PuppetSpeak!  Theatrical Day of Mime, Mask, Film and Puppetry

The Arts Center at Killingworth presents PuppetSpeak! a full-day theatrical experience of mask, mime, film and interactive puppetry performances on Saturday, April 30 (10:30am-5pm) at the Old Town Hall in Killingworth, Connecticut (273 Rte. 81).  Don’t be fooled into thinking puppetry is “just for kids,” it is a provoking and experimental theatrical form that offers insights and entertainment for all ages!

Robin McCahill with puppet


The day begins with a performance of "The Snow Queen," (10:30am-11:30am, Ages 4-9, $10; Ages 10-Adult, $12) one of Hans Christian Andersen’s greatest works about Gerta, a determined young girl who travels through seasons and landscapes searching for her lost friend Kay.  In this performance, adapted and performed by puppeteer Robin McCahill, the audience directly experiences many styles of puppets: rod, string (marionette), hand puppets, bun-raku, toy theatre, shadow and mechanized.  Ms. McCahill, who has taught at Southern Connecticut State University and at rehabilitation centers such as the Forestville Health and Rehabilitation Center, has worked with puppetry and in theater for many years as a way to inspire creativity and to foster healing.  She designs and makes her own one-of-a-kind puppets and is a fiber and yarn artist who engages in wool spinning and felt-making.


From 11:30am-12:30pm, audience members can join Ms. McCahill for a Rod Puppet Workshop ($6 per person; workshop limit 13).  Participants create their own puppets as they learn to sculpt heads and faces, attach a rod into the neck for turning and then make simple “rope” arms and hands. After the rods are attached to the hands, and the body draped with fabric, it will be time to bring the creations to life with puppet manipulation and intentional movements!


The morning session of PuppetSpeak! is capped off with a FREE screening of the film "Sleeping Beauty" by Paul Mesner, a treat for all ages who are young at heart! (45min).  Mesner, founder of Paul Mesner Puppets more than 20 years ago, is an author, performer and an award-winning puppeteer who studied at the prestigious International Institute of Puppetry in Charleville-Mézières, France.  In “Sleeping Beauty,” Mesner takes this much-loved tale, adds twists and turns, and fills it with comedic moments giving the world a new look at this exceptional classic.


After lunch, PuppetSpeak! returns with a performance of “The Peach Orchard” (2-3pm, Ages 4-9, $12; Ages 10-Adult, $14) by acclaimed puppeteer and mask artist, Larry Hunt and dancer and choreographer Adelka Polak.  This magical piece is an introduction to the mask, the oldest functional art form still used around the world in forms that are decorative, entertaining,  mysterious and sacred.  These two masters involve audiences in powerful ways that traditional theater does not.  Through comedy, drama, tragedy and even the absurd, they employ masks, mime, music and metaphors – all combined to create fantastical illusions!


Mr. Hunt is an actor, director, mask-maker, and educator who creates all of his own masks, characters, and situations. Since 1980 he has produced and performed original theater works under the auspices of MASQUE, an international touring company he founded. Ms. Polak, who has toured with MASQUE for the past three years, has performed at Stanford University, The Pittsburgh Glass Center, Carnegie Mellon University, and at innumerable other theater and performance spaces.  She participated as a puppeteer for an HIV education program in Hartford through Concerned Citizens for Humanity and collaborated with the Czechoslovak-American Marionette Theatre on the development and performance of “Once There Was a Village,” which premiered in 2007 at New York’s LaMama Theater after previews at the Lincoln Center Outdoors Festival in 2006.


After performing “The Peach Orchard,” Mr. Hunt and Ms. Polak offer a Mask and Mime Workshop (3-4pm, Ages 9-Adult, $8) gently guiding participants to explore the non-verbal attitudes, emotions, relationships and character traits of the masks available during the workshop.  Through the exploration of body language, participants engage with the mysterious, exciting and playful expressions of the masks.  Short vignettes with music will be created.  No acting or special movement experience necessary!


PuppetSpeak! A day of theater, film and interactive workshops comes to a close with a FREE film screening for Ages 9-Adult (4-5pm) of Cervantes, “Don Quixote”, second in a series of puppet films by Classics in Miniature.  The handcrafted marionettes by Russian artist, Eugene Seregin, are remarkably brought to life by master puppeteer Steven Ritz-Barr and director Hoku Uchiyama.  This film is for everyone—young and old, cynic and romantic.  For more information and tickets call (860) 663-5593 or purchase online at www.artscenterkillingworth.org.