{"id":5848,"date":"2015-02-10T18:49:34","date_gmt":"2015-02-11T00:49:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=5848"},"modified":"2015-02-10T18:49:34","modified_gmt":"2015-02-11T00:49:34","slug":"puppets-not-just-muppets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/puppets-not-just-muppets\/","title":{"rendered":"Puppets \u2014 not just Muppets"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Jessica T. Gable<\/p>\n

On Jan. 22, a crowd descended on a small, intimate theater in Links Hall, a shabby studio caught halfway between Lakeview and Logan Square. They encountered a tiny bar complete with worn wooden countertops and rickety stools inviting them to indulge in a libation before the performance. And when the lights rose in this warm and fuzzy atmosphere, the definition of puppetry was challenged and expanded.<\/p>\n

\"Nasty<\/a>
Vanessa Valiere performs during Nasty Brutish and Short\u2019s Puppet Cabaret. PHOTO: Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

Poduced by Nasty, Brutish and Short<\/a>, a puppetry company born of and bred for Chicago, \u201cA Puppet Cabaret Program B\u201d took the audience on a somewhat dreamy, psychedelic ride through various worlds. In this case, however, as in many productions that were part of the Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival<\/a>\u00a0which ran Jan. 14-25, the term \u201cpuppet\u201d is applied liberally.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe definition of puppetry is way broader than anybody gives it credit for,\u201d Mike Oleon, the show\u2019s co-curator, said. \u201cIt\u2019s not just marionettes, it\u2019s not just Muppets, I mean there was supposed<\/em> to be a dude stacking rocks. Like, the whole performance was stacking rocks. I don\u2019t know what that means, but it\u2019s puppetry.\u201d<\/p>\n

This year marked the first installation of the biennial Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival, which offered puppeteers from nearly 50 companies the chance to sample each other\u2019s work in a concentrated, festival format. They also connected with the puppetry community in Chicago and those who traveled from outside the city to perform.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs far as puppetry communities go, it\u2019s huge,\u201d Oleon said, laughing. \u201cAs far as any other community goes, it\u2019s very intimate. It\u2019s my hope that this festival will raise awareness that there\u2019s phenomenal puppet work happening in Chicago and that there are several incredibly talented potential collaborators who are already doing great puppetry.\u201d<\/p>\n

The idea for the festival came to its artistic director, Blair Thomas, because there was no major puppet theater festival in the U.S., let alone Chicago, despite the city\u2019s distinguished history in puppetry. In the early days of TV, Chicago\u2019s \u201cKukla, Fran and Ollie\u201d show featuring a full cast of puppets drew huge audiences. Thomas had been a fixture in the Chicago puppetry community for three decades, and he founded his own puppetry company, Blair Thomas & Co. in 2002. With the Chicago Puppet Fest, Thomas said he hoped to capture the atmosphere of the Chicago International Theater Festival, which began in 1988 and ended in 1998. According to Thomas, it \u201cchanged the face of Chicago theater.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Blair<\/a>
The Festival’s founder, Blair Thomas, hoped it would give puppetry communities a chance to explore and sample each other’s work. PHOTO: Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Similarly, Thomas hoped the festival\u2019s various performances and symposiums would expand the horizons of not just the audience, but also the puppeteers, themselves.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a language of the puppet that is the connection from shadow puppetry to performance with a mask to traditional hand puppetry. The language is reliant on objects,\u201d Thomas said. \u201cIt\u2019s an object-centered world rather than a human-centered world.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Nasty, Brutish and Short\u2019s production, those objects included extra limbs for the puppeteers, projected images and screens lit from behind to create shadows. Performers not only controlled their puppets, but they also interacted with them as actors. It was far from children\u2019s puppet theater, and definitely a far cry from the Muppets. But, for Oleon, the techniques are nothing new.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the same thing,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s been the same thing since forever, which is exciting because it\u2019s such a relatively small thing. When people discover it, it feels like they\u2019re discovering something completely new.\u201d<\/p>\n

The festival ran from Jan. 14-25 and featured nearly 50 performances across Chicago.<\/p>\n

Photo at Top: In a scene from A Puppet Cabaret, screens are used alongside human actors and puppets. (PHOTO: Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival.)<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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And when the lights […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":48,"featured_media":5854,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194],"tags":[192],"class_list":["post-5848","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-culture","tag-promo"],"yoast_head":"\nPuppets \u2014 not just Muppets - Medill Reports Chicago<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/puppets-not-just-muppets\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Puppets \u2014 not just Muppets - Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Jessica T. Gable On Jan. 22, a crowd descended on a small, intimate theater in Links Hall, a shabby studio caught halfway between Lakeview and Logan Square. They encountered a tiny bar complete with worn wooden countertops and rickety stools inviting them to indulge in a libation before the performance. 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