Toy Theatre Festival Benefit Gala

Great Small Works invites you to join your friends and supporters of Great Small Works at the GALA TOY THEATER FESTIVAL BENEFIT on Thursday, May 23rd, at the powerHouse Arena in DUMBO, Brooklyn, to support Great Small Works' TENTH INTERNATIONAL TOY THEATER FESTIVAL, June 14-23 at St. Ann's Warehouse.

The guest performers at this not-to-be-missed event include master puppeteer BASIL TWIST, toy piano virtuoso MARGARET LENG TAN and the inimitable musician and composer RIMA FAND. The powerHouse Arena storefront will also be filled with an ongoing spectacle of intimate paper theater plays created and performed by LAKE SIMONS, ERIN ORR, CHRIS GREEN, TONI SCHLESINGER, ED VALENTINE, and other luminaries of the miniature theater world! Join us for an evening of sparkling wit, compelling ideas, and visions of the possibilities of puppetry and community for the 21st century! How could you not come?

To find out more details, visit the event site.

Library Display

Earlier this year I changed my whole life.  Part of that change involved resigning my job of 23 years, moving to another state, and getting another job in an entirely new field - as a librarian.

Reddington proscenium at left,
some character sheets at right,
& a Dover "Peter Rabbit" below

At the small-town library I work at, they have a glass display case.  For the holiday season, I decided to put up a modest display of toy theatre and puppet-related items from my personal collection.  While I would have loved to put up my entire Reddington toy theatre, the display case isn't deep enough to accommodate it.  What to do?  I removed the proscenium from the front of the theatre to bring it alone, along with a schematic of what a wooden toy theatre looks like to hang behind it, for context.

I also brought along both plain and colored character sheets, as well as a few exhibition catalogues, and books about toy theatre history.

It's been fun answering questions about toy theatre, from library patrons!

Call for "Arcane Media" Performers

Joanna Ebenstein of Brooklyn is putting out the call for 'arcane media' performers; Joanna is open to other types than magic lanterns, so this could be a great opportunity for toy theatre performers...

I am preparing a similar program to be held in Brooklyn, New York this autumn (September or October 2008). It will be a part 2 of a previous event you can read more about here. If anyone is based in the United States (or willing to travel here) and would be interested in participating, either presenting arcane media of any sort or speaking about arcane media, please let me know.

Toy Theatre is Hip!

Yes, Toy Theatre Shops are going high tech - take a look...