This day long activity is a community service by the  guild  and will include hands on workshops for all levels of interest and ability. This includes kids make-and-take projects and puppet shows will alsobe available throughout the day. Meet Puppetry Arts Guild of Utah members from all over the state.  Get inspired.  Learn more about this fun and wonderful multidisciplinary art form.   Then finish the day off with  the SCERA’S premier of “Pinocchio”.

Download the Festival Poster (PDF Document)

SOME OF THE WORKSHOPS AT THIS YEAR’S FESTIVAL

Shadow Puppets and More

The art of the shadow is more fascinating than you can imagine.  Here are a bunch of ways for making and using shadows.  Included are Susan’s latest ideas for making articulated shadow puppets in the classroom setting using spoons and straws as well as wires—with no drawing skills needed. $1 Donation for materials fee suggested.

Susan Niedert has been teaching puppetry workshops and emphasizing the storytelling potential of puppets for over 20 years. She has enjoyed working with all types of puppets and is also the director of the World of Puppetry Museum at the Fine Arts Center in Brigham City.  Come join the fun and take your own special shadow puppet home.

Video Puppetry (age 10+)

Want to improve your YouTube videos or vlog?  Curious how puppets can improve your educational videos? Do you just like to play with dolls and cameras? Learn video-specific puppetry techniques with an emphasis on Focus, Breath, Lip-synch, and character interaction.

Puppets provided, but participants are encouraged to bring their own.  Puppets from Sock Puppet workshop can be used.

$3 material fee. Class size: 25 max.

Tyler Morgan is President of the Puppetry Arts Guild of Utah, and has been a professional puppeteer for more than 11 yrs. He holds a Masters Degree in Puppetry and has taught workshops around the country.

Mask Puppetry (age 10+)

Is a mask a disguise or a whole other character?  Is it even a puppet?  Come and find out as we explore the mask and how it can be used on stage. Learn Mask Puppetry techniques with an emphasis on movement and character interactions.

Masks provided, but participants are encouraged to bring their own.

$5 material Fee. Class Size: 25 max.

Tyler Morgan is President of the Puppetry Arts Guild of Utah, and has been a professional puppeteer for more than 11 yrs. He holds a Masters Degree in Puppetry and has taught workshops around the country.

Wanna-Be Puppets (all ages)

Do you want a nice puppet but don’t have the time nor creative mind to make one?

Or maybe you are creative but want another source for puppet making.
How many stuffed animals do you have laying around the house doing nothing?

Turn them into puppets!

Learn how to turn stuffed animals into hand puppet, rod puppets, or marionettes. Bring your favorite stuffed animals or there will be some for sale at the class for $2. Material fee will be $1. I will supply the material & tools, you supply the fun! (OK–I will supply fun also!)

Lorie Hawley has been involved with the Utah Puppet Guild for nearly 20 yrs. She has done puppet shows for the local libraries and loves teaching puppet making classes. She loves the magic that puppetry brings to all.

Foam Ball Bird Marionette (all ages)

Come and make a simple bird marionette out of styrofoam balls & a nylon stocking. This cute little bird has great movement & is lots of fun to make. Material fee, or just buy a kit for $5.

Lorie Hawley has been involved with the Utah Puppet Guild for nearly 20 yrs. She has done puppet shows for the local libraries and loves teaching puppet making classes. She loves the magic that puppetry brings to all.

Sock Puppets–with pizzazz   (age 8+ hot glue guns will be used)

Only your imagination will limit your possibilities.  You will construct a sock puppet with a wide mouth and a funky, fun foam body.  You will come out of the class with a character ready for his/her/its own show.  Bring your best imagined possibilities and create a true work of art.  Use your new friend in a variety of your own shows.  Have him ready to star in the video workshop offered the last hour, or expand your possibilities and use him to… help give book reports, demonstrations, cub scouts, practice your ventriloquism, deliver your invitation to the next dance (or accept/decline such an invitation), entertain younger brothers or sisters, or even give it away (if you can stand to part with it) as that special gift for someone who seems to have everything.

$1 material fee
Class size limited to 16

Additional Workshops will include:

Puppet Play Workshop (with performance for the Follies)
Puppets for Kids
Controls and Mechanisms Demonstration (Advanced)
Laytex Mold Demonstration (Advanced)

Watch for more info to be posted by March 30th.

Workshops, Performances & Kids Corner

Come enjoy a day of fun and puppetry with the Puppetry Arts Guild of Utah (PAGU) as they present the 20th Annual Utah Puppetry Festival. Click here to download and print the registration form.  Registration and payment for workshops and tickets for the performances are now available by calling (801) 225-ARTS, in person from 10am-6pm weekdays at the main office of the SCERA Center for the Arts.

WORKSHOPS

9:00am-2:30pm
Advance Registration: $15 (includes all workshops)
At the Door: $20 (includes all workshops)
Some workshops may have an additional materials fee. 

There are classes for adults and kids that  include the following workshops and more.

Click hereto download and print the registration form.  This form is where you will choose what specific workshops you want to attend.  If you order by phone, please be prepared to choose your workshops.  If you order online, you will still need to bring the completed form to the main office at the SCERA Center or you can fax it to (801) 225-2507. 

