Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens: UPDATE

The last time I posted about this project was about a year ago.  The man behind it, Steve Arnott, contacted me today and wanted me to know that an updated video demonstrating more of the digital animation, soundtrack, and narration was now available to view.  The video above is that sample.  It shows great promise, and has many fascinating and magical scenes. The narration is done by Roy Trumble, from his reading of J.M. Barrie's earlier, shorter work about Pan...

The film is making good progress. Steve did some film work in Norway last month, where they are enthusiastic about the project - part of the film may be produced there.

Arnott knows his subject well, and has written about its history and influence.

To find out more about the film's history, and what the goals of the film project are, go here.

As I find out more information, it will be posted here.  Stay tuned!

London Puppetry Festival: October 25th to November 3rd

Going on RIGHT NOW is the Suspense 2013 London Puppetry Festival! Check out the video to see clips of the shows and workshops being offered, as well as excerpts from some of the shows and the performers who create these amazing worlds for us to enjoy...

2013 Paper Theatre Festival in Harderwijk

Held this past May, here are highlights showing some of the performers, theatres, and actual clips of performances...

PuppetVision: The Movie

PuppetVision: The Movie is a documentary about puppets, puppeteers and puppetry around the world.  The mastermind behind the project is Andrew Young:

We want to use fantastic interviews, combined with performance footage, rare film clips, and original puppetry sequences to create a fun, accessible documentary that takes you on a globe trotting journey to meet these incredible artists and explore the wonderful work that they do. We want to take the art of puppetry apart, show you how it works and surprise you with what you find.

This update on Andrew's blog shares even more details and photos, the latest news on the project.

PuppetVision: The Movie is being funded by donations.  Please visit the project's fundraiser site and give whatever you can - every penny is much appreciated!  And, there are incentives for various contribution amounts.

Classic Paper

Homer’s cornerstone of literature is vividly told with beautiful illustration and masterful puppetry. Cinematic projection and cunning tricks transform a suitcase full of cut-out paper puppets into an array of living characters and striking landscapes. A silent film is created before your eyes, set to a captivating live score from exceptional musicians.

If you live near Brighton, you're in luck!

The Paper Cinema will be putting on performances next week of their amazing adaption of the Odyssey.

Don't miss it!

Moby Dick on a Stick!

My friend Karen had an "obsession" discussion at her library (where she works as a librarian) recently, revolving around Melville's MOBY-DICK.

She used some of the art from Matt Kish's Moby-Dick in Pictures to create stick puppets for the program.

Karen led an informal discussion with the participants, in an attempt to answer questions about larger subjects. Questions contemplated were: What does the novel tell us about obsession? [Ahab’s obsessive desire to kill Moby Dick drives much of the novel’s story-line...] What methods does he use to get the crew on board with his personal obsession? And, what do those methods tell us about larger subjects, such as the nature of leadership, tyranny, and democracy?


The video below is a fascinating short film documenting Matt Kish's own obsession with Moby-Dick, and how that obsession compelled him to create a sketch, drawing, or painting every day for a year, that eventually became his book. His art inspired Karen so much, she used several for her project!


Inside the Whale from Southpaw Filmworks on Vimeo.

Slava Polunin's SnowShow

GSW10 Performance on Video: Bradley Manning

Filmed June 15, 2013, 10pm. The latest episode of Great Small Works' signature production, "The Toy Theater of Terror as Usual", focuses on the trials and tribulations of Bradley Manning, and freedom of information. Performed at Great Small Works 10th International Toy Theater Festival, St. Ann's Warehouse, Brooklyn.

GSW10 Review: Miniature Theatre, Grand Ideas

When William Shakespeare wrote, 'All the world is a stage,' he probably meant a bigger stage than you can find in the world of Toy Theater, a tabletop universe, usually no more than a meter wide, where big things happen - from Hamlet, to political satire, broad-brush comedy, dreamscapes and everything in between. VOA’s Adam Phillips went behind the scenes at a New York toy theater company.

Politicizing Puppets: GSW10 Review

A well-done review of the recent GSW10!

Politicizing Puppets at St. Ann's Warehouse
By Emma Wiseman

Great Small Works’ International Toy Theater Festival is in its 10th year of celebrating miniature puppet works of all kinds.  The last two weeks saw the festival transform St. Ann’s Warehouse in DUMBO, Brooklyn into a family circus-style labyrinth festooned with hand-painted banners, dividing the space into several individual makeshift theaters supplementing St. Ann’s usual venue.

