Do people still love puppets? YES THEY DO!

Well hello folks! After a long stretch of time, we are back and playing catch up on life, puppets and everything else. We recently found a new shining spec of hope for the future of live performance / puppetry arts. One of our favorite theaters, The Headwaters, is still in business and that feels mighty good. They made it through the dark days, oh happiness! Beady Little Eyes is also producing a puppet short film, Lake Minnetrista. We raised funds via Kickstarter to make it last month and boy did the people deliver! We went above and beyond the goal and feel, once again, that warm glow of happiness.

People still love puppets.

We are still here and looking towards the future with optimism.

Thanks for checking out this blog post. We can’t wait to share more as the projects begin to churn and the puppets get dusted off and gussied up to return to the stage once more.

Concept Design by Nicholas Mahon for Lake Minnetrista, a puppet film. Coming Fall 2022.

Three chances to catch puppetry and Fertile Ground Festival 2020!

Terran’s Aquarium, an ecology puppet show about the freshwater situation in the world will World Premiere, as part of the Fertile Ground Theater Festival of New Works. Produced by Whorls of Wonder Puppet Theater, Portland.

Mary Nagler, with Whorls of Wonder Puppet Theater exposes the current freshwater situation to a family audience in a fun but serious way, opening at the PDX Metro Arts Center, Feb 7, 8, and 9.  

Whorls of Wonder Puppet Theater presents Terran’s Aquarium

Friday Feb. 7, 7:00 pm, Saturday Feb. 8, 2:00 pm, 7:00 pm, and Sunday Feb. 9, 2:00pm

PDX Metro Arts Center, 9003 SE Stark St. Portland, OR 97216

fertilegroundpdx.org

www.whorlsofwonder.com  

TICKETS HERE!

$15; $10 Students and Seniors

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The Magic Fish is an original puppet show that follows a little boy who does not heed to his mom's call nor to convention and meets with his own adventures at the beach, only to return home wiser. The story is informed by the Irish fairytale Soul Cages, by Punch and Judy puppetry, and contemporary mask and mime. This mostly word-free performance engages audiences from age 3 and up. The show runs 30 minutes with an additional 15 minutes for meeting the puppets. Funded in part by the Regional Arts and Culture Council. 

February 2 @ 5:30pm; Feb 9 @ 2:00pm; Feb 9 @ 4:00pm

TaborSpace Dining Room Event Stage,

5441 Belmont St. Portland, OR 97215

$5 per person age 3 and up

TICKETS HERE!

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Rutabaga Story Co. presents a work-in-progress staged reading of "Itch", written by Eve Johnstone and directed by Madison Mondeaux.

Itch follows the separate but parallel stories of three women and their unique experiences with self-harm. Writing partially from personal experience, playwright Eve Johnstone attempts to de-romanticize the idea of self-harm and give this often hushed-up topic (and those who have experienced it) a truthful portrayal - all without ever depicting the action itself. Through humor, a flavor of absurdity, and a puppet or two, "Itch" tells the story of three women fighting a battle both inside and outside themselves.

This is a work-in-progress reading complete with a brief post-show discussion and talk-back with the team.

TICKETS HERE!

To learn more about Rutabaga Story Co., follow on Facebook and Instagram @rutabagastoryco and visit their website: www.rutabagastoryco.com

Melvin the Birder, now live on Amazon Prime!

Beady Little Eyes helped produce a puppet short film back in 2014. As of midnight last night, it’s live on Amazon Prime and free for members to stream! It’s been a fun ride to see where this little film might go and we are excited that so many more people now get to view it. Click here to check it out for yourself. And we’d love it if you’d rate it too!

Shadow Puppet Show in Portland in July!

Submit your show/film for the next puppet slam!

Robert Amico + Keziah Peterson in Puppet Slam 2017

The Beady Little Eyes Puppet Slam is seeking submissions in the form of live acts and short films for their August PUPPET SLAM. The next slam will take place at the Headwaters Theater in North Portland.

DATES:  August 15 @ 8pm, August 16 @ 8pm and August 17 @ 2pm and 8pm

THAT'S FOUR SHOWS!  We are hoping that you want to commit to participating in all the performances, but do let us know if you can only be available for a few of the shows (and which ones!). You must be able to perform in AT LEAST two of the shows scheduled AND attend the tech rehearsal scheduled for Thursday Aug 15th @ 5pm.  Each act will be paid a stipend of $35 per show.

