Puppets are in the spotlight this weekend and over the next couple of weeks, most prominently at the third annual Puppetopia Festival:
Puppetopia 2024
HERE Arts Center, February 27 to March 10
The third annual Puppetopia festival features four works over two weeks
The Adventures of Curious Ganz, Feb 27-March 2
A fictitious story based on the true life of 16th-century copper smelter Joachim Ganz.
Pescador, Feb 28 – March 3
The world of independent fishermen, presented by the Silencio Blanco theater company
Marooned! A Space Comedy, March 5 – 10
An astronaut crashes on an uncharted planet.
Lectures, March 6 – 10
A girl who is navigating a challenging home life, a carousel horse-maker stuck in time, and a physics lecturer (based loosely on the physicist Richard Feynman) who serves as a bridge between their two worlds.
This Weekend
Hotel Happy, 122 CC, through March 3
This play about sexual tourism in Colombia features sex workers at a hotel who hide a donkey from American mercenaries. The donkey is a life-size puppet.
The Colors of Frida/Los Colores de Frida, Teatro SEA at Repertoria Español, February 24
A bilingual, one-woman show about the great Mexican painter Frida Kahlo, which combines storytelling, music, visual arts, puppets and audience participation.
The Baffo Box Show, February 24, Jalopy Theater
Classic hand puppetry, Dadaist ventriloquism, and stand-up comedy from a cardboard box live on stage
Great Small Works Spaghetti Dinner Cabaret, February 25, Jalopy Theater
Not really a spaghetti dinner, just a series of small-scale shows, including one using s cranky (a hand-cranked moving scroll, with flat paper puppets) to tell the story of Robert Walser, whose collection of microscopic texts, written on the backs of visiting cards, envelopes, and matchbooks, was found in a shoebox after his death in 1956.
Horror movie
“stopmotion”, opening in cinemas nationwide today, is a movie about a stop-motion animator who is struggling to control her demons after the loss of her overbearing mother. Suddenly alone in the world, she embarks upon the creation of a macabre new puppet film, which soon becomes the battleground for her sanity.
Broadway
Water for Elephants, a Broadway musical set in a traveling circus, begins performances tomorrow at the Imperial Theater (opening March 21.) It features puppetry designed by Ray Wetmore (Wii sudd the sane fir Spamalot) JR Goodman (Gutenberg!),and Camille Labarre (Into the Woods) \
Beyond
Acupunk, Feb 29 – March 2, Lincoln Center
A FREE poetic parade performance featuring the Quebec company Théâtre de la Dame de Coeur’s giant puppets, Eria and Terrenis
The Storyville Mosquito, Lincoln Center, March 14 and 15
A young mosquito leaves his small town in the country to seek fame and fortune in the big city and fulfill his dream of playing in one of the greatest bands of all time. A team of 14 performers bring this story to life simultaneously on stage and screen, incorporating miniature sets, live music, live puppetry.
Cardboard Explosion, Flushing Town Hall, March 16
Puppeteer Brad Shur tells four original stories using nothing but cardboard