The festival program describes toy theater as “a do-it–yourself storytelling form which can be elaborate yet simple, grand yet inexpensive, full of deep critical thinking yet accessible to all.”  A toy theater piece is typically self-contained within its own mini proscenium and in general is characterized by its small size. In an age of CGI and 3D printing, there is a certain nostalgia and familiarity to be found in all styles of puppetry, though perhaps more so in toy theater, evoking as it does childhood living rooms, scissors and tape, and the excitement of putting on a show for the grownups.

St. Ann’s transformed by the arrival of Great Small Works’ 10th International Toy Theater Festival

The work on display at the festival, which closed on Sunday and included both live shows and a “Temporary Toy Theater Museum,” arrived from all over the country and from several cities around the world.  While all could be categorized under the umbrella of “toy theater,” many of the pieces took that concept and exploded it, incorporating other puppetry and performance styles. While I wasn’t able to see all of the performances, I did catch several wonderful pieces and some pretty stunning examples of just how effective this medium can be.

Detail from Annie Silverman, “The Great Danes,” part of the Temporary Toy Theater Museum

Erik Ruin and Maryann Colella of Providence, Rhode Island presented One Touch of Nature Makes the Whole World Kin, an exploration of several different disasters — notably the San Francisco earthquake and fires — and the coming-together of affected communities in response to these events. The construction of the piece was in classic toy theater style with a stand-alone proscenium arch piece, made instantly eye catching by a bold, almost Art Deco looking image of two figures holding hands. Ruin is a prolific printmaker with a striking visual style that pervades One Touch… Rather than individual figures moving through the space, the puppets of this piece are large fragments of landscapes, all done in complex lines that reminded me of woodcuts.  These pieces are hung from the top of the proscenium and fit together in a dense collage, capturing both the crowds of a city or town as well as the chaos of a major disaster.  Both performers narrate the story, with Ms. Colella helpfully pointing out individual figures and images within the dense artwork.

One Touch… stood out to me among the other shows in its particular program, all of which shared the theme of “Disaster!” Great Small Works, the presenting company for the festival, grew out of a collaboration with Bread and Puppet Theater, and as such has an activist vein running through much of their work.  Whether it is their influence over the art form or that there is something about toy theater, and puppetry in general, that complements political dissent, some of the Disaster pieces made me want to call out “I’m sorry!” Overt, talk-y messages about the dangers of global warming and the evils of government were washing over the audience like a Superstorm surge. I believe fervently in the importance of theater to a larger political discussion, but the nuances of that is a conversation for another day.  Suffice to say that One Touch of Nature Makes the Whole World Kin, by taking a historical view and by making well-executed performance its first priority, was a compelling breath of fresh air in a program hot with indignation.

Hand painted signs welcoming people to the Festival

Claire Dolan came to the Toy Theater Festival from rural Vermont, where she works as a nurse, she explained in a disarmingly un-theatrical way at the beginning of her piece. She also brought her neighbors along to help her tell a “very simple story.” Elephant has a narrative woven from Dolan’s personal experiences in Shanghai, her changing relationship with her mother in the last weeks of a mentally debilitating illness, and actual facts about elephants.  Specifically, the piece explores the nature of memory: in Shanghai entire neighborhoods have been razed to make way for more modern buildings, which in turn are torn down in favor of fake historical buildings for tourists; tribes of elephants mourn over the dead body of a companion and then return much later to the same place to actually cradle the bones with their trunks; a mother ceases to recognize her own daughter.  I was utterly charmed and transported by the work, which, while in reality being far from simple, was presented in a clear and measured way by performers with a sincerity that I actually think receiving a BFA can often kill.  Ms. Dolan was also appearing as a representative ofThe Museum of Everyday Life, for which she serves as the Chief Operating Philosopher.

I was completely surprised at the parallels I found between Elephant and Beth Nixon’s Lava Fossil, which was presented in a different program.  For one thing, both pieces were inspired at least in part by the death of a parent. Nixon presented her story using several suitcases containing pop-up sets, taking a traditional toy theater format and running with it. She talked about the death of her father and mused on the nature of time, and a dead person’s place in it. Her childhood dentist also made an appearance, as did some passionate dinosaurs, Pompeii victims and several different types of volcanoes.