FOR LIVE ACT SUBMISSIONS: Please email your proposed puppet show in a 2-3 sentence synopsis.  It can be a show you've already done or a new piece that you have yet to work on.  Please send pictures of your work or a website / youtube link of  live performance.  
FOR FILM SUBMISSIONS:  Please send a youtube/vimeo link to katie@beadylittleeyes.com.

All shows/films must be 3 - 9 minutes in length!  
We can't consider shows that are longer than 9 minutes.
 

DEADLINE FOR ALL SUBMISSIONS: Friday June 28, 2019

Send all submissions to: Katie@beadylittleeyes.com

Learn tabletop puppets with Mary Nagler!

Mary Nagler knows her stuff! Learn from a master and make some friends (fuzzy and non-fuzzy) along the way!

Over the course of 4 sessions, participants will design, from their own imagination, a unique character and build a table top figure; gaining experience in wire armatures, sculpting, finishing, painting, drafting, and some simple stitch work. Storytelling, plot development and manipulation will be explored, culmination in a final session performance.

Time & Dates:
Saturdays 1pm - 4pm
Classes :
Saturday May 4th
Saturday May 11th
Saturday May 18th
Saturday May 25th

Level: Open to students 12 years old & up and adults.

Course fee: $235 per student, materials included.

To enroll, please email: shae@elisabethjones.art

Shadow Puppet Intensive July 2019 in San Francisco, CA

Check out this shadow puppetry intensive happening this JULY 2019 in San Francisco, CA!

Description from the website :

By popular demand, now announcing a Cinematic Shadow Theatre Masterclass in the San Francisco Bay Area with Shadow Master Larry Reed and ShadowLight Productions in July 2019. This rarely offered workshop will cover shadow theatre history, a variety of lighting and projection methods, screen types, puppetry, set and mask technique and a hands-on ensemble workshop culminating in a live performance. Specifically, we will demonstrate ShadowLight Productions’ signature large-scale modern cinematic style of shadow theatre. All skill levels are welcome. We recognize that this is a new art form for many people. We provide all training, tools, and materials so that everyone can succeed.

We welcome seasoned theatre practitioners and shadow aficionados as well as enthusiastic beginners to join us this summer. This workshop is also a professional development opportunity for educators who want to bring shadow theatre to their schools or communities. Ensemble work within the ShadowLight creative process encourages collaboration, imagination, reflection, inquiry and kinesthetic learning. These are skills you can bring back to any work or creative environment. Instruction in Spanish is available as needed. Participants must be 15 years or older. If an applicant is under 18, they will need to provide a letter of recommendation from a current or past instructor.  Our cinematic shadow theatre workshop is offered in two different parts: a three-day introduction course or a twelve-day intensive. You must attend the three-day Introduction to Cinematic Shadow Theatre in order to participate in the twelve-day intensive workshop. Registration is limited to twenty participants for the twelve-day intensive workshop to ensure a high-quality experience.

More info can be found here: https://www.shadowlight.org/workshop

Manual Cinema in Portland with the Oregon Symphony!

Puppetry alert! Chicago’s Manual Cinema is coming to Portland for a weekend with the symphony February 1 - 3, 2019 with Hansel und Gretel!

CLICK HERE FOR TICKETS / INFORMATION

Luminaries - In the Shadow of the Polish Avant Garde

Hear a whispered tale about an artist’s life while watching an intimate puppet show for just two people. Travel through the tunnel of shadows into a laboratory where you can wield your own lights and puppets, get inside a painting, or build your own city. Watch in wonder as dancers animate sculpture, puppeteers coax abstract art to life, and stories unfold into the light. 

Luminaries is an international collaboration between puppeteers and performers from Teatr Figur Krakow (Krakow, Poland), Sandglass Theater (Vermont, US), and Portland locals Summer Olsson and Katie McClenahan. 

Inspired by the Polish Avant Garde art movement, 1914-1939, this immersive theater performance uses images, shapes, colors, and ideas of the artists working during this period, to create something new. Audiences are invited to explore the work of Maria Jerema, Katarzyna Kobro, Wladyslaw Strzeminski, and others, in a broadly accessible way. Drawing on their extensive shadow puppetry experience, the creators of Luminariesbring joy and play to the artwork and stories from the past, and illuminate where we might go in the future. 

