This weekend! Persephone: a puppet show with the Oregon Symphony

This weekend only!  Get your tickets HERE!

The Inheritance, a scary puppet film, launches Kickstarter

Chris and Zena Walas, a Dad and daughter team, are going to create a true puppet film masterpiece.  Check out the Kickstarter HERE for more info.  Let's all help them make this happen!

Watch the Trailer:

MORGAN STREET THEATER SHOW THIS THURSDAY

GOT A SWEET TOOTH?

THURSDAY MARCH 30th 2017 @ 7:30pm: Morgan St. Theater and Beady Little Eyes collaborate to bring you something entirely new!  Get ready for dessert dinner theater with puppetry entertainment; it's an impossibly fun and unique event.  Some would call it the perfect date night.  One night only, so grab your tickets ASAP! 

Location: The Clay Pigeon Winery - 815 SE Oak St. Portland OR 97214

For more details and to buy tickets, click HERE.

PUPPET SLAM TICKETS ON SALE NOW

"The Pits" a short film by David Bizzaro.  Screening at the slam of course.

Don't think too hard about it, just buy a pair of tickets and invite someone who will NOT see it coming.  Puppet slams have been delightfully surprising the Portland community for almost 7 years now.  

TICKETS HERE!

"The Talley's" is an incredible puppet piece by Jessica Simon.  Limited two show engagement specially for the BLE PUPPET SLAM!

Jim Henson Foundation Letters of Intent due Monday 3/13

If you have a magical idea for a new puppet piece that could use some financial support, consider applying for a Jim Henson Foundation Workshop Grant!  We here at Beady Little Eyes are happy to proofread any letters before they go out!  Give us a shout. 

Letters of Intent for The Jim Henson Foundation's 2018 Granting Cycle are due on or before Monday March 13, 11:59pm PST.

Review the guidelines here:  http://hensonfoundation.org/in…/grant-application/guidelines 

Manual Cinema, a 2017 grant recipient.

Secret of the Spider : A new shadow show!

Third Rail Repertory Theatre presents shadow puppetry masters Night Shade for their Portland debut of Secret of the Spider, February 16 to February 19, 2017.  
Secret of the Spider is a psychedelic allegory from a world where spirits stalk their hosts and witches grant wishes. A mother's investigation into the mysterious disappearance of her daughter illuminates the shadows of her past. Haunted by her fears and running out of time, can she reclaim her place in the ever-growing and perishing beauty of life, and pull herself from a web of anger and guilt through her discovery of the "Secret of the Spider"? 
A triad of creative obsession weaving together three females, embroidery crafts and other worldly symbols will flow thru the theater surrounding audiences with a visual experience. Crowds at the recent 3rd Annual New Orleans International Puppetry Festival were blown away by an early incarnation of the play.  

DATES: Thursday, Feb 16 to Saturday, Feb 18, 2017 at 7:30 pm; and Sunday, Feb 19 at 2p 

WHERE: Third Rail Repertory Theatre - 17 SE 8th Ave. Portland, OR 97214

TICKETS: $20 - By phone at 503-235-1101 or online at thirdrailrep.or

Admission included for Third Rail Members.

Pop + Puppetry 4 @ Holocene

Holocene and Beady Little Eyes present POP + PUPPETRY, an interdisciplinary extravaganza for the eyes and ears! 3 puppeteers of diverse styles (giant puppets, tiny puppets and shadow puppets, etc.) will be paired with 3 inventive Portland-based pop groups. Each puppeteer will present an original puppet show created especially for this event and synced to the band’s music. The results should be dazzling, and help to elevate the experience of both artistic mediums when combined. We’ll also be screening puppet films between acts.

Minden with puppeteers Samala Coffey, Anya Bogorad + Erin Chmela

Reptalians with puppeteers Katie Shook, Summer Olsson + Katie McClenahan

Vexations with puppeteers Kelly Campbell + Kristen Martz

BUY TICKETS HERE

Photo by Katie McClenahan. Puppets by Summer Olsson and Katie Shook. Band shown is Thanks.

Superhero Old Folks' Home opens Friday!