• Wannabe Puppets

• Toe Sock Marionettes
• Puppet Stages
• Wide Mouth Puppets
• TV Puppetry
• Puppet Manipulation
• Rod Puppets
• Puppets for Storytelling 

This year we are offering classes for our littlest puppeteers. While parents are off in their workshops, children ages 4-8 will be able to learn to make simple puppets and puppet related crafts in their own class.  Parent(s) must be registered and on premises.  Click here to download and print registration form. This form is where you will choose what specific workshops you want to attend.  If you order by phone, please be prepared to choose your workshops.  If you order online, you will still need to bring the completed form to the main office at the SCERA Center or you can fax it to (801) 225-2507.

Session #1: 10:15-11:15am
Session #2: 11:30-12:30pm
Session #3: 1:30-2:30pm
$5.00 per session or $12 for all three sessions.

PERFORMANCES
3:00-5:00pm
$5 Adult, $3 Child (age 3-11)
SCERA Showhouse II 

Don’t miss The Great Puppet Follies, a puppet variety show featuring performances by puppeteers from all over the state of Utah.

We are also pleased to announce that our headline performer will be

The Fratello Marionettes. The Fratello Marionettes produce high quality marionette shows using the “cabaret style” of manipulation. In this truly American style the puppet and puppeteer perform in full view of the audience. Their shows present intricately handcrafted marionettes that range in size from one foot to three feet tall. Shows are geared for children of all ages, and some of our work is performed without dialog. These music-based programs are designed to surmount the language barrier. Founder Kevin Menegus developed his unique style of puppetry while performing throughout the world. Kevin has studied with puppeteers Tony Urbano, Bob Baker, Randall Metz and Lewis Mahlmann. 

The Fratello Marionettes will also perform on Friday, April 29th @ 3pm.  Tickets for this performance are $3.00/person.  This would be a great performance for home school famlies to enjoy!

The Great Puppet Follies – Puppet Variety show had record attendance Saturday evening at the wonderful theater in the SCERA. We’d like to thank Nat Reed and his SCERA team for their management of the lights, sound, and stage. And, of course, we are so thankful for all of the performers, especially Kerry Summers, and our headliner Freddie Spencer, for their wonderful performances and hard work.

The Daily Herald has a short video review of the Festival: SCERA hosts puppetry festival

Check here at UtahPuppetry.com regularly for other puppetry events and guild activities throughout the year, and we’ll see you all next year at the SCERA Center for the Arts for PuppetFest 2011!

Here are a few photos:

Find out the details here.

Bunraku is an amazing form of traditional Japanese Puppetry, more properly called ningyō jōruri.

Martin Holman, is the coordinator of the Japanese studies program at University of Missouri and the director of the troupe.  He studied Japanese at BYU, and is the first non-Japanese to ever be trained in and perform ningyō jōruri in Japan.

Holman contacted us through our Utah Puppetry website. “We are, to my knowledge, the only troupe outside Japan that performs traditional Japanese puppetry,” he said.  He wanted to clarify that he was slightly misquoted in the BYU press release.

The release stated:

“Though this performance will be family friendly, Bunraku is intended for adults. Some thematic elements could frighten young children, Holman said.”

Holman clarified to us:

“I am not quite quoted accurately at one point. Kids from kindergarten up will probably be okay with the show, but it could be boring for younger kids (because they will be seated in a large theater, which doesn’t always work for little kids) or just a bit scary for early elementary age if they skittish. (We have been known to take some puppets out into the audience.)”

The performance will also be entirely in Japanese, with English supertitles, which could also be a factor for parents to consider for their individual children.  But families, including children, are encouraged to come.

Holman also indicated that if ticket sales warrant it, BYU may add a matinee on Saturday.  Tickets are $11, or $6 with a BYU or student ID, and are available online at www.byuarts.com, by phone at (801) 422-4322 or in person at the Harris Fine Arts Center Ticket Office.

Don’t miss this chance to expereince this beautiful cultural experience with your family.

The board met on September 20, 2008 to discuss guild business and we laid out plans for the coming year. As many of you already know, the Utah Wyoming Puppetry Guild is now known as the Puppetry Arts Guild of Utah, or PAGU (pronounced “pa-joo”.)Non-profit incorporation plans are on track and are being handled by Nat Reed.
Change in dues

We have reduced the cost of membership in the Puppetry Arts Guild of Utah. Emailing our newsletters has practically eliminated the need for postage, so we felt a reduction in dues was warranted. We will still mail to those without a computer if we know who they are. If you want to become a member, please send a check for $10 for your 2009 annual membership to:

Carla Schulz

P.O.BOX 115

Paradise, UT 84328

Please join before the end of this year or your name will be purged from our files. Our fiscal year begins on January 1 and runs for the calendar year.

Next meeting: October 11, 2008

We are working on a more sophisticated plan for advertising and promotion of our guild and our events and workshops, so we will be video-taping footage on Saturday October 11th between 10:30 am and 12:30 pm at the Orem Public Library. Come prepared to perform a tiny segment of your best show. A montage of guild puppeteers will be put together from these bits. We would like to keep things simple and use the stage that is available at the library. If your show has special staging requirements, be prepared to set up your own stage, but keep in mind that we will only tape about a minute of your work.

