Pittsburgh Arts, Regional Theatre, New Work, Producing, Copyright, Labor Unions,
New Products, Coping Skills, J-O-Bs...
Theatre industry news, University & School of Drama Announcements, plus occasional course support for
Carnegie Mellon School of Drama Faculty, Staff, Students, and Alumni.
CMU School of Drama
Monday, April 14, 2025
Adoptable Puppies to Perform Improvised HAMLET at American Stage in St. Petersburg
www.broadwayworld.com: An improvised retelling of Hamlet will feature a cast of adoptable puppies when Puppy Hamlet comes to American Stage Theatre in St. Petersburg on Saturday, April 12.
This is a very interesting article that reminded me of our class discussion around live animals in a production. I think that, as we heard in class, someone has to feed the animals, facilitate their upkeep, and ensure their wellbeing throughout the duration of the production. I actually have much more faith in the ethical nature of this kind of production where the animals are central characters, and obviously valued and taken care of. It feels much more moral than having a live animal in a production as an additive to the story where a fake one may have sufficed. It is also a great way to spread awareness about the animal shelter, and coax the audience to consider adoption. The only thing that worries me is the possibility of audience members adopting without fully considering the responsibilities and dedication that are required for taking care of a pet, especially puppies. I hope that the animal shelter has procedures in place to ensure that the puppies go to a safe and loving home.
I think this is an absolutely wonderful and completely adorable idea in order to help bring more people not only to support the arts but to help collaborate with organizations helping to find puppies their forever homes. I think picking a traditional tragedy like Hamlet is such a fun idea since the actors will be trying to do dramatic monologues and the puppies will most likely be causing chaos. I hope this leads to the placement of many dogs in homes, my only wish was that those who end up adopting one of the dogs post show are able use the 50 dollars ticket fee as their adoption fee (that way people will still be able to be paid with the tickets prices, but it gives an extra incentive for those to take a dog home with them). This is so adorable and I wish this production nothing but success and lots of pets!
Hearing about events such as these reminds me of the creativity of artistic teams and the wide opportunities for community engagement when we consider alternative events like this. While niche and lower production, it still proves to be a fun event that also supports a good cause and potentially gives a home to these puppies. Further, I wonder how an event like this came to fruition in that it is unclear if the arts organization is more of the facilitator after being asked by Humane Society of Pinellas to put on this event, or if the arts organization specifically sought this out. Additionally, with the ticket prices being listed at $48, I wonder how much artistic planning has gone into this or if the price is to provide as much support to the Humane Society as is possible. Hopefully we can continue to see fun and innovative events like these to continue to draw attention to our communities and best support the local community organizations too.
This is a very creative way to help out such a huge problem. A lot of the time, adoption centers use events to create traction, because who doesn’t love seeing puppies? Putting them on a stage where the audience is seeing them playing around during such a serious play is really funny and only draws more attention towards the matter. What I found shocking was that this non profit gets no state or federal support or support from ASPCA, even though they are Pinellas County’s largest no-kill animal shelter. However, I can see how an event like this can cause a lot of problems. This can create a lot of impulsive adoptions, without thinking through what goes into caring for a dog. I hope that the necessary background checks are done for the people who are considering adoption of these puppies, especially in a world where finances are tight and people are lonely and want puppies.
As the child of a veterinarian, I love to see events like these. It’s an event that draws people in who are not looking to adopt and those who are. The money from the event goes to the shelter, so even if you’re not adopting, you’re still supporting. I have been to lots of events that were just playing with puppies, and so many dogs get adopted from that. The only thing I wish they did was have more than just puppies. Puppies are relatively easy to get adopted, but older dogs, even 1-2 years old, are much harder to get adopted. It would’ve been a ton of fun to see this. How do you even do improv with puppies? Are they the characters? I’d be interested to learn about how to be able to put on an event with live animals like this. Does it need the same approvals of a regular theater production?
This is a magnificent idea. Having puppies perform Hamlet is very similar to the puppy and kitty bowls that are held during the time of the Super Bowl with a theatrical spin. Many people are immediately intrigued by things that include cute, soft and adorable animals but are also interested in things they have never seen before. I can say with some certainty that I have never seen or heard of puppies performing any type of theater. I also find it particularly interesting that they chose Hamlet as their play of choice. Hamlet although we’ll know, is not entirely an easily followable plot. This reveals that this production really does not care about the storytelling but more primarily their actors. Overall I think this is a wonderfully silly idea that will bring in a larger audience allowing for both some funding for the puppies and a hopefully featuring audience for the theater.
It's interesting to think about the setbacks of this production, since there would probably be new problems created, in a way that I can’t help but find humorous. Do they have a specific puppy company manager? Who takes care of the puppies when they are not on stage? Do they go back to the shelter? If they're all adoptable, what happens if someone tries to adopt a puppy in the middle of the run of the show? What happens if a puppy decides to do their business on stage? Or bark in the middle of Hamlet's soliloquy? Are the lights that we use on stage harmful to puppies that don’t have the same self-cooling abilities that we do? Will the stage manager have to cue a puppy? I think it makes sense that the show is an improvised show, because I don't think there's any way that anyone could predict all of the different outcomes of a puppy's behavior, but there's still so much left that you would have to figure out in order to make such a production work, and I'm interested in seeing if this production works.