If you caught the last puppet slam in October, you saw an excerpt from this show done beautifully on an overhead projector.  Now, the full interdisciplinary show is on for a limited run at the Echo Theater in SE Portland.

Inspired by comic book mythology and archetypes, Superhero Old Folks' Home is an action-packed, fun, and poignant look at a multi-generational family of superheroes.  It is as much as exploration of aging and family ties as a look at the meaning of what it means to be heroic.  The show features trapeze, aerial dance, acrobatics, PUPPETRY, and more!

Opens this Friday, Dec 9 and runs thru Dec 18th.  TICKETING INFO HERE!

photo by Shawn Patrick Higgins

Willamette Week features Scary Puppet Film Night!

SCARY PUPPET FILM NIGHT!

ONE NIGHT ONLY! New screening time ADDED - now showing at 6pm AND 8pm. Beady Little Eyes Puppet Company is celebrating the darker side of puppetry in the jolly month of December. Join us for an evening of scary puppet short films by Jesse Blanchard, a puppet feature trailer by creature maker, Chris Walas, and a very special Portland-premiere of New Mexico's scariest puppet filmmaker, Devon Hawkes Ludlow with his piece "The Love That Would Not Die", a zombie film spectacular. 

See what the Willamette Week has to say!
 

Venue: The Steep and Thorny Way to Heaven @ SE 2nd and Hawthorne. This is a private club. Advance tickets or RSVP required via Facebook event.

When: Saturday December 3rd @ 6pm AND 8pm
Doors open @ 5:30pm for the 6pm screening
Doors open @ 7:30pm for the 8pm screening
Q & A to follow with the filmmakers after both showings.

Tickets: $10 in advance (https://squareup.com/store/the-steep-and-thorny-way-to-heaven/item/advance-ticket-zombie-puppet-film) / $12 @ the door (RSVP required - just mark "Going" or "Interested" on the Facebook event page!)

This is an 18+ event.

 www.beadylittleeyes.com

SPooKy Girls : A new puppet film to support

If you're thinking about backing a super cool project in the puppetry arts, consider the upcoming short puppy film, SPooKy Girls : a romance.  It's described as : A darkly mischievous short puppet film about a coven of teenage witches, that mixes advanced rod puppets with wicked in-camera effects! 

Check out the Kickstarter link for ALL the details.

World's First Puppet Improv Festival in Seattle

You may have seen an improv show, and you may have seen a puppet show, but have you ever seen an improv show starring a cast of puppets? If not, now's your chance! Starting on November 12th and over the course of one incredible week, talented improvisers and puppeteers from around the globe will be coming to Unexpected Productions for the first ever Seattle Puppetry Improv Festival (SPIF). 

This week features hysterical improvised performances by puppets as well as a variety of workshops and classes on improv skills, building and operating puppets and incorporating the two skills. The festival is brainchild of Unexpected Productions' long-time performer Elizabeth Westermann.  This one-of-a-kind festival is a must-see for fans of improv, comedy and puppetry.

DETAILS BELOW:
1428 Post Alley (at the Gum Wall)
Seattle, WA 98202
Dates: November 13th - 20th
Times: 8:30 PM - 10:00 PM
Tickets: $15
Buy: http://www.unexpectedproductions.org/show/SPIF
Web: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/first-annual-seattle-puppetry-improvisation-festival-tickets-25246523030
Email: info@unexpectedproductions.org
 

Puppet filmmaker, Sam Koji Hale, in Seattle November 12!

Sam Koji Hale will be appearing in the NW for a one-night-only short film screening and Q & A about his upcoming full-length feature film, Yamasong.  This will take place on November 12th at the Theatre Off Jackson in Seattle, WA.  More event details can be found here.

This film is the first non-Muppet puppet feature in North America since “Team America” (2004). It features the voice talent of Nathan Fillion, Whoopi Goldberg, George Takei, Peter Weller, Freida Pinto, Abigail Breslin, Malcolm McDowell, Ed Asner and Bruce Davison.

This event will include multiple film screenings including the original short that inspired the feature “Yamasong”, short films by regional puppetry artists produced for Heather Henson’s Handmade Puppet Dreams, question and answer session and behind-the-scenes of “Yamasong” by creator/director Sam Koji Hale and more.

