New York Maker Faire to Feature Toy Theatre

"Medieval Toy Theatre", by Tess Elliott (preview) - This theatre will be featured at this weekend's New York Maker Faire

Tess Elliott - Good friend to this blog and reporter-at-large at this summer's 9th International Great Small Works Toy Theatre Festival - is about to embark on another adventure this weekend. 

She will be at an event called the Maker Faire, exhibiting toy theatres.

Tess had this to say in a recent email:

Hurray and Hallelujah!

I will have my very own Tess Elliott Design Toy Theater booth at the first World Maker Faire in New York City. I set up September 24th, and stay for a networking event that Friday night. And then I work my butt off all day [Sat & Sun] from 10am to 7pm showing off my stuff.

Of COURSE, we will 'be there', thanks to Tess, who will be sharing with us her experience.  Leading up to that, she has graciously provided the image above, a preview of a theatre she will have at the event.  It's still being finished, so there will be more to the theatre than seen here.  But it is a wonderful appetizer, and I hope anyone reading this in the vicinity of the Faire, will make an effort to get out and take in Tess' booth, her toy theatres, and the Faire per se.  Sounds like a wonderful time to me!

Toy Theatre Festival Begins this Week!

Tess Elliott:  Our Intrepid Reporter!

The Great Small Works 10th International Toy Theatre Festival begins this weekend on June 14th, and runs through June 23rd.

There are many readers of this blog that cannot attend in person, but would greatly enjoy hearing about the various performances and events.

I am very pleased to say that once again, Tess Elliott will be covering the festival for this blog, for which I'm very grateful.

So check back this weekend - and throughout the festival - for posts from the festival by the very talented Tess!

"Please Stand By..."

I hate to say it, but right now our reporter-on-the-scene, Tess Elliott, is having technical problems, so is unable to send in reports from the toy theatre festival. Which is very ironic, since this is the climax of the festival, which ends tomorrow night.

As frustrating as that is, I hope Tess can still share her insights into these last few days once she can communicate again (which is unknown...) Until then, please be patient. I shall share what I can from other sources.

UPDATE: Tess is getting content through via comments; in turn, I will be transferring them to posts asap on Sunday - STAY TUNED!

ADDITIONAL NOTE: Tess has SEVERAL posts coming all at once. I will be posting them as I get them done. I don't see any sense in parceling them out a day at a time or whatever. So when you see a new post, be sure to scan down the page, because they're might be more!

GSW10: Opening Weekend

The Great Small Works' 10th International Toy Theatre Festival (or GSW10 for short) has begun.

The first day's weather was pretty 'soggy', shall we say, making it a challenge for those still bringing their theatres and sundry, to get them to St. Ann's Warehouse high and dry!

In fact, PPTC festival reporter Tess Elliott had her own adventure in her attempt to get to the venue opening night:

Tonight has turned into a disaster. I left early to add some set pieces I forgot, and within a block of the theater the wind kicked up, blew my poncho into my face, and an SUV merrily slammed through the giant puddle that covered an entire lane. I was soaked solid from rib cage to the inside of my shoes. I turned around, went home, and emailed Emmy Bean the museum director and told her I had to go back home. Felt like a drowned rat wearing a giant prophylactic...

Poor Tess!  In the meantime, here are some photos from the opening day to feast your eyes on!

UPDATE: Tess got in late, but shared this LATE last night...

I am now truly immersed in the toy theater world. Saw 12 shows. [When am I gonna write about them, Trish!] The parade was fantastic and I will try to download some pictures but I have to be back out there at 11am (Sunday/today) and JUST GOT HOME. Worked furiously upon arrival today to dress the set of the Nemo Theater and it looks great. I did not get all the balconies done on the Italian Toy Theater, and will have to put the rest on when it comes home...Lots of wonderful shows tonight. Met a lot of people serving the punch but some of the audience regulars at the last Festival weren't at this one today. It's a done deal that I must learn doing the puppets myself. It is one wacky and amusing world, most younger than me--but a few old master puppeteers. It took two energy bars to keep me going today.

Not only is she an audience member, not only is she a reporter on the event, but she is also an artist/performer.  Better pack more energy bars, Tess!

GSW10: Toy Theatre Museum

Tess' two theatres on exhibit in the museum...

The festival has a Temporary Toy Theatre Museum that is available for viewing during the entire run.  Read below all about it, and the opening day's parade, as reported by Tess Elliott:

This is a playful crowd at the 10th International Toy Theater Festival. It starts with a Miniature Parade, complete with a band, marching with care around Dumbo, and ended at St. Ann's Warehouse with a wonderful imaginative crowd of mini floats, made by children and professionals alike. I only got a few pictures of the floats, because sadly this year most of the participants took their toys right home, instead of leaving them for display! I was so sad to see them go. After that, the Temporary Toy Theater Museum opened and people flocked in to see all the wonderful interpretations of Toy Theater from art pieces, old classics, and working theaters. There is a lot of beautiful work here, and I am biased because I have two pieces in the show myself. I am mostly here writing about the performances, but will try to cover some of my favorite pieces in the museum because building them is what floats my boat.

Serving punch at the reception in the lobby, you can see what a creative crowd this is: within minutes children and then adults were turning the lobby fan into a theater or a puppet, depending on which side you were on. It was great fun watching hot people of all ages stop and sing into the blades to hear that funny cut apart staccato the blades cause. I remember doing that as a kid a lot—humming, singing. So I am not writing as a critic. I am a passionate fan, an open admirer of all efforts to move me, make me think or feel something whether it's through primitive & charming cardboard cut-outs, traditional toy theater, or modern technically enhanced pieces with video and contemporary politics. They all embrace humor or tragedy, they are all passionate. It's about time we looked at our world with a willingness to play to counter a world at war, with soldiers and civilians dying every day. There is far too much unwillingness to be moved, even by death. So I invite all people to stop and engage with your local artists, enjoy them, embrace their efforts to spin a tale, and share what inspired their vision. You might come away richer, happier and more thoughtful. How bad is that?

