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Puppeteers of America Festivals are gatherings of puppeteers sponsored by the organization, Puppeteers of America. This group helps to organize and promote puppetry festivals and activities throughout the United States and Canada. Some of these events include:
The East Coast Super Sonic Puppet Festival
Asheville, North Carolina
Tri-Regional Festival: Southeast, Mid-Atlantic, and Northeast Regions
Festival Director: Susan VandeWeghe
Celebrate the Puppet: Great Lakes Regional Festival
Co-sponsored by the Ontario Puppetry Association
Festival Director: Phil Arnold
Regional Director: Aretta Baumgartner
Much Ado About Puppets: Pacific NW & Pacific SW Regional Festival
University of Puget Sound, Tacoma, WA
Contact: Jean Mattson
2008 Festivals
June 12-15, 2008 Southeast Region Festival Savannah, GA Festival Contacts: Martha Enzmann, Kathleen Bolch, & Angela Beasley
June 26-29, 2008 Great Lakes Region Festival Shipshewanna, IN Festival Director: Guy Thompson Mousetrap Puppet Theater Shipshewana, IN Phone: 260-768-4968
July 10-13, 2008 Northeast/Mid-Atlantic Regions Festival University of Maryland, College Park, MD Festival Co-Director, Mid-Atlantic: Allan Stevens The Puppet Co. 7300 MacArthur Blvd. Glen Echo, MD 20812 Phone: 202-234-6666 Fax: 301-229-2008 Festival Co-Director, Northeast: Kris Higgins The Puppet Showplace Theatre 32 Station Street Brookline, MA 02445 Phone: 617-731-6400 Fax: 617-731-0526
Puppetry is a very ancient art form, probably first originating about 30,000 years ago [6]. Puppets have been used since the earliest times to animate and communicate the ideas and needs of human societies.[7] Some historians claim that they pre-date actors in theatre. There is evidence that they were used in Egypt as early as 2000 BC when string-operated figures of wood were manipulated to perform the action of kneading bread. Wire controlled, articulated puppets made of clay and ivory have also been found in Egyptian tombs. Hieroglyphs also describe 'walking statues' being used in Ancient Egyptian religious dramas.[6] The oldest written record of puppetry can be found in the written records of Xenophon dating from around 422 B.C. [8]
[edit] Asia
Puppeteer from Rajasthan (India)
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Evidence of earliest puppetry comes from the excavations at the Indus Valley Civilization.[9] Archaeologists have unearthed terracotta dolls with detachable heads capable of manipulation by a string dating to 2500 BC.[9] Other excavations include terracotta animals which could be manipulated up and down a stick—-archiving minimum animation in both cases.[9] The epic Mahabharata; Tamil literature from the Sangam Era, and various literary works dating from the late centuries BCE to the early centuries of the Common Era—including Ashokan edicts—describe puppets.[10] Works like the Natya Shastra and the Kamasutra elaborate on puppetry in some detail.[11] The Javanese Wayang theater was influenced by Indian traditions.[12] Europeans developed puppetry as a result of extensive contact with the Eastern World.[13] Some scholars trace the origin of puppets to India 4000 years ago, where the main character in Sanskrit plays was known as sutradhara 'the holder of strings'.[14]
China has had a flourishing history of puppetry for 2000 years, originally in pi-ying xi, the "theatre of the lantern shadows", or, as it is more commonly known today, Chinese shadow theatre. By the Song Dynasty (960-1279 AD), puppets played to all social classes including the courts, yet puppeteers (as in Europe) were considered from a lower social strata.[6] In Taiwan, budaixi puppet shows, somewhat similar to the Japanese Bunraku, occur with puppeteers manipulating in the background or underground. Some very experienced puppeteers can manipulate their puppets to perform various stunts (e.g. somersaults in the air).
