National Day of Puppetry 2004
by Geordie Humphrey, Vice-President Programs
This year for the National Day of Puppetry, the Columbia Association of Puppeteers and The KNOW Gallery & Theater hosted Puppets on Alberta, a month long puppet display that led up to a day of shows and workshops on April 24th, the Day of Puppetry.
Puppets on Alberta opened in March, during the last Thursday art walk on Alberta Street, here in Portland, Oregon. Puppets from several local theaters, including The Olde World Puppet Theatre, Tears of Joy, Esther Heydt's Puppet Patch, and several more, were on display. A big thanks to Steve and Marty and our other volunteers for setting up and taking down the display.
Puppets on Alberta ended on The National Day of Puppetry with a series of workshops and performances. The workshops started with CAP President Steve Overton's Baby Dragon rod puppet workshop, where kids colored their own dragons and then cut them out and attached rods to them to make them move.
Later in the day Kris Bluett-Woolen taught a class in making puppets from recycled materials. Plastic jugs were adorned with bottle caps, scraps of fabric and whatever else people felt like adding to make their own creations. Finally Steve brought out a variety of hand, rod and marionette puppets to let people experiment with different means of manipulating puppets.
In between the workshops, local puppeteers put on shows. Doris Hicks started with her shows The Three Little Pigs and The Lion and the Mouse. Later, Tendrak(R) Theatre premiered Kate and the Devil, a marionette show. It was also the premiere of Tendrak Theatre's new marionette stage.
Following Kris's workshop on making recycled puppets, Bruce Orr of Mud Eye Puppets performed his show The Umbrella That Wouldn't Be Trashed. Bruce's puppets are all made from recycled materials and he uses them to teach kids about recycling. For the final event of the day Ester Heydt brought out some of her collection of puppets and demonstrated how different types of puppets are performed.
Thanks to all the puppeteers who lent out their creations for the display, and a big round of applause for all our performers and volunteers who helped make the day run so well.
Geordie
Sometimes when you set up an exhibit, especially one like this which was only open for a matter of days - - you get lucky. A really good photographer shows up and takes a whole bunch of really nice pictures of your labors. Such was the case at Puppets on Alberta. Andrea Mitchell, daughter of Puppeteer Ester Heydt, came equipped with her digital camera, and along with Marty Richmond, your intrepid WebMaster, took the pictures below and on the next page.
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