To see Tess' theatres up close with commentary, check them out below:

GSW9 Revisited - Parade Photos

As readers of this blog know, we were treated to on-the-spot reporting of the recent 9th International Great Small Works Toy Theatre Festival, brought to us by our fearless volunteer Tess Elliott. Tess did an amazing job with sharing images and descriptions, making the festival come alive to those of us unable to attend in person.

I revisit the festival today only to share a wonderful find on another blog, by a writer who attended and got some great shots of the toy theatre parade, especially the floats. Talk about fun - floats on a miniature scale, walked along by 'giant' humans...I love it!

GSW9: Festival Report VI

Temporary Toy Theatre Museum

From, Tess Elliott - Toy Theatre Festival reporter-at-large, who says, "Here is my report on the Workshop and the Symposium..."

Saturday, June 12

Today was a long day! I went to the workshop hoping to see kids making toy theaters and only counted four children and three teenagers. The rest of us were a lot older! I threw myself into building. Half way through I was horrified to hear that we were expected to take them up to the stage and either perform or explain them. I am NOT a performer but they liked my theater. I saw a plastic apple and decided to do the Garden of Eden and called my theater Paradise, with an angry apple hanging on a big bare branch as the main character (someone else grabbed up all the leaves in the props box).

After the workshop, and there were some beauties, I went to the symposium. The Spanish lady with the collection of toy theaters was there, Professor Bell, two other performers and a professor in theater & puppetry at Hunter whose names I could not write down fast enough and will look up. It was interesting to hear them talk about the small scale of toy theater, though it was stretched to include the Bread and Puppet Theater (big sets and puppets) which kind of bursts out of the envelope so to speak. I for one felt it was appropriate for them to be represented, as the Bread and Puppet Theater gave birth to many of the toy theater professional performers working now on the East Coast. That will be part of my [next] report...

It is fun to hear the puppeteers talking about using this medium, though [some] did not like the video close-ups usually projected above. It isn't very attractive, for sure, but for people far back it makes sense of what they are seeing in a very tiny scale from the back rows. It is practically impossible, in a Festival type setting, to do toy theater in the way it was invented to be seen, with very small audiences. The more traditional theaters, being very small, are hard to see (the Little Blue Moon Theatre handed out little cheap opera glasses and I was glad to have them). I only suffered from having to sit in the front row (to hear better), which made me miss some of the lower movements on the smaller stages. I liked hearing that there are some, including Great Small Works who do performances in the schools. Kids seem to be so restless with electronics giving them short attention spans. Toy theater, especially when kids are involved in the shows, can help get those attention spans stretched out for the important things in life, like inventing or making something, building relationships, blissing out to a sunset, letting great art move you, finishing a whole novel...and perhaps making great art themselves.

Amen, Tess...Let's hope so!

GSW10: Greatest Smallest Parade Floats

Two floats from the "Greatest Smallest Parade" that were on display at Temporary Toy Theatre Museum

Tess Elliott reports in with photos taken during the just-finished 10th International Toy Theatre Festival.  Tess will be sharing her final reports from the festival in the next few days.  She was extremely busy this year not only taking in the shows and documenting them for this blog, but also volunteering at the festival.  See her photos of some of the small floats that took part in the opening day parade...

GSW9: Final Festival Report

Tess Elliott had one more report she sent me last night from the final hours of the Festival.

Considering that Tess lost her DSL access for almost half the festival - and my satellite access has been capped the last 4 days due to my going over our threshold (yes, satellite has broadband caps...don't get me started...!) - it's been a struggle for this website to get reports out on a timely basis. Thank you, Dear Readers, for being patient.

Now, here is the final report - Enjoy!

“Fiesta Graveyard” from Mexico City was written by Mercedes Go'mez Benet, who also played a small harp. The puppeteers were Alejandro Beni'tez and Mauricio Martinez of Facto Teatro, who also performed songs. The other musician was Gerardo Tame'z. Part of the success of their show is that the music and sound effects were just stunning. They did the show with some English translation, but most of it you could follow once they set the scene. A man, Procopio, has died a natural death, and to reach the eternal Fiesta, he must go through some supernatural tests. A hairless dog that in some cultures had mystical properties (and in others was food) becomes his guide, only the man first must realize he is dead. Each scene change is punctuated by a supernatural interval of ghostly winds done beautifully with various pipes which ends with more music bringing in the next scene. The guitar and harp are very wonderfully done, so that it feels like an orchestra. They accompany him fighting a supernatural lizard, mountains crashing together, and other tests.

The performers were very funny and fierce with a mixture of good puppetry and making great faces as they tell the story. Oh the weeping when poor Procopio dies! And of course, it ends with a Day of the Dead altar, which is one of my favorite traditions. After several years of painting in the New Mexico desert at Halloween time, I got to know a lot about the tradition of Dios de Los Muertos, and now make my own home altar to remember those who I have lost. It is a very friendly, warm way to remember your loved ones, and the home altars are really quite beautiful. This was such a happy surprise for me to see the show was about this great tradition. It was magical and mesmerizing (and they, too, made their own jokes about Arizona). I hope to see this company again. It gave me more insight into a tradition I already love.