We video-taped many of you at our last workshop and that video will be available soon on our website and for use on community access television.

Puppets on display: April 3rd, 2009

This year, our annual workshop will be preceded by a month-long puppetry exhibit, beginning April 3rd at Jeff Cobabe’s gallery in Salt Lake City.

Bring your best puppets for display! All members who are current on their dues are eligible to display their puppetry art. We are evaluating the number and type of pedestals that will be available. Puppets that the public can interact with would be a welcome part of the exhibit, but is not mandatory because it is hard to monitor. It is up to you to encase your puppets in plexiglass display boxes if you do not want them to be touched. Photos or sketches should be mounted, or better yet, framed and wired for display.

Friday night, April 3rd will be the opening night of the show, and we will hold our annual business meeting to elect new officers then.

18th Annual Utah Puppetry Festival: April 25th. 2009

Our workshop will be held on April 25th and will also be held at Jeff Cobabe’s gallery space. Nat Reed will be our festival director. We are setting up the classes now, so if there’s something you want to teach, contact Nat Reed with the information: (801) 259-6040 or nat@utahmarionette.org

It takes a lot of work to put on our annual festival, so you are encouraged to help in any way you can.

So far, the following classes will be offered:

* Millicent Lewis – Urethane Foam Puppet Demo

* Susan Neidert – Talking Tube Puppets – $5

* Joe Flores – Gorilla Marionette – $1

* Nat Reed – Marionette Performance and Discussion

The guild is considering booking a big name puppet show and suggestions are welcome.

Pioneer Craft House

The Pioneer Craft House offers classes to the community, and guild members in good standing are free to offer to teach paid classes. PAGU reserves the right to monitor the content and quality of these classes. We will elect a guild liaison who will coordinate our use of these facilities.

The Craft House is available to us for guild performances as well as our regular monthly meetings. Monthly meetings will be held during the fair-weather months. Winter meetings should be held locally by each county/geographical area, to minimize having to drive in uncertain weather.

Puppets in the Park

PAGU is in the process of developing a “Puppets in the Park” event in cooperation with the Covey Arts Center in Provo. This one day event will be in June or July and will be patterned after the Storytelling Festival. We anticipate having sponsored tents, and a food court. All input should be directed to Joe Flores.

Guild Officers

o Joe Flores – President

o Jeff Cobabe – Salt Lake County VP

o Susan Neidert – Northern Utah VP

o Lorie Hawley – St. George VP

o Mark Sage – Weber County VP

o OPEN – Utah County VP

o Millicent Lewis – Secretary/Newsletter

o Carla Schulz – Treasurer

o Jonathan Max – Webmaster

We encourage all of our members to join Puppeteers of America. We are working on getting our Puppeteers of America charter so all guild officers must be P of A members in good standing.

Members in the News

Millicent Lewis was a delegate to the National Democratic Convention held in Denver in August and received national attention because of her Uncle Sam puppet. So much for crazy hats at conventions, puppets rule!

Millicent Lewis with Uncle Sam and Kurt Bestor at Enesco Field 2008

Upcoming Shows

TBA

Puppet announcements should be sent to Millicent Lewis

My name is Davis Kirby and I am helping Jeff Cornett and Lee Bryan, the Co-Directors of the 2009 National Puppetry Festival, with some publicity.  I wanted to see if we could get some information in your next regional newsletter  and put a link on your regional website.  Right now, we just want to do a brief introduction of the Festival, and later I will be sending you a little article once a month about the progress of the festival and the accompanying events.

I don’t know if you have a website, but I also wanted to send you a jpg you can post on your regional website and hyperlink to our own website.  The address of our website is www.nationalpuppetryfestival.org and the official launch date is September 1, 2008.   Please feel free to use the moving JPG or the static JPG to link (attached).

Here is our brief news splash:

For Immediate Release:

The 2009 National Puppetry Festival will be held July 14 – 19 on the campus of Georgia Tech University in Atlanta.  The festival organizers are in the process of finalizing performers and workshop presenters.  Anyone wishing to submit a performance or workshop for consideration should do so immediately.

Performance inquiries should be sent to Reay Schloss at reaypuppet at yahoo dot com.

Workshop inquiries should be sent to Michael and Valerie Nelson at mail at magicalmoonshine dot org.

The festival website, www.nationalpuppetryfestival.org, will include full information about registration, performances, and workshops beginning September 1.

Should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Thank you.

Davis Kirby
Publicity Director

Making Origami Dragon Puppets with Donna Price

Building Horse Marionettes with Millicent Lewis

There were a number of puppets in attendance

Jeff Cobabe demonstrates a puppet he has been working on

Hopefully we can get some additional photos from other attendees and post them too.

http://utahpuppetry.com/17th-annual-puppetry-workshops-variety-show/

The workshops in past years have been a blast. Watch for pictures and video from the event here on the Utah Puppetry blog after the 26th. Hope to see you there!

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Welcome to the wonderful world of puppetry in Utah!