Take a course with Puppetmongers this fall to begin your puppetry journey, or to hone your skills as a puppeteer.
Please note, registration deadlines are one week before each class begins.
November 5th from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. $125 registration
Marionettes, or String Puppets, move and work quite differently from other types of puppet. Their unique relationship to gravity, and the balance of tension and weight created in their construction gives them a very special character. In this introductory workshop, each participant will create a simple cloth marionette, with just a few well placed strings, and with an emphasis on experimentation, discover how to animate it. N.B. If there is enough interest, we will also offer a Beyond Basics Marionette course in winter/spring 2024.
November 12th from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. $125 registration.
There is something mesmerizing about shadows. With the animator hidden, the audience’s eyes are drawn into the action on the screen, much as we are now seduced by computer and movie screens. Creating a shadow puppet play is like making a “live movie” for a live audience. This workshop will immerse the participants in contemporary shadow puppetry methods and technology, and visit the living traditions of shadow puppetry around the world. Participants will design and build their own shadow puppets, explore animation techniques and light sources, and then work together to develop short shadow skits.
November 19th from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. $125 registration
\At first glance looking like a set and costume designer’s scale model, a Toy Theatre is a complete theatre in miniature, with little puppet actors manipulated by rods from above or beside the stage, with scenery that rolls, folds or flies, and all kinds of wonderful theatrical surprises. In this workshop, participants will each transform an ordinary cardboard box into magnificent miniature theatre, complete with little puppet actors, and discover the possibilities of scenic effects – perspective and scale, pop-up scenery and scenic vistas, trap doors and moving dioramas to name a few.
November 26th from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. $125 registration
Puppets should act believably, just as actors do. What is the character feeling? What do they want? Why are they doing that? Bringing acting to your puppetry means creating a discernable inner life for your character. The audience should be able to see its feelings, understand its thoughts, and relate to the goals that it has from one moment to the next within a scene. Teach Your Puppets to Act will give puppeteers the basics of acting – from breath to movement to script analysis – so that your puppets can engage the attention of your audience and keep them with you all the way from “lights up” to “curtain”.