Shoddy Puppet Company's leader Morgan FitzPatrick Andrews was in the Saturday symposium, so I looked forward to seeing his company. They performed “Fables of Light and Falling” in an interesting looking tent, with scenes painted on the outside, and a window flap to be raised for the small stage. The other puppeteers were Zac Palladino, Leslie Rogers, and Kestrel Plump. There were four interwoven stories, that involved a mule who was mistaken for a woman, a wooden man, two people made of straw, a scarecrow man (who later meets the straw woman who has a stone tied around her belly), and how the straw man did not want to fight in a war. He ran from one, but was absorbed by the Earth for signing a paper that he would pay for someone else to fight when another war is declared. It is a morality tale because the man who was taken in his place was the wooden man who helped him when the scarecrow ran from the first war. Crows are the device that take people and become frightening symbols. The scarecrow is afraid of them. I remembered thinking they were bullies as a little girl and the truth is crows recognize people and carry grudges.I am very glad I didn't throw stones at the ones who perched on my swingset! This is also a political tale about war, and everyone is given a silver pencil as a symbol of the right person signing the right paper at the right time to prevent wars and other terrible things. Mr. Andrews was a musical narrator, with a Woody Guthrie sort of persona of folk music and plain speaking, telling the stories and playing, while the little tent twirled with activity, as puppets popped up out of slashes in the fabric set, and then up on the stage to tell the story. That is some close quarters to perform in, though it reminded me of the old seaside Punch and Judy theaters that were worn ON the puppeteer. It's certainly handy to bring your own theater.

Often, I find myself disliking being lectured to about what is right and wrong by sidewalk petitioners and protestors, but the charm of the puppeteers and the humor in the stories (all the political satire) are a delightful way to present controversial points of view. Unfortunately, they are preaching to the choir in Brooklyn. This is an artistic community that in general hates war, and banks foreclosing (I have memories of some small farms going down when I was a 4H girl in Indiana) and I like the way the puppets can charm their way into telling you their point of view. Protesters don't have that luxury, to make people laugh while they get them to listen. I like the puppet way better! I think if I ever manned a petition table, it would have to have puppets handing out pens instead of big angry signs and in-your-face criers of protest. Maybe the liberal world ought to think of this when they want to change something?

The Cosmic Bicycle Theater, performing “Clockworks Universalis.” This company has a terrific website except that while I love playing with it, I still want more information and pictures of performances. They have a long record of performing, even when “steampunk” was not really a genre well known, but one they may have helped develop. So when I saw their set, and the derby clad automata-like performers sitting on either side I was in heaven. Only trouble is that it took a third of the performance to see that their set was a wonderful 3-dimensional collage of all sorts of old clip art, much of which came from Dover Publications, which I pay homage to in much of my decoupage work. It reminded me a lot of the collage work of automata maker Simon Venus (am a huge automata fan). Check out Cabaret Mechanical Theater's little flick on YouTube made by Gaz Cobain - Venus's piece is the first one - and you will see why I connect the two. I am playing with my own automata design kit, which makes my head explode on a regular basis.

So while I was mesmerized by the puppeteers, I must admit one of their devices, the Victorian engraved pointing hand zipping in and out, sometimes doing some damage, did interfere with my mindset, because when I see that device my brain goes : Blue Meanie Flying Glove, or “the Fickle Finger of Fate” award by Rowan and Martin. It made me hold back laughter, and I wonder if maybe it was okay to laugh. We heard someone say not to clap, that they needed silence. Clockwork is noisy. It was beautiful but I wanted noise.

The set is a 3D collage that sits in a long box lit with oil lamps, behind a many-paned window with something foggy on the glass. The device of wiping off the glass is really cool, until you have had to watch the window cleaning six or seven times. The collage is beautiful, and tells a creation story that is artistic and funny when the two puppeteers get going. It was well-timed, and the only thing I wished for was larger panes of glass and less window cleaning.

Great Small Works film, “White Pajamas” was a lovely little film done by Jenny Romaine with Dr. Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett. It is the paintings of Mayer Kirshenblatt about his childhood in Poland, and they are wonderful naïve paintings of the local city life and how his father tried to get a boy after seven daughters. He is told by the nearby Rebbe to dress the baby in white so that the Angel of death won't take him, and how that boy always wore white pajamas. The scenes are just beautiful. There is the inevitable memory of the Holocaust, but I really loved the sweet paintings of a happier life—one that never seems to be covered enough. It was a perfect ending to all the marvelous, frantic and funny dreams of utopia, and transformed anger of the toy theater performances. Especially giving it that “citizen of the world” passport stamp for an audience who passionately supports seeing work from other countries.

Bravo, and Brava to Great Small Works!

NOTE FROM TRISH: I concur - an amazing festival, indeed!

GSW9: Festival Report V

This is a very special report, in my opinion, by Tess Elliott - our report-at-large at the Toy Theatre Festival. Why so special? Because she's reporting on some shows that take on some touchy subjects (not that some of the earlier ones didn't) and she shares some personal reactions. I appreciated that, and hope you do, also...

Friday, June 11th

We had to work as an audience for these shows.

Clare Dolan performed “Lingua Franca” with excellent music and sound by Ralph Denzer. The scene was a dark toy theater stage, painted in a primitive fashion with Mr. Denzer on the side, like the great old radio shows, surrounded by all his sound effects equipment and instruments. The stage is variously set with street scenes, torture rooms (the empty chair with a hard spotlight above), kids flipping around TV stations with the remote, and punctuated by a dance about torture by Dolan. She makes a point about how people react to even talk of torture, mixed in with bored kids, who would flip away from “that” channel, to every day life going on same as ever. I remember when government was run like government, and schools were run like schools; they are all run like corporations now, with the bottom line being their “lingua franca” and having downsized, fired all of their corporate ethics personnel first, and then all of their loyal middle aged, skilled workers next. It may seem heretical in a capitalist country to hate corporate values, but that kind of cold-blooded devotion to the bottom line is also the kind of thinking that leads a government that claims to care about people to accept torture as “playing the game.” I think Dolan makes a very good and dreadful point.

The Bread and Puppet Theatre did a show about the JFK assassination, with classical quotes interspersed in their usual ritualistic way, built around the chorus of “Hey, hey, hey” to the beat of bamboo sticks. The troupe is in and out of the set, doing dances about terrible things in this almost mystery play about the military and JFK's assassination. I know some people in the audience did not care for the troupe performing in front of the set without the puppets, but this company gave birth to many of our current puppeteer's careers today, particularly the ones who make political statements about the world's evils. I don't know who did it, in the end, though they clearly feel the military had a hand. I only know that I witnessed the first murder of my life when Oswald was killed on live television when I was a child and that is something I would appreciate a cleansing ritual for. I don't know about others people, but the hard realities of life that involve hunger, torture, oils spills, injustice all make me feel soiled and in need of a spiritual shower. It's not so much that I don't want to face those things, but they make one feel so small and helpless in the face of so much evil.