Amanda Villalobos, “Sister Adorers in the Cardboard Convent” at the Temporary Toy Theater Museum

I was struck by the way in which both Ms. Dolan and Ms. Nixon constructed their stories: juxtaposing seemingly unrelated topics and coaxing out significance, breaking down an idea into layers of meaning and sifting through. Puppetry is particularly powerful when it is used in this way; not simply as a visual aid but a method by which ideas can be furthered and explored. Furthermore, I think that creating artistic work out of personal pain is a complicated affair that can often slip down a theater-as-therapy path, and I was very moved by each of these pieces, both of which were incredibly well thought out and artfully composed while remaining intensely individual.

Zach Dorn, from Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, performed Five Excruciatingly Ordinary Toy Theater Shows, one or two in between each of the other live performances in his program. Each brief, hilarious piece came from a diary entry in a “particularly boring notebook” that Mr. Dorn found among his belongings. One of my favorites was entitled World of Poop. His cartoon-y sets and figures were very small, and he used a handheld camera to direct the audience’s attention.  Mr. Dorn’s work brought smallness to the forefront, as did Kevin P. Hale’s Poe-Dunk, which examined the life and works of Edgar Allen Poe with puppets stuck to matches and matchbook-sized sets.  In these situations especially, a screen above the stage that provided rock concert-like close ups of the work via a live feed camera was invaluable, though for most pieces in the festival it was still a helpful perspective.

View of one scene from Janie Geiser’s “The Reptile Under the Flowers”

Janie Geiser’s The Reptile Under the Flowers was presented in one of the festival’s makeshift individual theaters to which audience members were admitted eight at a time, every fifteen minutes. The piece comprises twelve scenes, each of which lives in its own stand-alone light box-theater and describes part of one family’s history. It was the miniature Sleep No More of the Toy Theater Festival.  Some of the scenes only allowed for two audience members at a time to peer through eye-holes, creating a unique and intimate viewing experience.

I found the Toy Theater Festival to be thoroughly enjoyable in the way that a difficult yoga class is. The theater was a million degrees, some shows were harder to sit through than others, and I started to recognize the diehards who were coming back day after day. In terms of the scope and breadth of the work there is really nothing like it to be found in New York, and for $10-$15 it’s the most cost-effective way to experience the great St. Ann’s Warehouse.

Masterpieces in Miniature: Bonsai

The man behind this miniature masterpiece is Takanori Aiba. "If you explore any small part of my works, you find amazing stories and some unique characters..." His attention to detail is incredible; he creates interiors of his buildings as well as exteriors. And it is all the more impressive since the details are all done in miniature.

A Village in Miniature

I adore this kitchen with cupboard doors done as a miniature town in old Europe, a kitchen done in a miniature theme!

I wish I had the talent, skill, and patience to tackle painting my kitchen as a toy theatre collection, but alas, no.

But what a fun, beautiful idea...

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...

Howard Brothers Model circus at Ringling Museum

Howard Brothers Model circus at Ringling Museum, a gallery by jatcod24sci on Flickr.

Incredible workmanship in the miniature, you must see these well-done, close-up photographs of a life's work. Begun in the 1940s, one man has created an entire big top circus in all its amazing detail!

GSW10: Family Programs

10th International Toy Theater Festival Family Programs

Schurzpiepegal (Like Master, Like Dog) / Berlin, Germany

This story is based on the picture book written and illustrated by Barbara Steinitz , with music direction and accompaniment by Bjorn Kollin.

The illustrations freed from the book, are lovely, telling a story about two people who oddly do not have dogs that look like themselves. They cause merriment when they go out walking, and people make fun of them. The stage is a suitcase filled with grooves, so that with each set change, pieces of scenery stand up and are removed quickly, in a graceful arc by Barbara. She speaks very clearly (which my challenged ears loved), and liked to make faces for the children. She had some moments when the story got a bit complicated and the very young children became restless. We adults in the audience were right there with her. These were short moments, and she managed to bring them back into the story every time. She is still reading from her book which slows her down some, and more performances will make her better and faster. She seems very naturally happy performing—a different world from art and illustration where you usually work alone. The music was very nicely done, and I wouldn't have minded to hear more, though Barbara can't be a puppeteer and play her odd instrument at the same time. It looks like a mixture of fiddle, steel guitar and horn. It sounds more like a fiddle with an edgy, more metallic sound when she uses her bow. Bjorn plays her straight man, and is an excellent guitarist in the bargain.