These puppies are so cute! This is such a great idea! I am sure that all of these pups will be adopted after a creative event like this. Their new owners will have such a fun story to tell about how their puppy has acted in an one of a kind theater performance. I wish I could have the experience of watching actors trying to wrangle energetic puppies while trying to perform. The fact that they are playing off of such a classic like Hamlet is a hilarious idea, a serious classical play combined with cute puppies. I have been wanting to adopt a pet for so long and I think if I attended a performance like this one I wouldn’t be able to walk away without at least one puppy. I think that this shelter should do more of these creative events in order to help puppies and dogs alike to get adopted.
8 comments:
This is a very interesting article that reminded me of our class discussion around live animals in a production. I think that, as we heard in class, someone has to feed the animals, facilitate their upkeep, and ensure their wellbeing throughout the duration of the production. I actually have much more faith in the ethical nature of this kind of production where the animals are central characters, and obviously valued and taken care of. It feels much more moral than having a live animal in a production as an additive to the story where a fake one may have sufficed. It is also a great way to spread awareness about the animal shelter, and coax the audience to consider adoption. The only thing that worries me is the possibility of audience members adopting without fully considering the responsibilities and dedication that are required for taking care of a pet, especially puppies. I hope that the animal shelter has procedures in place to ensure that the puppies go to a safe and loving home.
I think this is an absolutely wonderful and completely adorable idea in order to help bring more people not only to support the arts but to help collaborate with organizations helping to find puppies their forever homes. I think picking a traditional tragedy like Hamlet is such a fun idea since the actors will be trying to do dramatic monologues and the puppies will most likely be causing chaos. I hope this leads to the placement of many dogs in homes, my only wish was that those who end up adopting one of the dogs post show are able use the 50 dollars ticket fee as their adoption fee (that way people will still be able to be paid with the tickets prices, but it gives an extra incentive for those to take a dog home with them). This is so adorable and I wish this production nothing but success and lots of pets!
Hearing about events such as these reminds me of the creativity of artistic teams and the wide opportunities for community engagement when we consider alternative events like this. While niche and lower production, it still proves to be a fun event that also supports a good cause and potentially gives a home to these puppies. Further, I wonder how an event like this came to fruition in that it is unclear if the arts organization is more of the facilitator after being asked by Humane Society of Pinellas to put on this event, or if the arts organization specifically sought this out. Additionally, with the ticket prices being listed at $48, I wonder how much artistic planning has gone into this or if the price is to provide as much support to the Humane Society as is possible. Hopefully we can continue to see fun and innovative events like these to continue to draw attention to our communities and best support the local community organizations too.
This is a very creative way to help out such a huge problem. A lot of the time, adoption centers use events to create traction, because who doesn’t love seeing puppies? Putting them on a stage where the audience is seeing them playing around during such a serious play is really funny and only draws more attention towards the matter. What I found shocking was that this non profit gets no state or federal support or support from ASPCA, even though they are Pinellas County’s largest no-kill animal shelter. However, I can see how an event like this can cause a lot of problems. This can create a lot of impulsive adoptions, without thinking through what goes into caring for a dog. I hope that the necessary background checks are done for the people who are considering adoption of these puppies, especially in a world where finances are tight and people are lonely and want puppies.
As the child of a veterinarian, I love to see events like these. It’s an event that draws people in who are not looking to adopt and those who are. The money from the event goes to the shelter, so even if you’re not adopting, you’re still supporting. I have been to lots of events that were just playing with puppies, and so many dogs get adopted from that. The only thing I wish they did was have more than just puppies. Puppies are relatively easy to get adopted, but older dogs, even 1-2 years old, are much harder to get adopted. It would’ve been a ton of fun to see this. How do you even do improv with puppies? Are they the characters? I’d be interested to learn about how to be able to put on an event with live animals like this. Does it need the same approvals of a regular theater production?
This is a magnificent idea. Having puppies perform Hamlet is very similar to the puppy and kitty bowls that are held during the time of the Super Bowl with a theatrical spin. Many people are immediately intrigued by things that include cute, soft and adorable animals but are also interested in things they have never seen before. I can say with some certainty that I have never seen or heard of puppies performing any type of theater. I also find it particularly interesting that they chose Hamlet as their play of choice. Hamlet although we’ll know, is not entirely an easily followable plot. This reveals that this production really does not care about the storytelling but more primarily their actors. Overall I think this is a wonderfully silly idea that will bring in a larger audience allowing for both some funding for the puppies and a hopefully featuring audience for the theater.
It's interesting to think about the setbacks of this production, since there would probably be new problems created, in a way that I can’t help but find humorous. Do they have a specific puppy company manager? Who takes care of the puppies when they are not on stage? Do they go back to the shelter? If they're all adoptable, what happens if someone tries to adopt a puppy in the middle of the run of the show? What happens if a puppy decides to do their business on stage? Or bark in the middle of Hamlet's soliloquy? Are the lights that we use on stage harmful to puppies that don’t have the same self-cooling abilities that we do? Will the stage manager have to cue a puppy? I think it makes sense that the show is an improvised show, because I don't think there's any way that anyone could predict all of the different outcomes of a puppy's behavior, but there's still so much left that you would have to figure out in order to make such a production work, and I'm interested in seeing if this production works.
These puppies are so cute! This is such a great idea! I am sure that all of these pups will be adopted after a creative event like this. Their new owners will have such a fun story to tell about how their puppy has acted in an one of a kind theater performance. I wish I could have the experience of watching actors trying to wrangle energetic puppies while trying to perform. The fact that they are playing off of such a classic like Hamlet is a hilarious idea, a serious classical play combined with cute puppies. I have been wanting to adopt a pet for so long and I think if I attended a performance like this one I wouldn’t be able to walk away without at least one puppy. I think that this shelter should do more of these creative events in order to help puppies and dogs alike to get adopted.
Post a Comment