Adult and Children's theatre

http://www.puppet.org/perform/xpt11.shtml

Xtreme Puppet Truth (XPT) stuck me at first by a quote of theirs I ran across-

“XPT makes Avenue Q look like Bambi.” ~ The Atlanta Journal-Constitution


this puppet show is an annual event that brings together puppeteers of varying ages, styles, and genres

they get together and create multiple short puppetry scenes

trying to branch to the far reaches of puppetry

I found this process description/interview to be really interesting

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHoHPn51Vis&feature=player_embedded#at=569


I couldn't really find any video's of shows that were going to be performing this year but I did find a particularly eerie stop motion production from 2006

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x20aui_death-of-a-matriarch_creation

which helps to show that many of these performances are not really intended for children

Puppet Education

this is about an organization called Peace Through Puppetry

I find that this is using education in not the most traditional of senses.

This program uses small hand and finger puppets to create bonds and a sense of safety between American troops and the children of Iraq and Afghanistan. These puppets are not teaching a child how to cross the street or their ABC's but they are teaching them that the soldiers are there to help them and that they are all one and the same as human beings. I find this to be an important message and an interesting way of gaining the trust of the locals during the time at war. (This organization started in 2007, and to my knowledge is still running)

interesting things

in my hunting around the internet looking for puppet violence I ran across two other sites that I thought were rather interesting


http://asiapacific.unfpa.org/public/pid/6881

this one which talked about using shadow puppets as a means to combat domestic violence, drug use and avoiding sexually transmitted diseases

-----------------------------------------------------------------


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fD8i4SLVcCw&feature=related

I also ran across this eerie marionette that I thought was rather cool

-enjoy

The Puppet Monster Massacre

In my search for some intense puppet violence and gore I stumbled across this lovely gem. The Puppet Monster Massacre. This is a Muppet based puppet style that seems to be a retelling of sorts of Ten Little Indians/House on Haunted Hill.

Basic premise is group of people receive letters saying that if you can survive a night in my mansion you will receive a large sum of money, a rather common horror plot devise if you ask me. But apparently this rich weirdo that's sending out letters has an ulterior motive in inviting all these people to his home.

One: he is seeking revenge for a wrong that was done against him. Two: the people invited to the house are the last surviving ancestors of those who have wronged him. Three: rich weirdo plans to murder every last one of them. (as the movie poster so lovingly put it- “The felt is going to fly!”)

The film is set in 1985 and as reviews have stated is a black comedy fun of puppet violence, gore and nudity.

On the main website are two videos: the first being the Official Trailer and the second being a sneak preview of the first few minutes of the movie.

This first scene shows the scientific mad man: Dr. Wolfgang Wagner aka rich weirdo. Abducting a hunter from the woods, with the help of his trusty sidekick: a penguin named Squiggums. They have placed a parasite inside of this seemingly Scottish hunter's stomach. In order to incubate and grow. We then see this worm-esk teethy creature tear it's way out of the mans mouth spattering blood everywhere. The clip ends shortly after.

This low budget film seems to take the well know puppet style of Sesame Street and place them into outlandish and mature situations. Very much like Avenue-Q. The use of puppets associated with childrens programing for such rated R material is what is intriguing to the audience. It gives a sense of familiarity while combining it with a sense of shock at these puppets behavior.

It is an interesting style and form of bringing in an audience, and sometime can be seen as very forceful and in your face. I am unsure of how this particular show goes about this, as I have only seen small clips, but I get the feeling that it is anything but subtle.

Looks like an interesting film though and I hope to be able to see the rest at some point in time.


http://www.puppetmonstermassacre.com/

http://anythinghorror.com/2011/04/07/indie-horror-scene-the-puppet-monster-massacre-2010/

Puppet Tech

http://www.smm.org/makingafterhours/

really cool looking stuff going on at the science museum

Shadow Puppet Animation on May 4th looks particularly interesting

Shadow Puppet Animation—Learn about making cut-out silhouettes, similar to shadow puppets, then using a stop motion animation program called SAM to animate the puppets. This process is similar to how Lotte Reiniger created her animated fairy tales.

would any one be interested in getting a group together to go?