What was wonderful was the way the characters come to life, so that you want them to have a happy ending. It is true that often people choose doggy versions of themselves but in this story the odd group worked perfectly when they were ALL together. This happy ending comes after a false ending when she gets into a discussion with Bjorn who objects that all is not perfectly well when the couple first exchanges dogs. They cared too much what other people thought, and learn (for their dogs' sakes) you just can't care what anyone thinks. Here is her website.

Vrooom! / Puppet Junction Productions  (Brooklyn, NY)

Created by Serra Hirsch, Playwright B. Walker Sampson, Original Music by Arlen Hart, Puppeteers Bill Remington Hubner, Ildi Kiss, Serra Hirsch, Set by Hubner, and Sound by Ien DeNio

This was another fun show that opens with a woman vacuuming. Turns out the set is the inside of the vacuum, with a family of spiders trapped inside. They are charming puppets, each a different color so you can tell them apart. It was a very creative approach, and the bugs were not a bit scary. The little family does what families always do—help each other, sometimes argue, and try to work things out together. The star is Art, a very scared young spider who makes webs that are pretty, as opposed to webs that catch things to eat. In the long run, Art's web stops up the vacuum which frees them all. This story was very cute, though a little complicated for the youngest children. The older audience was quite charmed. The little puppets are very cute, and have a very nice movement the way their legs are strung together, but I searched their website and could not find a photograph. Check out their website.

Sleeping Beauty / You and Me Puppets (Reading, MA) 

This was a treat, to finally see Judith O'Hare do her thing. She has been an enthusiast, written books about how puppetry helps every aspect of education, performed and made incredibly beautiful toy theaters, as well as commissioned them. She sells her own design of toy theater that also can be used for shadow puppets. Her long experience is the foundation of a confident and friendly performer.

She does a different sort of Sleeping Beauty story rather than the gruesome European folktale, and it is humorous and not at all scary for the children. There are fairies, one of whom is grumpy and curses the newly born girl over a snub from the Queen, and another fairy sort of fixes it. Her stage is a large pop up book in simple designs and bright colors. Her puppets are on Rods and can stand on their own, which is very handy for multi-character scenes.

Ms. O'Hare knows how to entertain children. She always smiles, makes eye contact from time to time and even talks to some of the closer children. The story is fast-paced and I didn't hear near the restlessness in other shows as compared to the quietness of hers. Once a few of us started laughing, everyone chimed in, and the entire show seemed to flash by. Love seeing a performer who really knows how to work with children.

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: Video Report

A nicely-done video report by the Wall Street Journal on the 10th International Toy Theatre Festival, ongoing right now!

"People are really excited about seeing the handmade and the hand-operated," said Ms. Geiser, "and the kind of magic that happens when you actually see how something is being done and you still believe in it."

Read more about the festival in the accompanying WSJ article...

Old Toy Theatre History Site: Revival?

Front page of old Toy Theatre History page...

I used to have my own domain, and on subdomain I hosted a website I inherited from a fellow in the UK that didn't want to handle it anymore. I used it as a template, and did some major changes to it to make it more logical and user-friendly. I look back on it now and laugh because it looks to primitive to what we can do today.

That said, I think I have enough pieces of the puzzle to be able to resurrect it - at least a good share of it - as 'pages' that link from the front page here.

I want to share some of the information from that old page, because although much of it is 'old news', it's important historically in the world of toy theatre, and to my knowledge, there not a lot of this online. It mostly concerns Benjamin Pollock.

GSW10: Before the Festival

June 2, 2013: Straightening top of main stage curtain, & strengthening it by putting in grommets.

Before the curtains open, and the lights come up, there is...preparation!

See more here...

GSW10: Panel Discussion

Main festival stage.  Grand drape painted by Damiano Giambelli of Teatro del Corvo, Milano.
[Click to see full-size]

John Bell from Great Small Works shared this about last night's fascinating panel discussion after Program 3 ("Disaster!") of GSW's 10th International Toy Theater Festival:

The panel, titled "Who is Feeling the Heat? Moving the National and Local Discussion of Climate Change," featured (l. to r.) Jenny Romaine; artist and climate change activist Rachel Schragis; Helena Wong (Executive Director of CAAAV/NYC Chinatown Sandy Response); Diego Ibanez (organizer with Occupy Sandy in Far Rockaway); and Jenny Akchin (Occupy Sandy activist).