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The Puppetry eXploratory Laboratory program has been suspended during the Covid-19 emergency but will return as soon as feasible.

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][mk_fancy_title font_family=”none”]What PXL is! [/mk_fancy_title][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1621691174478{margin-bottom: 0px !important;}”]A mentorship program for individual artists and/or small groups to work on projects in puppetry or that integrate puppetry into multi-media arts projects.

Puppetry is an art form that combines literature, music, mime, dance and drama and the visual arts to make a sum greater than its parts. It is the last great under-explored frontier of the arts!  Our Puppetry eXploratory Laboratory (PXL) is modeled on the famous XPT program at the Center for Puppetry Arts in Atlanta.

The Puppetry eXploratory Laboratory is a program that offers the opportunity for artists to explore their creative passion within the puppet art form.   As a participant in PXL, you will be involved in a unique experience that allows you to interact and collaborate with artists of all kinds.  PXL membership entails many benefits for a rare learning opportunity:  it is a chance to fine tune skills you already have, to develop and try new ones, or simply learn a greater appreciation for the art of puppetry and its many facets.

PXL is a forum for the development of creative ideas, not merely a showcase for future productions: emphasis is on the development of new material and unique adaptations of existing material. We are looking to push the envelope; we invite you to join us!

Participants work in groups, made up of Project Participants and a Project Initiator, collaborating on the Project Initiator’s project.  Over the following months Puppetmongers will assist in moving the projects forward, with meeting-planning sessions, shop time at our studio, direction and technical and general advice.

THE DETAILS

You may participate as either a Project Participant or as a Project Initiator.

Project Participant.  If you wish to participate on a project, working on someone else’s production, please download and complete a Project Participant application form (Please ignore the page for the Project Initiator).

Project Initiator.  If you  wish to initiate a project (with a project in mind) please download and complete a Project Initiator application form.  (Please ignore the page for the Project Participants).

Proposed pieces must be under 15 minutes long, and may incorporate any of the myriad styles and approaches to puppetry: shadow, mask, automaton, object theatre, sock puppets, body puppets, stop-motion and live puppet film, Bunraku style, marionettes or something never thought of before.

Remounts of pre-existing pieces will not be considered. All projects selected will be considered as works-in-progress.

As part of the selection process, the Project Initiators may be asked to an interview with the Puppetmongers.

GENERAL INFORMATION

  • Watch this page for announcements of deadlines
  • Applicants will be notified of their application status within 2 weeks following deadline
  • Participation fees are due on acceptance.
  • Materials are the responsibility of the Project Group
  • At the first scheduled gathering, the Project Initiators will present their project ideas, and the Project Participants will choose which project to join.
  • Then, over the next few months, the Project Initiators, with their Project Participants, meet (at their own mutual scheduling), to build and rehearse the pieces with Puppetmongers’ mentorship.
  • The program runs typically between mid February and late May/early June depending on the date of the Fresh Ideas in Puppetry Day 

For all  inquiries please email or call 416-469-3555[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]