PUPPET SLAM COMING UP!!

Poster Design by Jenelle Weidlich

Submissions open for October Slam!

CALLING ALL PUPPETEERS!

The next Portland, OR Beady Little Eyes puppet slam is seeking submissions in the form of live acts and short films. The next slam will take place at the Echo Theater on Saturday October 15 and Sunday October 16 @ 7:30pm both nights.  

FOR LIVE ACT SUBMISSIONS: Please email your proposed puppet show in a short 2-3 sentence synopsis.  It can be a show you've already done or a new piece that you have yet to work on.  If we are not already familiar with your work, please send pictures of your past work or a website / youtube link.  All shows must be 2 - 8 minutes in length. Please also indicate if you'd like to perform both nights or just one. 

FOR FILM SUBMISSIONS:  Please send a youtube/vimeo link to katie@beadylittleeyes.com.

DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSIONS: Friday SEPTEMBER 9th, 2016

Send all submissions to: Katie@beadylittleeyes.com

Photo by Shawn Patrick Higgins.  Puppet Show by Bill Holznagel and Paul Velasquez

Kyle Loven performs in Seattle this weekend!

Performance/visual artist Kyle Loven branches out from his beautifully intimate puppetry shows with a surreal, dreamlike landscape inspired by natural history dioramas and night terrors. Loven focuses on mind-body connections in his exploration of dance and movement, coming together with the help of a half-gorgeous, half-scary Arctic creature. 

Title: April at Dawn, Near Alta, Norway

Show Dates: June 17 @ 8pm and June 18 / 19 @ 5pm

Where: On the Boards in Seattle, WA

BUY TICKETS HERE

photo by Bruce Clayton Tom

Pop + Puppetry III @ Holocene!

For the third year running, Holocene and local puppetry collective Beady Little Eyes will present POP + PUPPETRY, an interdisciplinary extravaganza for the eyes and ears! 3 groups of puppeteers of diverse styles (giant puppets, tiny puppets and shadow puppets, for example) will be paired with 3 inventive Portland-based pop groups. Each puppeteer group will present an original puppet show created especially for this event and synced to the band's music. The results should be dazzling, and help to elevate the experience of both artistic mediums when combined. We'll also be screening puppet films between acts.

Mask Workshop in PDX - This weekend!

Our friend and collaborator, Tony Fuemmeler is hosting a mask-making workshop this weekend only.

Design, sculpt, cast and paint your own mask!  Find new sources of creative inspiration, learn about the qualities that promote dynamic onstage play, and discover techniques for shaping a well-engineered character mask. You will leave the workshop with a plaster cast of your face and one painted mask.

Masks are awesome! Though they obscure part or all of the face, masks reveal so much more. Masks are powerful objects that inspire character and transform the people that wear them. They have a part in nearly every culture of the world, they show up in holidays like Halloween and Mardi Gras, and they are one of the original elements of theater as we know it today.

This workshop is excellent for actors and performers, costume designers and mask enthusiasts at all levels of experience. Ages 18+

 WHEN:

6–10 pm Friday, April 29

10am–7 pm Saturday, April 30

10am–7 pm Sunday, May 1

WHERE:

The Mask Studio, 1516 NE Mason St

TUITION:

$300. Cost for materials is included.  Check, PayPal, Square, Chase QuickPay accepted. Pre-registration required by April 27. To enroll, email tony_fuemmeler@yahoo.com.

 Use code PUPPET to register for a discounted price of $250. 

Web: www.tonyfuemmeler.com    

Blog: www.tonyfuemmeler.wordpress.com

Instagram: make_those_faces

ABOUT TONY:

Over the past 13 years, Tony Fuemmeler has designed masks for multiple productions on the West Coast and across the country. Locally, he has designed and built masks for productions like the Drammy Award-winning The Snowstorm (Many Hats), The King Stag (Lewis and Clark College), The Velvet Sky, The Adding Machine (Theatre Vertigo), The Storm in the Barn (Oregon Children’s Theatre), and Alice in Wonderland (Nomadic Theatre). 