The next show I saw was Michael Sommers and Elise Langer [Open Eye Figure Theatre] performing “Amore! Que Fregatura!” by Maladetto Poetaccio. I knew something was up by reading the author's name which is basically Bad Poet, and means “love, go figure.” So the show starts with a funny song called the “Got No Pussy Blues” about how “She doesn't want to...” which got us laughing. It goes on through all sorts of strange objects, including the machine-like stage itself, and is mostly about sex, though gives lip service to romance and infatuation as Mr. Sommers and Ms. Langer keep up a frantic pace. The first puppet was actually genitalia, hopping about. It was as if they were performing a ritual live sex act with puppets that started late. The puppets pop up from hidden orifices around the stage, and then hang decorously from it, an artificial womb (a water balloon) get pierced by cupid's arrow. I think, when I was in school, I would rather have seen this show about sex than the very sad and boring scientific lecture with pictures given by a horribly embarrassed nun. Yes, it's scary, and fun, and a game we often can't resist. Yes, it's very confusing and bemusing, but I would have enjoyed it a lot more in the style of Open Eye Theatre. I think Mr. Sommers would be smiling if he knew that I sat there wondering what just happened to me.

The last show was very mysterious. It must have been my hearing, but I did not experience the show in a way that the program notes describe — that “B”, performed by Kyle Loven, has never met the man she writes to. He sits on the stage and reads air mail letters from “B” who becomes more enamored as the letters go along. I missed any reference here that they had not met, but in actuality it did not affect the experience of the show at all. After the letters, he picks up a box which is a projector, and in a mixture of video and shadow puppetry, shows a woman running here and there trying to find someone or something. Late into the show, he is pictured under an umbrella reading something and looking around. They are both lost, and do not find each other. I felt sad because often that's just how life works, trying to find love and not connecting. It's hard even to find the right kind of friends in life and I know too many women who have very few friends. Loven, a narrator and by proxy the love object, draws you into this confusing world with him and you could tell the audience was moved by the performance. I would have been just as happy without the video and just the shadow puppets, which are presented on a newspaper screen held by two hands which in itself is a statement all its own. I look forward to seeing more work from this young man but I also hope he does not try to be too clever with technology. Perhaps I am drawn to the live performances because it really is intimate, and like many it gets boring to “watch” the TV. This was a subject discussed at the symposium, and I find myself thinking about it more now.

I hear you, Tess. Television, even good television, only meets so much of our needs. There are some things that can't be done any other way than in person, with more interaction. You can't beat it!

The company listed above - Open Eye Figure Theatre - is from my neck-of-the-woods, up here in Minnesota - you never know where you'll find toy theatre!

GSW9: Post-Festival Images

Photo by Tess Elliott

A very fun toy theatre by Nicole Schulman - I love the chicken feet!

GSW10: Great Small Stages

The Great Small Stages
by Tess Elliott

Little Blue Moon Theater performs “Roman Reverie” [Vallejo, CA]

Was all set to have a good time with this show, though it was raunchier (in its tasteful nudity) than “Mutiny on the Bounty” and I so missed Michael's uke. But the star of the puppet-mimed show was Valerie Nelson's stunning soprano ringing out, which I had never heard before. Mama Mia! She can sing such operatic, passionate accompaniment to their hilarious sexy romp, all through new and ancient erotic Rome. There is no dialog: the show is like a moving picture book. Our intrepid couple arrive in Rome and have a fight at dinner on their first night. She takes off to a gorgeous magical waterfall the next day where the fun begins. If you have never seen a paper doll striptease, it is something absolutely insane and funny. Hunky Roman soldiers come through, and she is taken off for her captive adventures. I can't remember all the captors but her fun seems to peak at a Bachian orgy complete with goat legged fauns. She recreates Leda and the Swan. She becomes the adopted pet of a family of centaurs for awhile. After that she is carried off a prisoner.

Her estranged sweetheart ends up at those same magical waterfalls where he is accosted by a group of water nymphs who carry him off disrobed and startled. He goes through his own adventures ending up becoming a gladiator, where somehow HE manages to kill the deadly lion, and is carried off a hero (and of all things, he still has on his nerdy glasses). Like Julius Caesar, he is loved by men and women. He is invited to the Emporer's palace (I decided it was Tiberius's Palace on Capri) where he is seduced by the Emperor's woman, and then by the Emperor. As they are all becoming friends, he looks out to see his lady strung up naked on some stony pillars as an Andromeda-style sacrifice to the gods, and our brave hero becomes Perseus to battle Poseidon to save her. A good time was had by all. We see them headed for the airport all lovey dovey. The End.



Yulya Dukhovny performs "Fisherman's Dream" [Los Angeles, CA]

This was an interesting piece that had some very lovely music recorded on a soundtrack for a toy theater video. Music was the first career of this artist. This was a sort of turnabout of reality and scale, because the tiny toy theater and puppets were built and filmed on a REAL beach (she has great outtakes at the end), and the real toy theater fisherman's shanty, and other scenes are in a real little toy theater, accompanying the video when it's usually the other way around. Also a little turned around are photos mixed in with more primitive drawing like the shanty, but collaged with turn of the century characters who become background to the story. You have heard forms of it all your life. A fisherman catches a magical “fish” who offers him anything if he would let her go. He doesn't need anything, and kindly lets her go, but tells his old wife about it and she demands he go back and ask for a new washtub. He does. Magically a new washing machine pops up on the beach and her laundry comes out already clipped to a clothesline. Then she wants a pretty cottage. And we all know, this is just the beginning.