Japan has many forms of puppetry. Perhaps the most famous is the bunraku. This developed out of Shinto temple rites, gradually becoming a highly sophisticated form of puppetry. Bunraku owes much to the two great puppeteers, Gidayu Takemoto and Monzaemon Chikamatsu.[15] By 1730 it required three puppeteers to operate each puppet in full view of the audience.[6] Originally, the puppeteers (dressed all in black) would become invisible when standing against a black background, while the torches illuminated only the carved wooden, beautifully painted and costumed puppets.
A puppeteer is a person who manipulates an inanimate object — a puppet— in real time to create the illusion of life. The puppeteer may be visible to or hidden from the audience. A puppeteer can operate a puppet indirectly by the use of strings, rods, wires, electronics or directly by his or her own hands placed inside the puppet or holding it externally. Some puppet styles require puppeteers to work together as a team to create a single puppet character.
There are a wide range of styles of puppetry but whatever the style, the puppeteer's role is to manipulate the physical object in such a manner that the audience believes the object is imbued with life. In some instances the persona of the puppeteer is also an important feature.
The relationship between the puppeteer and the puppet-maker is often assumed to be similar to that between an actor and a playwright. This may be so, but one of the characteristics of puppetry is that very often the puppeteer assumes the joint roles of puppet-maker, director, designer, writer and performer. In this case a puppeteer is a more complete theatre practitioner than is the case within other theatre forms.
"Puppetry is a highly effective and dynamically creative means of exploring the richness of interpersonal communication. By its very nature, puppetry concentrates on the puppet rather than the puppeteer. This provides a safety zone for the puppeteer and allows for exploration of unlimited themes through a safe and non-threatening environment for communication." [1]Puppetry is a live medium and this distinguishes it from animation in which animators make a puppet appear to move by using a stop motion film technique in which the puppet is moved tiny fractions between each frame.
Múa rối nước is Vietnamese water puppetry. Múa rối nước literally means "puppets that dance on water." The tradition dates back as far as the tenth century when it originated in the Red River Delta area of northern Vietnam.
The puppets are built out of wood and the shows are performed in a waist-deep pool. A large rod supports the puppet under the water and is used by the puppeteers to control them. The appearance is of the puppets moving over the water. When the rice fields would flood the villagers, would entertain each other using this puppet form.
Eventually, villages would compete against each other with their puppet shows. This led puppet societies to be secretive and exclusive, including an initiation ceremony that involved drinking rooster blood.
Only recently were women allowed to join the puppet troupes
Puppetry by its nature is a flexible and inventive medium, and many puppet companies work with combinations of puppet forms, and incorporate real objects into their performances. So an bought cork screw can become a dancer puppet; or they incorporate 'performing objects' such as torn paper for snow, or a sign board with words as narrative devices within a production. The following are, alphabetically, the basic and conventional forms of puppet:
Black light puppet - A form of puppetry where the puppets are operated on a stage lit only with ultraviolet lighting, which both hides the puppeteer and accentuates the colours of the puppet. The puppeteers perform dressed in black against a black background, with the background and costume normally made of black velvet. The puppeteers manipulate the puppets into the light, while they position themselves unseen against the black unlit background. Puppets of all sizes and types are able to be used, and glow in a powerful and magical way. The original concept of this form of puppetry can be traced to Bunraku puppetry.
Bunraku puppet – Bunraku puppets are a type of wood-carved puppet originally made to stand out through torch illumination. Developed in Japan over a thousand years ago, the puppeteers dress to remain neutral against a black background, although their presence as kind of 'shadow' figures adds a mysterious power to the puppet. Bunraku traditionally uses three puppeteers to operate a puppet that is close to half life-size. [2]
Carnival or Body puppet - usually designed to be part of a large spectacle.[3] These are often used in parades (such as the Minneapolis, USA May Day Parade) and demonstrations, and are at least the size of a human and often much larger. One or more performers are required to move the body and limbs. In parades the appearance and personality of the person inside is not relevant to the spectator. These puppets are particularly associated with large scale entertainment, such as the nightly parades at various Disney complexes around the world. Similar puppets were designed by Julie Taymor for The Lion King, derived in part from the parade tradition.
