Aladdin

Years ago I saw Gene Hare’s wonderful live-action adaptation of Aladdin (that included a very inventive, flying carpet scene). He has now adapted the show for the puppet stage and I can’t wait to see what he does now that he is no longer restricted by the limitations of the human form.

Aladdin, adapted, directed and designed by Eugene Hare will be a delight for the entire family. After last year's wildly successful puppet production of The Firebird Eugene Hare will bring to life the classic epic of a poor young man who, with the help of a djinni and his own cleverness, defeats an evil sorcerer and wins the heart of Princess Badroulbadour.

It plays November 29, 30, December 6, 7, 13, 14. All performances will take place at 2pm.

Further information can be found at:

http://www.clevelandstate.edu/theater/season.html

Zoinks!

So I did a Yahoo search for “Puppet Stuff” and this blog is actually found by the search engine.

Hooray! I’ve never had that happen before on a website or blog that I had created.

So now I feel obligated to update the site.

Luckily there are some puppet related things coming up in the next several weeks.

Giant Puppet Makes National Website

Just discovered video footage of the giant Obama Puppet at i-report:

http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-121839

Giant Puppet Alert

Ripped from the pages of Cool Cleveland

(http://www.coolcleveland.com/index.php?n=Main.Current)

Clevelanders can hook up with "Big Barack" -- the 13-foot puppet-promoter of "Getting Out the Early Vote" during lunch hour Fri 10/24 from 11:30AM - 1:30PM on Public Square. Big Barack (left) is the artistic creation of Robin VanLear and Linda Butler. The thousands of Clevelanders who might be taking a walk through Public Square Friday are being encouraged to get down to the Board of Elections at 30th and Euclid to vote early in this historic election. It took VanLear more than 50 hours to sculpt Big Barack's face in clay, cover the clay bust with multiple layers of paper mache, separate the clay from the paper, paint his head, and attach the head and costume! Incredible.

PGNO Update - October 2008

Seven months later...

To show how easy it would be to update a blog (even for a lazy sod like me), here is the latest information from the Nancy Sander and the Puppetry Guild of Northeastern Ohio.

HEY PIGNOSERS! We are happy to announce our PGNO Special Event #2: a field trip to the Puppet Extravangza at the Abbey Theater in Dublin, Ohio. Dublin is just north of Columbus. That means a two hour trek, but is it worth it!

On Saturday, October 25th there will be two shows: Gray Seal Puppets--so worth the trip alone--is going to perform an absolutely wonderful show, "The Bathtub Pirates" (this show got rave reviews when performed at the National), and Kevin Frisch,that fantastic puppeteer that we saw at our DWP, will be doing "The Wizard of Oz." These shows start at 10 AM . Also there is a possibility of having a puppet slam in the evening if he can get three more volunteer performers who will do a short of about five minutes in length. Can any of you help him out? Great fun...

On Sunday the Cashore Marionettes will perform. I Have no knowledge of them. They perform at 2:00 PM. Nancy Sander is riding down on Saturday and will spend the day and attend the slam if they have it. There are still two spots in the car. If you want to go and carpool call Nancy right away and we'll try to work something out. Oh yes, the cost of the shows is $10.00 per show, $7.00 for seniors or children. RSVP ASAP to Nancy if you want to go and carpool. Directions to the Abbey follow... Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

(Here is a link to the Abbey Theater site)
http://www.dublin.oh.us/recreation/theater/

February 2008 PGNO Meeting

The Puppetry Guild of Northeastern Ohio’s next meeting will be this Sunday, February 17, 2008 at 2:00 PM at Jean Jackson’s house. It is called “An Afternoon At The Puppet Movies.” First off they will be viewing an authentic performance of Vietnam Water Puppets from Hanoi. Secondly, they will show the work of a famous hand puppeteer from China. Thirdly, they’ll watch “An Hour With Jim Henson” a film that documents his life, his career, his hopes, etc, filmed right before he died, and fourthly, “The American Puppet”, the PBS film on American Puppetry. After that, they will have a potluck. Anyone coming is asked to bring something to share, either to eat or drink. Bring also any puppets or puppet related items for “show-and-tell.” They will also discuss the possibility of hosting the Regional Picnic in May.

The meeting takes places at 2980 Washington Blvd. Cleveland Heights, OH 44118-2450, US. Click on the address for a link to Mapquest for personalized directions.

PGNO

Got some stuff from Nancy Sander of Puppets with Pizazz! Nancy is also the Vice President of the Puppetry Guild of Northeastern Ohio. I've been a member for the past several years and needed to renew my membership. Nancy sent me a copy of the membership form which I scanned. The guild brings in puppet performers, does an occasional make-it-and-take-it and represents Northeast Ohio for the Annual Day with Puppets. Nancy also sent along a hand puppet pattern designed by Roger Dennis. Click the images below for the full size application and pattern.

Crazy guild members in Punch Attire.

Blue Boy

I thought I would put a link up to a great, free hand puppet pattern. This is the Blue Boy pattern. I have used this pattern for years as the basis for any mouth puppets I’ve built. I’ll eventually post my modified pattern, but if you need to make a mouth puppet this is the perfect pattern to start with.

Click on the image below to get to the pattern on Marla’s Home Page. Also check out her fun story time puppet photos.

Snow White

Coming up on Feb 16, 2008 in the Westfield Insurance Studio Theatre at the Idea Center is a performance of Snow White at 11:00 AM and 2:00 PM. Based on the popular fairy tale by the Brothers’ Grimm, Snow White uses nearly life-sized textile puppets to create a large, living, soft, touchable picture book of Snow White characters for members of the audience to interact with and embrace. A unique, creative and engaging puppeteer/actor performance from Germany unlike any you’ve seen before. Click on the dwarf below to explore the German webpage (with a link to the English version) of this creative company/performer.











Tickets are available through Playhouse Square.

Up and Running

So… I didn’t get this site up in time for the Henson Legacy at the Cleveland Museum of Art or the Mermaid Theatre of Nova Scotia's touring production of The Very Hungry Caterpillar & Other Eric Carle Favourites or the touring production of Avenue Q at the Palace Theatre but… I'm sure I'll find SOMETHING to post.