LIVE ANIMATION WITH STUFFIES

Animators develop a vocabulary of movement to bring their characters to life, and puppeteers are no different. That’s why we sometimes call puppetry “live animation.”

DATE: Sunday, March 18, 2018   TIME: 10:00 am to 4:00 pm.  COST (INCLUDES HST)  $125 Regular, or $100 Equity or UNIMA Member/Artist discount.  LOCATION: Puppetmongers Studio. Unit W-23, 388 Carlaw Avenue, Toronto.

ENROLE HERE or contact Puppetmongers: Tel: 416-469-3555,  Email: school@puppetmongers.com

Puppeteers can lay their hands on almost anything — or inside of almost anything — and give that thing the illusion of life, of breath, of feelings, and of course the illusion of thought.  Learn some of the basics of live animation using the friendliest and most easily found puppets of all time – the good old fashioned stuffed animal.

Bring your own teddy bears — or teddy rabbits, teddy dragons, teddy whateveryouwants — and puppeteer Mike Petersen will help you hone your tabletop puppetry chops. Now your stuffies will walk, talk, think, act and react, create stories, and perform poetry by practicing the essential elements of puppetry – with precision, simplicity, clarity, and fun!

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Mike Petersen’s career began on Jim Henson’s Fraggle Rock in 1984. He has since performed across the country and around the world with such companies as Mermaid Theatre of Nova Scotia, the Edinburgh Puppet Company, Poland’s Teatr Arlekin, and Theatre Beyond Words. Film and television credits include Fraggle Rock, Labyrinth, Toopy & Binoo Vroom Vroom Zoom, and the award-winning pre-school series The Mighty Jungle. Mike created and performed in As You Puppet at YPT, and he is a proud member of the Dora Award winning ensemble performing in Old Man and the River with Theatre Direct.

As a teacher of puppetry Mike has worked alongside Graham Whitehead at Mermaid Theatre, Allen MacInnis at YPT, Lynda Hill at Theatre Direct, Seanna Kennedy and Bruce Dow at Lower Ossington Theatre, and Christine Brubaker, director of the world premier of Wilde Tales at Shaw Festival. He has developed puppetry training curriculums for Sheridan College, Humber College, Theatre New Brunswick, and The Toronto School of Puppetry