Big Bird from Sesame Street is a classic example of a Body puppet. The puppeteer is enclosed within the costume, and will extend their right hand over the head to operate the head and neck of the puppet. The puppeteer's left hand serves as the Bird's left hand, while the right hand is stuffed and hangs loosely from a fishing line (which can occasionally be seen in closeup shots) that runs through a loop under the neck and attaches to the wrist of the left hand. The right hand thus does the opposite of the left hand: as the left hand goes down, the right hand is pulled up by the fishing line
Chinface puppet - A type of puppet in which the puppet features are drawn on, and otherwise attached to, the face.
Finger puppet - An extremely simple puppet variant which fits onto a single finger. Finger puppets normally have no moving parts, and consist primarily of a hollow cylinder shape to cover the finger. This form of puppet has limited application, and is used mainly in pre-schools or kindergartens for storytelling with young children.[4]
Finger puppets
Hand or glove puppet - These are puppets controlled by one hand which occupies the interior of the puppet. Punch and Judy puppets are familiar examples of hand puppets. Larger varieties of hand puppets place the puppeteer's hand in just the puppet's head, controlling the mouth and head, and the puppet's body then hangs over the entire arm. Other parts of the puppet (mainly arms, but special variants exist with manipulatable eyelids; the mouth may also open and close) are usually not much larger than the hand itself. A sock puppet is a particularly simple type of hand puppet made from a sock.[5]
British traditional hand or glove puppets, Punch and Judy
Simple sock puppets
Hand or glove puppet dog
Human-arm puppet - Also called a two-man puppet; it is similar to a hand puppet but is larger and requires two puppeteers. One puppeteer places a hand inside the puppet's head and operates its head and mouth, while the other puppeteer wears gloves and special sleeves attached to the puppet in order to become the puppet's arms, so that the puppet can perform arbitrary hand gestures. This is a form of glove or hand puppetry and rod puppetry.
"Briegel der Busch" puppet and puppeteer Jan Mixsa, taken at "1. Fantreffen von Bernd das Brot"
"Chili das Schaf" puppet and creators Tommy Krappweis and Erik Haffner, taken at "1. Fantreffen von Bernd das Brot"
Light Curtain puppet presentations use specifically focused light to highlight small areas of a performance. The puppets stand on a stage divided into a unlit background and a well lit foreground, meeting to form a "curtain" of light. The puppeteer dresses in black and remains hidded in the unlit background of the stage while the puppet is held across the light curtain in the lit foreground of the stage. "Light curtain puppet" is an umbrella term, and any puppet which is extended into a well-lit area where its handler remains separated from the puppet by a division of light may be called a light curtain puppet.[6]
Marionette or string puppet - These puppets are suspended and controlled by a number of strings, plus sometimes a central rod attached to a control bar held from above by the puppeteer. The control bar can be either a horizontal or vertical one. Basic strings for operation are usually attached to the head, back, hands (to control the arms) and just above the knee (to control the legs).[7] This form of puppetry is complex and sophisticated to operate, requiring greater manipulative control than a finger, glove or rod puppet. The puppet play performed by the Von Trapp children with Maria in The Sound of Music is a marionette show.[8]
A puppeteer manipulating a Marionette
Marionettes from the Swedish Cottage Marionette Theatre, New York, USA production of "Cinderella Samba"
A puppeteer manipulating a Marionette in Prague, Czech Republic
Marotte - A simplified rod puppet that is just a head and/or body on a stick. In a marotte à main prenante, the puppeteer's other arm emerges from the body (which is just a cloth drape) to act as the puppet's arm. Some marottes have a small string running through the stick attached to a handle at the bottom. When the handle is squeezed, the mouth opens.