I do like the way Ms. Dukhovny presents the tired old Fisherman who looks sad and worn out. He is a puppet with a real human face among the nets, looking thin (and probably embarrassed over his wife's greed). He has to go back and ask for a life that is better than being peasants, and she is never satisfied. At the end, she demands the impossible—to be the mistress of the magical sea goddess, and happily—it all goes back to normal again. As if nothing happened. It was a gift to the Fisherman, and she does not seem to remember her former lofty elevation. This is an adaptation of Pushkin's fairy tale about magical Golden Fish (the artist is Russian, and lived in Israel many years). I look forward to seeing more by this artist.

GSW10: Program 2

Program 2 of the 10th Annual International Toy Theater Festival
as Reported by Tess Elliott

GSWs' Toy Theater of Terror as Usual, 
Episode 13: Whistles and Leaks (NYC)

This was an interesting show about Bradley Manning, and the moral conflict he felt about blowing the whistle on all the illegal killings of civilians that was deliberately hidden by the government. For this, Bradley Manning and perhaps Julian Assange may both lose their liberty. But we do have to ask ourselves why we feel one way about corporate whistleblowers (many of whom paid dearly for having a conscience), and government whistleblowers who would be prosecuted for treason. It is not a black and white issue, as lawyers would have us see it, since our armed forces represent us overseas in ways we are not allowed to know or see until the damage is done. How can we question our government if just knowing about it, or telling about it is treason? Why did Scooter Libby out a covert agent and get a a much shorter sentence which also got canceled by Bush, and Bradley Manning might be looking at life in prison or even the death penalty? Both are treasonous actions under the law. It sometimes doesn't boil down to whose side you are on, when it's an issue about what kind of person you are. The character kept asking: “What would YOU do?” Most of us would do nothing, but lose some sleep over dead people in foreign countries. Some of us might cry for them. But I ask myself also: “How should we treat those who would try to make this right?” It is not collateral damage when we send drones into areas where civilians live. The film of the death of the camera crew shocked many who saw it. I was ready to bear witness to Bin Laden's death, but not a camera crew's. Somehow, we must demand our military stand for what we believe in as a country—that the death of innocents anywhere is wrong. How complicated is that?

"Suitcase Narrative: Three Small Things" / Open Eye Figure Theatre (Minneapolis, MN)

Mr. Sommers is a mad professor who can barely stand still. He has a manic way of showing a story with his art, as if his very life depended on it. His gallery is a suitcase theater fringed with puppets, and his art is their stage sets. He is an artist selling his story like a sidewalk shell game, and he makes a statement in his biography that he hopes his art is like a virus you catch, and stays in your brain. He has performed in this manner all over the world. He calls this “Three Small Things” though I wouldn't care to enumerate what they are. What I got from his pictures, (he narrates in sound effects) which look like R. Crumb trying to draw someone's head exploding, is that life is passionate and that curiosity is a great gift. Death is inevitable, and the Moment must not be lost while we have life. He is very funny, in a desperate sort of way, but I felt some empathy for the many many times I wanted to shake someone and yell: “WAKE UP!” Because he is so visually oriented, I was ready to love what he did seeing how so much of what the puppets do requires the pictures/paintings. Will have to read more about him now.

"A Memorable Murder" by Pontine Theater (Portsmouth, NH) 
M. Marguerite Mathews & Greg Gathers

The story takes place during March 5th and 6th of 1875, on the Isle of Shoals near Portsmouth, and is based on the first hand witness of Celia Thaxter published in the Atlantic. It is a striking series of pictures, again a homage to graphic novels and film, telling the story of a horrific murder during an unsuccessful robbery by a man who was considered like a brother to the extended family. He killed two women, and sent another out into the freezing cold in only her bedclothes, and by a miracle she managed to find help before she froze to death. The killer thought there was money hidden (there was but he couldn't find it), and he wanted to take it while the men were away fishing. The killer died trying to run away (the sea was his judge). It felt strange to hear a scary tale while watching beautiful pictures about the gruesome story, but that's toy theater all over. The partners worked so well together that every set change was smooth and flawless, and you don't have time to think—wait a minute—that was a severed head and arm! In black and white, it was almost more scary—like the Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. Ms. Mathews and her partner both have very long and impressive resumes, belying the mindset that toy theaters are light-weight entertainment for children. This piece has a lovely elegant style, thanks to the design of Mr. Gathers.

"Baba Yaga VS Bat Man" / Goat on a Boat Theater (Sag Harbor NY)
 Liz Joyce and Alex Khludov

This was a zany story written by Liz Joyce about two of Bat Man's enemies getting married, and who must be stopped before they can sire unspeakably horrible evil children. It is funny like the TV show was, and though kids are not a target audience for this more adult themed comic romp. She has very bright poster-like art and the entire show is fast paced. It looks like a kids show, but does not act like one. Baba Yaga is a gypsy-like bride to be, who comes onto Robin right away and sends him running. She is supposed to marry the Penguin. They do comic battle over the marriage, but oddly I forgot how it ended. Guess this means I could watch it again, and still enjoy the suspense (was tired and got happily lost among the bright colors). Please don't anyone tell me!
You can get a good idea of how this one-woman company does out there on Long Island, for kids especially. Liz Joyce is a direct and energetic person who helped serve punch with me at the opening. She has the pace down, and the brightness, with something still left for the parents. She is living the dream of a lot of puppeteers, being the community puppeteer among the beach lovers but we all know that also amounts to a lot of really hard work.

