Author: David

Mike Harding – In-person at Puppetmongers’ studio – May 14^th – 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. 1 day for $100

Mike Harding of Applefun Puppetry has been performing for over 20 years. He has conducted thousands of shows at libraries, schools, and birthday parties. Mike studied Improvisational Comedy at Second City which adds a unique and spontaneous flavour to his shows. Applefun Puppetry Puppet Shows are characteristically interactive with a high degree of audience participation. www.applefun.ca

Description: Learn to write a puppet show that can be performed by just one person. Find out how to organize your puppets and props. Discover how to manage an audience by yourself. Decide what type of puppets will work best. Uncover tips about creating a stage that is portable and easy to set up.

Materials to bring: Writing materials, construction paper, cardboard box – shoe box size or larger, scissors, any other craft supplies.

David Powell – In-person at Puppetmongers’ studio – Two evening sessions June 20 and Jun 27, 5 to 7 p.m. for $100 (+ $80 materials per lamp).

Halogen lamps project crisp shadow images and add amazing cinematographic effects to shadow puppetry works.  With these as your light source, you can zoom from longshot to close-up, layer multiple images, create negative or light images, travel through landscapes, and much-much more.

Here is a link to Shuttle Dreams, a halogen shadow show made with two musicians and Mark Keetch.

On June 20th we will experiment with the different types of halogen lamps, so that you gain an understanding of their capabilities, and choose which sort would best suit your needs and of you want one or two.  From this we will know what components to buy for the building evening.  On June 27th you will build your own lamp(s). Please note that if you request building two lamps, we will bill you the additional $80 materials cost.

With Puppetmongers, David has toured world-wide since 1974, and received many awards in Canada and the USA. He co-founded the Toronto School of Puppetry in 1996, and has taught puppetry arts at many universities, colleges and schools across Canada.  Always drawn to shadow puppetry, halogen lamps have opened great creative vistas.

Brendan McMurtry-Howlett – In-person at Puppetmongers’ studio – April 23^rd – 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. 1 day for $100

Brendan is a theatre artist who has worked across the country and internationally. Introduced to puppetry 20 years ago, Brendan continues to incorporate puppetry into his theatre work as a director/creator. He created Macbeth: Walking Shadows for Shakespeare in the Ruff, and will direct the Shaw Festival’s Christmas Carol.

When working with puppets, the performer must be simultaneously “in it”, and observing. This is what makes puppetry a great actor training tool. Working with the key principles of puppetry (breath, movement, impulse work, and finding energized relaxation), we’ll explore how techniques can inform your work as an actor, and how acting techniques can inform puppetry.

What to bring: Comfortable clothes and footwear for movement. A short piece of memorized text or monologue (classical or contemporary).

REGISTRATION NOW CLOSED

Alexandra Montagnese – In-person at Puppetmongers’ studio – April 2^nd – 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. 1 day for $100

Registration now closed.

Alexandra Montagnese is a Dora award winning director, performer, puppeteer, and arts educator. She is co-curator of Toronto’s experimental puppetry cabaret: Concrete Cabaret and has taught puppets with many groups including Toronto School of Puppetry, Tarragon, Wee Festival, TMU, Glendon College, Shaw Festival Ensemble members, and various private high schools.

This class will explore the basics of performing object puppetry. Through various movement and narrative exercises, we will transform everyday objects into live performing puppets. We will look at the ways the object selection and all of its qualities inform imagination and storytelling to help build a unique style and expression in performance.

What to bring: Please contact ann@puppetmongers.com for details

Mike Petersen – In-person at Puppetmongers’ studio – March 26^th – 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. 1 day for $100

Mike Petersen has performed around the world as a puppeteer, with such companies as Mermaid Theatre, Shaw Festival, Theatre Direct, Teatr Arlekin, YPT, and Theatre Beyond Words. Television credits include Fraggle Rock, The Mighty Jungle, Toopy & Binoo Vroom Vroom & Zoom, and the Emmy nominated pre-school series Miss Persona.

Explore your puppet’s physical vocabulary with the basics of silent expression. We’ll find a puppet’s thoughts, its feelings, its relationships with other characters, and we’ll unlock that all-important secret ingredient: a puppet’s relationship with its audience. Let’s find the tricks that puppeteers need so their puppets will be clearly understood. 

 Kathy MacLellan & John Nolan.  

Video available for $25 rental – Please click here

John Nolan and Kathy MacLellan of UNIMA award winning Rag & Bone Puppet Theatre, have created, produced, and toured over 20 shows and collaborated with other companies on many more. TV writing credits include episodes of Under the Umbrella Tree, Mr. Dressup, Theodore Tugboat, Babar, and Crazy Quilt. https://ragandbone.ca

Puppetry is primarily a visual form of theatre, but effective writing can set up the plot, mood, time, and place, and help bring your characters to life. Join John and Kathy to discuss some different approaches to writing for puppets, give puppet playwrighting a try, and get some feedback.