Tony began working with masks at the University of Kansas in a production of Dario Fo’s Accidental Death of an Anarchist. After graduation, he spent a year with In The Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theatre (Minneapolis), and then pursued further training with Bruce Marrs and Joan Schirle at the Dell'Arte International School (Blue Lake, California). In 2014, Tony traveled to Ubud, Bali, to study with master mask carver Nyoman Setiawan, and then to Mumbai, India as a volunteer mask maker for The Maya Project(a collaboration of Teach For India and Artists Striving to End Poverty). Tony is based in Portland, Oregon.

PUPPET SLAM!

Poster Design by Ciara Gay

A New PDX Puppet Collective

We heard from some little birdies that a new collective is forming in Portland.  See the details below for more information - sounds all-inclusive and like an all-out good time!

DETAILS from the DIRECTOR, Cherie Panek:

Objective: To create a puppetry lab/workout space for performing objects (and their Significant Others.) 

Who: Puppets, masks, objects, etc., along with puppeteers and physical performers of all kinds who'd love to partner with them. 

What: A collective lab and creative play space to get in shape, stay in shape, collaborate, connect, network, inspire, explore, encourage and strengthen our puppetry skills. We will be working as a collective while also sharing facilitation and studio time. 

When: Starting March 1, 2016 from 8:30-10:30pm. The collective will be held at the same time and location every other Tuesday until the end of May. 

Remaining dates: March 29th , April 12th, April 26th,  May 10th & May 24th

*After the first few collective labs we will be developing a calendar for people to sign up on different days so they could have an opportunity to lead either a warm-up or a group puppetry exercise. If facilitating something does not interest you, no worries, we are equipped with several exercises and activities to explore and keep us busy. 

Where: N.E.W (New Expressive Works-also known Studio2@Zoomtopia 810 SE Belmont, Ste. 2 )

Why: To help build and develop the PDX performing puppetry/object community. To help strengthen and practice our craft in puppetry art. Plus, nobody likes a flabby puppet. And everybody loves having really good hands. 

Cost: rental for the space is $30 per evening. This total will then be split between each evening's participants. (Always free for objects.) The most each evening will ever cost an individual is $10 but it could also be as low as $2.50 depending on the total number of participants each night. Max 12 participants per evening. We know people are busy so there is no obligation to attend all of them. You will pay the night of the collective. Cash or check only. Please be sure to RSVP to email if you are planning to attend so that we can put you on that evenings list. 

*If you are a person that is really interested but has financial restrictions please email us and let us know. 

Other details: Only bare-feet, socks or non-marking, non-street shoes allowed on studio floor. Shoes previously worn on the streets or outside are not permitted footwear on studio floor. Please also be sure to wear clothes that are comfortable to move in. The studio also asks that you refrain from using perfumes, aftershaves or other scented products in the studio. 

A variety of practice puppets, objects, and masks will be available to use and explore-but don’t hesitate to bring puppets of your own. Hope to see you there! 

For questions and to RSVP if attending: pdxpuppetcollective@gmail.com

Submissions open for April Puppet Slam in PDX!

::CALLING ALL PUPPETEERS::

The next Puppet Slam will take place at the Echo Theater. We are seeking live puppet acts and films for this show.   If you aren't interested in performing, mark your calendars and stay tuned for ticket info coming soon.

Saturday April 23rd + Sunday April 24th @ 7:30pm.  

TWO SHOWS, TWO SHOWS!  

FOR LIVE ACT SUBMISSIONS: Please email your proposed puppet show in a short 2-3 sentence synopsis.  It can be a show you've already done or a new piece that you have yet to work on.  If we are not already familiar with your work, please send pictures of your past work or a website / youtube link.  All shows must be 2 - 8 minutes in length. Please also indicate if you'd like to perform both nights or just one. 

FOR FILM SUBMISSIONS:  Please send a youtube/vimeo link to katie@beadylittleeyes.com.

DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSIONS: Friday March 25th

Send all submissions to: Katie@beadylittleeyes.com

Matt Hopkins and Zeke - photo by Shawn Patrick Higgins