A Bavarian Folk Tale / The Dolly Wagglers (Glover VT)
Lindsay McCaw and Adam Cook, with Michelle Posadas



I was ready to love this show because both of the partners are funny, charming performers. This show required a third puppeteer, with all the characters and landscape changes...rather like an operatic version of toy theater, folk style. We see charming landscape with no fancy work, and cute characters who are miners about the business of digging holes to get STUFF. They are driven to do this until all the stuff is gone. Some of the local animals (and land spirits) become unhappy about all the holes, and some of the miners wonder when they can stop and have a little fun. Their leaders are against stopping while there is so much STUFF in the ground. Lindsay McCaw comes out front in a very funny costume, and deadpans the wise owl's remarks about this mania for stuff. She reminds me of Gilda Radner in her Roseann Rosanadana character, and is hilarious “reciting” her lines, while draped with her accordion. If toy theater people had their way, accordions would come back as a top instrument of accompaniment, and they make a good case for it. The collaboration between McCaw and Cook were one of my favorites at the last festival. Long may they ply their artful trade!

GSW10: Program One

One of the gorgeous stages at this year's festival...

Program One of the 10th International Toy Theater Festival
- Reported by Tess Elliott

The People's Puppets of Occupy Wall Street

They performed a political piece about How Do We Show Solidarity, which was streamed live between them and Cairo during the Egyptian uprising. Here is the Ustream link.  They also have a Facebook page.

It was a show of cut out cardboard figures, and collages of events and politicians (The newly elected Egyptian President and Obama, mostly) haggling at the people's expense, with harsh police tactics on the rebels. I can imagine how I would have felt, had the new president changed his mind about his promises and suddenly made government more able to spy on it's people, and have more power to contain what they consider dangerous groups. Oh, by gosh I DID feel that way, just like the Egyptians. How do we show Solidarity? Support, agreement about issues, spreading the word. These young people are dedicated to doing this across the country and across the world. People are tired of bullies. People are tired of corruption. It is down on the ground front lines art, with simple, primitive techniques that speak articulately because they are simple. Good work.

The Garment Workers Tale, by Valeska Populoh of Baltimore, MD

This show starts with a still life of a cluttered old sewing machine desk, boxes and stacks of materials. Valeska comes out in period costume, and sits for awhile sewing with brutal focus, unsmiling and tired looking until she finishes a line of what I thought were old time collars. It is like a beautiful sepia tone photograph, where you can't see the wear or soil on old things—plain things. Then she changes the tone by picking up a photo and remembering, which turns into the first puppet she uses. All that clutter turns out to be set pieces and puppets to tell the story of immigrants coming to this country hungry and dying for work. I thought it was ingenius the way she used the “scenery” to tell the story. She finds a garment factory and tells the tale of relentless brutal hours, culminating in the great Triangle Factory Tragedy. She tells the story of protests by many of those same immigrants trying to work safe, trying to live, and giving birth to the first unions in that industry. She never speaks a word, but speaks volumes through her props. This was one act that does not translate well to the overhead projection of the last rows because the color is entirely lost, and the cropping is as damaging as TV is to movies. I am thankful to have it, but was sitting behind a person who blocked the whole scene and I only got to see the real thing for a few seconds at a time. I made a point of trying to sit up front after that program. It might have been helpful to put her scene on a raised floor, though I can understand how the extra expense might make that impossible. This is what much of toy theater faces with every performance.

Eli the Luthier by Little Did Productions of NYC

This was a tragic love story, conceived by Jessica Marie Lorence, played out on a large pop up scenery “book” by a troup of singer/puppeteers, and original music played on the Cello by Luke Santy, who sang and played as the narrator of the story. The singer/puppeteers were : Alison Novelli, Sam Parrott, and Elizabeth Spano. Pop up scenery can be a lot of fun, because it is instant as a new page is opened. I can't even imagine the labor involved in creating such an oversize pop book but it worked like a charm. The puppet characters interact with the scenery in the traditional way for the most part, but sometimes they are presented as large closeups as if they were illustrations on an imaginary page. I think there has long been a major love of comics and graphic novels that is well adapted to toy theater here. I see it again and again in the other shows. The story is a bit gruesome, but the music is haunting and beautiful with excellent voices playing off the soft cello (I am a fan of cello). It is the typical story of a lonely musician hopelessly in love with a baron's daughter who returns his love. When Toy Theater is accompanied by good music, it takes on a bigger charge of electricity, so to speak. It draws you in faster, and moves you in a deeper way. Canned music is good, too, though live is more immediate. This is the first production I have ever seen accompanied by a cello.

Emma's Parlor by Martina Plag and Lorna Howley of Philadelphia, PA

This is a story about the early female rebel, political dissonant and passionate speaker Emma Goldman.
Lorna Howley plays her with vigor and a strong voice that carries beautifully. Martina plays the various men in Emma's life to tell the story on a toy theater set inside of a full scale set. Martina is the designer (and both are puppeteers) but an enthusiastic performer as well. I think in a more intimate space, I could have heard Martina better (not her fault I have lost some hearing), but I got most of it and she pulled off the hard work of advancing a lot of the set props. They both worked hard, to great effect. I was ready to stand up and yell “Strike, strike, strike,” with them. I really loved the design of the set, and Lorna's passionate portrayal of a famous, rather messy public speaker who worked tirelessly even in jail. She made me want to know more about Goldman. They made me mourn the union bashing American workers have suffered for the last 20 years, as well. What right does labor have to want to live decently? In our country, I used to think all people did, and that my neighbors felt the same. No so. Something we should all think about, perhaps.

Chan Thou's Tuk-Tuk by HiveMind Theater of NYC

This is an interesting Toy Theater reminiscent of Asian architecture with rather large puppets, that really seem to be more “human.” They are surrounded by collages of places and people. Chan Thou (a real person who runs a pedicab while studying to be a teacher) is one of the many Cambodian survivors trying to live with awful memories of the Khmer Rouge regime. The man who was in charge of killing Chan Thou's family, Kaing Guek Eav, (aka “Duch”), one day happens to get into Chan Thou's Tuk-Tuk—a bicycle powered taxi. This upsets Buddhist Chan Thou who has terrible dreams of revenge and an almost overpowering desire for justice. He consults a Buddhist monk about how to live with such terrible dreams and is reminded that the way of compassionate Buddha was to not allow attachment to things & desires, and accept what is, not because things will always be unjust, but that it is more destructive to our spirit to demand an outcome and live in hate. Preserve the good memories, and keep alive the love we have for those who have passed seems to be the message—and a good one. Here is a link to an article about the show:

The music was delightful and I assume Cambodian. The co-creators were Emily Leshner, Ryan Minezzi, and Jennifer Onopa, along with puppeteer Gail Shalan. They actually met Chan Thou and learned than the “Duch” was sentenced to life imprisonment for his war crimes. So patience did have a good outcome.