Dates: July 27 - 29, 2018

Times: Friday 7pm & 9pm, Saturday 2pm & 7pm, Sunday 2pm & 7pm

 Location: Shaking the Tree Theatre, 823 SE Grant St, Portland, OR 97214

Tickets: $20 Adults, $10 Children

On the Web: www.merctickets.com

Other Info:This show is family friendly

Funded by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, within the scope of the Multiannual INDEPENDENT 2017-2021 Program, as part of the ‘Cultural bridges’ subsidy program of the Adam Mickiewicz Institute.

Quintron and Miss Pussycat play in PDX - one night only!

Portland!  Important last minute announcement! The puppet rock dance band from New Orleans, Quintron and miss Pussycat are playing at Mississippi Studios Tuesday July 3rd! Doors @ 8pm, Show @ 9pm. 

See you there!

Click HERE for more info!

The Dark Crystal plays at the Hollywood Theatre in PDX!

Jim Henson's masterpiece, The Dark Crystal, is playing at the Hollywood Theatre in Portland for two special 70mm showings on July 14 and 15, 2018.  Tickets go on sale May 23rd @ noon!

MORE INFO HERE!

NEW SLAM DATES ANNOUNCED!

Mark your calendars, October 20 and 21st are the new slam dates.  Both nights @ 8pm at the awesome Echo Theater in SE Portland.

Info on how to submit to perform your puppet show / puppet short film coming soon!

Pic by Meg Nanna - Puppet Show by Zeb West

POP + PUPPETRY #5

ONE NIGHT ONLY!  TICKETS HERE!

Holocene and local puppetry collective 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, for example) 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, directed and crafted by local artists.

New show in town: Angamazad

We can't confirm that there are puppets involved in this show, but there is heavy mask work and some beautiful headdresses.  So, if you imagine there are google eyes on the headdresses, you have yourself a puppet show.  Check it out and support live theater!

The Fox & Beggar Theater presents “Angamazad,” a multifaceted fusion of musical theatre, contemporary dance, cirque nouveau, and visual art. The show adapts and re-weaves stories within The 1,001 Arabian Nights into a surreal roadmap of love, suffering, and the deep endurance of the imagination.

This show will premier over three nights at Portland’s historic Alberta Abbey, marking an exciting partnership between Portland writer/director Heather Beckett and Asheville NC cirque producer Nat Allister. “Angamazad” features an original score by local composer and violinist Mr. Moo, sets by Ghost Stag Productions, and a cast of twelve culturally and artistically diverse singers, dancers, actors, and performers of all kinds.

Tickets may be purchased via TicketSource through www.foxandbeggar.com.

“Angamazad” is all-ages. Children 12 and under are free.

VIP tickets will be sold for Saturday night’s show only, and will include a pre-show champagne reception with the show’s directors and designers, priority seating, a special VIP gift bag, and entry to the theatrical after-party (10:30pm-2:30am at the Abbey).

COME PLAY WITH US!

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 14 and Sunday October 15 @ 8pm 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 1st, 2017

Send all submissions to: Katie@beadylittleeyes.com

"Trashman and the Noise Band" with Kelly Campbell, Summer Olsson, and Robert Randall

Pic by Shawn Patrick Higgins

Jim Henson Foundation Offers Residency @ the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center

We here at BLE are HUGE fans of the National Puppetry Conference and the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center.  They harbor safe spaces to let puppeteers be artists and risk freely in a constructive environment.  There is a new residency that is fully supported, so if you have a grand idea and no idea how to make it happen, you should give this a shot! Letters of intent are due July 17, 2017! 

Held at the O'Neill's Waterford campus, the residency expands and broadens the work of the National Puppetry Conference and offers space and support to a deserving artist/company towards the completion of a new work of puppet theater. Interested puppeteers and puppetry companies are invited to submit Letters of Intent.

Residencies may be between 2-4 weeks, can support up to 10-12 project participants, and covers full room and board. Dramaturgical support for the project will be provided by the O'Neill's literary office, a unique feature of the residency that is comparable to the support offered to plays developed at the O'Neill's National Playwrights Conference.  The residency can take place during the winter, spring, or fall months, with space available beginning in January 2018.

See this link for more information! 

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!