Muppet - A term referring to some of the puppets constructed by the Jim Henson Company. Often erroneously used to refer to puppets that resemble those of The Muppet Show or built by the Henson Company. The main puppet forms used were glove or hand puppets and rod puppets.
Push puppet - A push puppet consists of a segmented character on a base which is kept under tension until the button on the bottom is pressed. The puppet wiggles, slumps and then collapses, and is usually used as a novelty toy.
Push-in or Paper puppet - A puppet cut out of paper and stuck onto card. It is fixed at its base to a stick and operated by pushing it in from the side of the puppet theatre. Sheets were produced for puppets and scenery from the 19th century for children's use.
Push-in puppet hands
Rod puppet - A puppet constructed around a central rod secured to the head. A large glove covers the rod and is attached to the neck of the puppet. A rod puppet is controlled by the puppeteer moving the metal rods attached to the hands of the puppet and by turning the central rod secured to the head.[9]
Preparing a rod puppet for a performance of The Brementown Musicians, Sibiu, Romania, 2002.
Rod puppets
Señor Wences - A Señor Wences is a type of hand puppet created from a human hand, where the puppet features are drawn on and attached to the hand itself, and the thumb and forefinger are used as a mouth.
Shadow puppet - A cut-out figure held between a source of light and a translucent screen. Untypical, as it is two-dimensional in form, shadow puppets can form solid silhouettes, or be decorated with various amounts of cut-out details..[10] Colour can be introduced into the cut-out shapes to provide a different dimension.[11] and different effects can be achieved by moving the puppet (or light source) out of focus. Javanese shadow puppets (Wayang Kulit) are the classic example of this.[12]
Shadow Puppets, Jakarta, Indonesia
Supermarionation - A method invented by Gerry Anderson which assisted in his television series Thunderbirds in electronically moving the mouths of marionettes to allow for lip-synchronised speech. The marionettes were still controlled by human manipulators with strings.
Ticklebug - A ticklebug is a type of hand puppet created from a human hand to have four legs, where the puppet features are drawn on the hand itself. The middle finger is lifted as a head, and the thumb and forefinger serve as a first set of two legs on one side, while the ring finger and little finger serve as a second set of two legs on the opposite side.[13]
Ventriloquist dummy - A puppet operated by a ventriloquist performer to focus the audience's attention from the performer's activities and heighten the illusions. They are called dummies because they do not speak on their own. The ventriloquist dummy is controlled by the one hand of the ventriloquist.
Satyajit Padhye is a 3rd-generation ventriloquist and puppeteer, and son of Ramdas Padhye.
Water Puppet - a Vietnamese puppet form, the Múa rối nước. Múa rối nước literally means "puppets that dance on water", an ancient tradition that dates back to the tenth century. The puppets are built out of wood and the shows are performed in a waist-deep pool. A large rod supports the puppet under the water and is used by the puppeteers to control them. The appearance is of the puppets moving over the water. When the rice fields would flood the villagers, would entertain each other using this puppet form.
See also
Animation or digital puppet. Animation is a related but essentially different process from puppetry. Animating puppets in time-based media such as film or video is a simulation of movement created by displaying a series of pictures, or frames, whereas puppetry is the live manipulation of figures. Puppet animation, or "puppetoon", can refer either to Stop motion filming, where the movements of the puppets are created frame-by-frame; or "Supermarionation (see above).
Main article: Puppetoon
Karakuri ningyō - Mechanized puppets or automata from Japan.
Lübeck Museum of Theatre Puppets
Pelham puppets - A type of factory-made puppet created by Bob Pelham known for making mainly string puppets (Marionettes) In the UK from 1947 - 1996.
Persian theatre
Puppetry - for the cultural and theatrical history of puppet theatre
Punch and Judy
Rajasthani Puppet - String marionettes originating from the state of Rajasthan in India.
Thai hand puppets - A variety of hand puppets from Thailand
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