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This
page is devoted to recent news of interest- a great festival
you attended, a noteworthy puppet exhibit or any event you feel
warrants mention. I encourage you to send me a write-up and
photos to add to 'recent news'.– Web
Master
 "WITH
& WITHOUT STRINGS"
Puppetry Exhibit
Flushing Town Hall, Flushing, NY
Curated by Stephen Kaplin
April 20-June 18, 2006
Text by Elise Handelman, Puppets
To Go
Photos by Stephen Kaplin, Chinese
Theatre Works
The "With & Without Strings" Puppetry Exhibit
is the first major collaboration between Flushing Town Hall
and the Smithsonian Institution. On Sunday, May 21st, ’06,
guest curator, Stephen Kaplin, gave a in-depth talk, while pointing
out the historical significance of each work throughout the
gallery. With over 25 years experience as a puppeteer and puppet
builder, Stephen curated this comprehensive exhibit, from 30
different countries on 5 continents, including Native American,
African, Asian and European puppets.
Marionettes, shadow, rod, hand, body, mask, mechanical, toy
theater and puppets used in parades are featured. 300 years
of puppetry in New York is emphasized in this exhibit. Providing
this historical perspective are restored puppets, photos, old
posters, and playbills from such luminaries as Tony
Sarg and
Bil Baird, Tony Urbano and Julie Taymor, to name a few. The
Smithsonian has loaned puppets that have appeared on television
in the 1950’s, including "Sesame Street’s"
original Oscar the Grouch, Jerry Mahoney, Mr. Moose and Bunny
Rabbit from Captain Kangaroo, and Jay Marshall’s "Lefty"
(who appeared on The Ed Sullivan show many times).
There’s a scaled-down version of Audrey from the original
"Little Shop of Horrors" designed by Marty Robinson,
as well as several mechanical puppets he designed. Contemporary
works by Basil Twist, Hannah Tierney, Janie Geiser, Theodora
Skiptares, Great Small Works, Ralph Lee, Bread & Puppet
Theatre and Ronnie Asbell are also featured.
During the last few weeks of the exhibit, there were several
puppet making workshops and performances. I was familiar with
a lot of the puppets in this exhibit from either seeing them
at other exhibits or in performance. However, I learned a lot
from this exhibit. I learned about puppeteers I never heard
of, I saw puppets I’ve heard about but have never seen,
and it was fascinating to read about the history of puppetry
in NYC.
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