GSW9: Festival Report VIII

A final report from Tess Elliott from the toy theatre festival, on the Second Family Program (part of it covered in a previous post...)

“How the Earth Got Its Color”
Performed by Drama of Works

I sat down front to hear everything, and was next to two boys whose parent or parents were somewhere else. They were antsy, and kidding around. When the show started, the duo puppeteers came out (Gretchen Van Lente and Scott Weber) with their song about the color musicians, and while they were extremely enthusiastic the song was a little too long to join in, though the song itself was rather nice. Like most of the audience, I did not realize the words were in the program! It was an Aztec story about how the world lost its color because the Musicians who play and create it had disappeared. The Sun god did it, and one by one the Wind god goes around visiting other gods trying to find his musician friends to bring them back. Each god he visits gives him something strong to help him. I have absolutely no issue with the quality of the performances, but the smaller kids were getting tired of all the exposition so that when the Wind god thinks he can do this hard task because we believe in him, both of the boys next to me first said, “I don't” but then joined in with everyone because they were taught to play nice. The kids did not join in with the sound effects much even with the prompting, though they did enjoy flinging their colored streamers around at the end. Their musician, James Walton ,who knew what he was doing, really needed bigger tools: when he mimics the sound of a rattle, few can hear the sound of beads being shaken in a tube. Good sound effects tools are called for in children's theater, and I think they should have used their musician more in this show because kids really do respond to music being played live. I would have loved to have heard a rainstick in his tools, too, because the Wind god has rain as one of his weapons.

The show was not boring to me, or the older children, but Drama of Works needs more show and less tell (maybe more playful prodding with the audience for interaction) to keep the younger kids engaged. Kids are a hard audience!

“Something Better”
Written and performed by Michael Romanyshyn, with Mr. Romanyshyn on clarinet, Kaolyn Kinsey on tuba, Roberto Rossi on accordion, and Shaunalynn Duffy on clarinet.

This show had the kids from the start, because all the people (who performed as much as the puppets) had instruments with a rousing sound. They have a good way of using their trunk for storage, a stage, and even some instruments and stage special effects. It was great music and my two front row neighbors who were next to me again were grinning and tapping their feet. The company enters in disguise (because they are unfortunately in Arizona). Romanyshyn begins narrating about how they were refugees from countries who made them leave or die, looking for something better than death. They formed the Refugee Band, and stayed on the run from the authorities until they land in Brooklyn where one of them has lost her family home. They decide to take a stand, and call on their Fairy Godmother to help them. She is a puppet on Romanyshyn's hand and she gives them some magical potion to put into the tea of the vultures who bought the foreclosed home. The potion will shrink their big heads, and cause their hearts to grow. I hope she remembered to pay the mortgage and taxes, too.

This was the most successful of the shows I saw for kids. It was short, it was musical and noisy, funny and had a simple story (if a rather simplistic ending). The performers were not afraid to look silly, they made a lot of audience eye contact, let you know THEY were having fun, and did not talk down to the kids even on the serious subjects. The children and adults responded in kind.

GSW9: Festival Report IV

Our first post-crisis report from Tess Elliott, and a smashing one at that...!

Thursday, June 10th

Haus of Marsian Theater
"Growing up Linda"

The program notes say that it is about the troubled life of an ice cream heiress, and the truth about a lot of heiresses seems to be pretty strange; there are certainly some stories you think someone must have made up, but were true. The main character onstage is decked out in a white suit badly stuffed with padding, with a very oddly cut platinum blonde wig and accessories right out of the film noir genre. On the one hand, you wonder if this is the heiress, or is she merely the narrator? Most people were astonished that through the entire performance this actor, whose lips are covered with ice cream sprinkles, managed to narrate the entire performance without licking her/his lips (the voice sounded very masculine). There were two pop-up book stages, full of drawings (the artist in me loves seeing drawings as stagecraft because in toy theater you CAN) and an ice cream store attendant who moved around a tiny camera to show closeups of the drawings. It was a dark and troubling story dressed in white ice-cream-cone color with sprinkles on top.

Dan Hurlin and Dan Froot
“Who's Hungry—West Hollywood”

This was a triptych of three performances, each ending with a picture of a person, so that you can assume the story is about the real person. Story One is about a man who was very successful in design, but became addicted to drugs and alcohol, and then became HIV positive. It is actually a hopeful story about a man who crashes and burns, but manages to get drug free again. It is a story with hope and resourcefulness, which sets the tone for the three plays. Story two is about a woman who has nothing but her treasured little dog, and loses it. She is portrayed in a very imaginative way with ribbon, binoculars, a small leash, and tiny flip flops and through the efforts of one, two and sometimes three people becomes a living, moving person. I was very amused at how well this company works together, so that it takes a wee village of puppeteers to make such an entertaining character. This was without an old fashioned proscenium stage, but was just as effective as an animation made out of scribbles which works beautifully. The woman finds her dog again, even though someone has spent a lot of money taking care of it while the owner was trying to find it with fliers. Again, there is a message of hope and determination. The third story is about a man who recycles in his neighborhood and builds it into a kind of business that makes him a living. He doesn't want to be a mogul, likes things simple, and really just wants to enjoy life rather than be owned by a tax-paying, receipt-filing, by-the-book business job. It's a slice of life that tells you some of the problems they face, and how we are none of us all that different.

