Sept. 13, 11AM and 3PM: Puppets in the Green Mountains Festival, Latchis Theater Ballroom, 50 Main Street, Brattleboro, VT. $10/general, $8/seniors and students. Bell and Cohen will present "Lyzer the Miser." http://puppetsinthegreenmountains.com/great-small-works-toy-theater-workshop-and-performance/

Tuesday, Sept. 15, 6:30 PM: Russell Library, 123 Broad Street, Middletown, CT. FREE. "Lyzer the Miser" will be performed.

Wednesday, Sept. 16, 6:30 PM: Fair Haven School, 164 Grand Avenue, Fair Haven, CT.  Sliding scale $5-$15, pay what you can.

TWO SHOWS IN NYC:

Thursday, Sept. 17, 8 PM: Jalopy, 313 Columbia Street, Red Hook, Brooklyn, NY. $12/adults, $5/children. Facto Teatro and Steinitz only, with guest performance by Sam Wilson and Joseph Therrien.

Saturday, Sept. 19th, 3:00 PM: Teatro SEA, 107 Suffolk Street, New York, NY. $20/adults, FREE/children. Facto Teatro and Steinitz only -- en espanol!

Depict-O-Mat: Toy Theatre "Photo Booth"

Depict-O-Mat Kickstarter video from Depict-O-Mat on Vimeo.
A toy theatre-related fundraiser needs your help.  Yes, you!  I just got done donating $15 to them. They need about $400 more to reach their goal.  Let's help them get there!  [Read how, below...]

Created for event entertainment, Depict-O-Mat is modeled after a vintage photo booth and dispenses short, personalized stories.

Depict-O-Mat is a live machine that tells visual stories ABOUT you and STARRING you!

Combining nostalgia, improvisation and toy theater, Depict-O-Mat is a unique experience that will soon be available to rent for special events. It is modeled after the original photo booths. Imagine entering Depict-O-Mat, having a unique experience interacting with our Advanced Depict-O-Mat Technology, stepping out and getting to watch a tiny show inspired by you - starring YOU - that others get to enjoy!


You can help by providing a donation to our fundraising campaign.  Go here, and see what neat 'thank you' gifts you can receive with your gift...