Materials: Something to write with! Optional: a puppet or two that you might like to use in a short improv or script reading.

Shawna Reiter – In-person at Puppetmongers’ studio

Registration now closed.

As the artistic director of CLUNK Puppet Lab, Shawna cultivates her passion for meaningful storytelling through original theatre. Shawna has been teaching both fine art and puppetry for over 14 years. She also works as a director/designer/dramaturge specializing in puppetry for award-winning theatrical productions across Canada and the US.

Description: An introductory workshop for actors who are curious about puppetry performance. Using simple materials students will create puppets and learn how to bring them to life. We will explore breath, movement, focus, fixed point, and character development. Skill building will focus on actions and reaction, how a puppet thinks and how puppets express emotion. Materials – Please contact ann@puppetmongers.com for details.

Tim Gosley – ONLINE (N.B. moved from February 25) – now April 29. 1 to 3 p.m. EST.  –  ½ day – $50

Bio: Tim works with LED shadows; low-tech video; and Muppet-style puppetry. In 2022, he worked on a Toronto television pilot; performed his Bloke de North Hatley in Quebec; and created live video imagery for Phoebe Tsang’s ‘Setting Fire to Water.’ He’s a Gemini Award puppeteer on projects like the original Fraggle Rock.

Description: After a demo of live projections with video & shadows you will create a shadow performance with your cell phone light and share it with us on the Zoom. You will need to do some preparatory work from instructions provided to you well in advance of the workshop.

Materials & preparation: A cell phone light or LED flashlight with only 1 LED. Think of a short 2- minute story or shadow exploration, possibly with music.

February 12 & 19 – Ann Powell & David Powell.  In-person at Puppetmongers’ studio – 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. 2 days for $200 + $25 materials = $225

Registration now closed

Puppetmongers Ann and David started their puppetry journey when they were kids, with marionettes from the Pelham Puppet Company; and in their teens they started devising and making their own marionettes.  As Puppetmongers Theatre, they now seldom work with string Puppets, but have retained and honed their interest in this classic form.

In this two-day session, Puppetmongers will guide each participant through the building, costuming, stringing and animation of their own marionette.  These puppets will have simple block heads, wooden bodies, leather joints, and “airplane controllers”.  This workshop’s goal is to teach the essentials of marionette making, for you to elaborate later.

What to bring: Comfort with using hand and power tools and sewing.

These workshops are for school-age children. Please note that children under 10 years old should be accompanied by their adult caregivers.  Masks are mandatory in our studio

MARCH BREAK 2023:  Sunday March 12th, from 2 to 4 p.m. – Paper Theatre Making with Ann Powell & David Powell.  In-person at Puppetmongers’ studio – 2 to 4 p.m. $25 per child accompanied by an adult. (includes material costs)

Create your own complete show in miniature, based on the Victorian era’s popular home entertainment centre – the precursor of TV.!  Each participant will turn a cardboard cereal box into a tiny theatre, with scenery and little character figures controlled by sticks.  Materials: Please bring an empty cereal box, to make into your theatre.

As well as creating their award-winning and world-touring theatrical productions, over the last 50 years Ann and David have developed many puppet- and show-making workshops for families and children, making use of found materials and introducing simple techniques to assist aspiring young performers.

Sorry, now sold out!

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MARCH BREAK 2023: Sunday March 19th, from 2 to 4 p.m. – Shadow Puppetry with David Powell & Ann Powell.  In-person at Puppetmongers’ studio $25 per child – accompanied by an adult. (includes materials)

Shadow puppetry is probably the oldest form of puppetry, traceable back to Asia, where the traditions continue and grow. Participants will create simple but wonderfully effective 2-dimensional figures, scenery and props, using readily available materials, to be manipulated behind a lit screen* in visually magical presentations.  N.B. Instructions on making a shadow screen box-theatre will be available in a video link.

As well as creating their award-winning and world-touring theatrical productions, over the last 50 years Ann and David have developed many puppet- and show-making workshops for families and children, making use of found materials and introducing simple techniques to assist aspiring young performers.

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Sunday May 7, from 2 to 4 p.m. – FREE YOUR INNER MONSTER! with Jamie Shannon.  In-person at Puppetmongers’ studio.  REGISTRATION NOW CLOSED

Bio: Jamie Shannon is a Toronto born artist that specializes in bringing the inanimate to life.   Shannon’s television series such as Big and Small, Mr. Meaty, Swami Jeff and Nanalan’ have appeared on broadcasters worldwide.

Description: This is a puppet making workshop where you make your own inner monster puppet to take home.   At the end of the workshop you will get a short tutorial on how to bring your monster to life.  Adult’s, kids, everyone is welcome! NB: Kids under 10 should bring adult supervision with them.