Concrete Temple Theatre
"Hudson to China"

It took me awhile to remember my history, that Hudson believed he could find a route to the Orient in the north of America. The Hudson River did get him far inland, and near the Great Lakes, but a route to the East was not to be. So they start with a song commemorating Henry Hudson, then fly ahead in time to Nixon's work in negotiating a relationship with China, which was the beginning of the Chinese taking over many areas of what was once American manufacturing. You see a perspective from an American and an immigrant's point of view. The large stage is used in an interesting way: it is a long shape rather like a pagoda, with scenery at top, with life size people popping up or large puppets, and openings on the lower front where people pop out. It was a more complex story that was a little harder to follow than the simpler narratives, but the accordion accompaniment and stagecraft still made it fun to watch.

GSW9: Festival Report III (Part 1 of 2)

From our on-the-spot reporter Tess Elliott come these reports for Sunday at the ongoing 9th Annual International Toy Theatre Festival in New York...

SUNDAY

Tony Schlesinger as The Palace. She is not like a palace, she IS the Palace Theatre and she sits on the stage dressed as an older glam star "incognito" complete with sunglasses and scarf. It's a layered show. There is the actual miniature movie theatre, and a large screen for the projected images full size, and then the persona of the theater as a retired movie star. The persona and the mini theatre are surrounded by her court of staffers: the usher/butler, the candy girl, and the manager/director. She tells of her woes without whining: how she was once a palace of the greatest films, fell into disrepair, became a ratty porn house, and had a brief revival as an art film house. She, in truth, was the real show. There was a lovely way they had of showing just a close up of her elegantly stockinged legs on the big screen as she spoke, and as she tells the tale of disintegration, her stockings become more and more riddled with runs! There was a funny little bit where she talks about actually having therapy, and they trot out a little prop of an even tinier theater resting on a fainting couch! For some reason, I love imbuing inanimate objects with life, because like the astronomer John Dobson I feel like the entire universe is alive, and in truth, our fantasies are not interested in real life but in dreams. This grand dame doesn't know how anything works, or how the mysteries end, and doesn't really care.

I have to say that I grew up in movie houses because my father was a projectionist. He protested hopelessly against cable because he was sure he was going to lose yet another means of income. He actually died of a heart attack in the projection room after getting the movie running again once the power came back up after a thunderstorm! Those tarted up old film houses were made to seem grander than the most expensive mansion in the world, and they will always be full of mystery for me.

The next show was Meredith Miller, a tiny woman who wears a three tiered set of stages complete with plush red velvet curtains. She tells a tale of love that starts with romance in the head, progresses to love in the heart, and ends up with passion that plays itself out leaving her empty, (her heart having been consumed by her lover). She is desolate and inconsolable, and we as an audience felt sorry for her at the end. It was an interesting spectacle--simply done with a clear message.

She was followed on the same stage with Pop-up Theatre: John Mejias and another man (sorry I don't hear better) were in a box that looked like something cobbled from alley wood disgards. It was the kind of thing kids would build as a clubhouse, except for the collage of wood that stands for the city on top. They tell the stories in a disembodied voice coming through a speaker at the side, even though you know someone is in that box. The puppets remind me of German Expressionist woodcuts, very attractive and fierce, while the stories are rather odd events that take place at the school where he teaches. It's about parents who teach their children not to be victims by hitting back (with some becoming perpatrators as a result), lost dogs, and fire drills where neighborhood bullies throw eggs. Again, there seems to be this acceptance of the scary, the weird and the unfair as it comes and goes. It's that gigantic bored shrug called "whatever" that seems hopeless to me, but it is a very hard world graduating kids face now. Maybe it's a very necessary emotional distance.

The last show was by The Puppeteers' Coop of Boston & NYC with Sara Peattie & Theresa Linnihan and a young man who did their sound effects (he is from a separate company). It was a classic toy theatre performance, all about Coney Island--funny and sad at the same time. Someone really knew how to do Dwight Frye's mad laugh from the old Dracula which told me it was Coney Island as created by Dr. Frankenstein and Igor. I got a big kick out of it.

SUNDAY NIGHT (Cabaret)

...Hi! It's gotten cool again, though not inside the Festival Warehouse! Tonight was a little bit of everything. I can probably describe them but I want to look for pictures in the morning because some are not in the exhibit. It was a bit more adult but I got to actually see Great Small Works perform a newer piece--they did a satire on the Oil Spill and apparently this was a revamped version of an old one they performed before. You can really tell they have worked together for a long time. I can tell you, it REALLY makes the difference when the music and singing are quality. But that's tomorrow. Am going to really sleep tonight. But here are the pictures I promised. I could not get a great one of Torry Bend's odd theater that she wears. It's in a dark corner. I will try to do it with a flash to put on the DVD for you. Will also be uploading two shorter videos of walking through the exhibition.

They [Great Small Works] were the last act of the cabaret, and their theatre stage has to be fairly big. In truth they barely fit on the stage but they managed to crush in for their opening "stance" of shock and awe before they take up their stations around the stage (they each have their own frozen emotion, though they break it and either scream or laugh maniacally). I found myself wondering if they did that in response to the audience awaiting them. Everyone has their assigned task.They sang a sea chanty with lovely harmony about the "Red Rose going down" while an old style ship bobs in waves of gold, not blue. Here is a link with the words and a performance so you know what it sounded like: sea chantey The ship left and there came tea cups in saucers bobbing on the waters, and tea bags hovered over them like clouds (everyone loved that part) until a giant gas pump comes down to pour gas or oil into the cups. The cups float away and an oil derrick plunks down into the waves. The narrator talks about people saying "accidents happen" and then puppets act out repeating that like hysterical parrots, so the narrator says "sometimes it's just wickness." The sea chanty starts out again, and several BP logos, like colored clouds whisks across the sky (I thought of it as ball lightning, which bounces around and off things). The song is a haunting tune that seems appropriate for what is happening in the Gulf of Mexico. It got a rousing response from the audience. It was a pleasure to see them do their thing after years of reading about them.

More to come in Part 2...