www.timeout.com: Since the dawn of time—or at least since someone first glued string to a wooden limb—puppetry has been one of the world’s most polarizing art forms. Some find puppets downright adorable; others are still unpacking childhood trauma involving carved smiles and unblinking eyes. Chicago, however, has clearly chosen a side. The city’s appetite for puppets is downright ravenous, which is why the 8th Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival kicks off its 12-day takeover tomorrow, January 21.
10 comments:
I really love puppets, I think they’re so cool, and have so many cool possibilities. I love that Chicago hosts an entire festival dedicated to puppets. They’ve done this for 8 years now, and I’m surprised I had no idea it existed. One thing that I think is particularly nice about this festival is that there are free exhibits, making it more accessible to everyone, and bringing in people who otherwise wouldn’t have engaged with this type of art. I also really like how they know they have a vast array of audience members, and have a variety of exhibits to engage with these audiences. For kids, they have some more family-friendly shows, including a massive alligator, but they also have some puppet shows that cater more towards adults. After reading this article, I hope to someday be able to attend this puppet festival because I think it would be such a cool opportunity to engage with puppetry arts made by people from all around the world.
This is super cool! I love the crocodile pictured in the article. When I (and probably most people) think of puppets, I usually think of small, hand-held dolls or marionettes. Many puppets, though (especially theatrical ones) are larger than life or unique. The range of audience for each puppet show is a cool selling point for this festival in particular. Anyone can go watch and enjoy puppet shows, because each show will feature wildly different puppets and themes. How big is this puppet festival compared to other puppet festivals? Why did it originate in Chicago (and furthermore, why Chicago in the winter?). It’s very interesting to me how much of the event is free! I think that that’s really important for the public to access, especially because, from a glance at the website, individual tickets to shows seem to be all over $50. I looked on the website and a show I’d love to see from there is A Doll’s House (featuring an enormous, realistic spider puppet.) That one puppet enhances the “trapped” feeling of the show so well.
An eighth year of the puppet festival and I have not seen it? This is a must-see. Looking just at the images featured in this article, it seems like there are so many different varieties of puppet. I am thinking specifically of the first image of the crocodile puppet with the puppeteer literally sitting inside of it. I love the obvious combination of puppet and puppeteer. I also think back to the puppets in The Lion King which are a more popular example of this. It feels like a physical manifestation of recognition of the artists that would otherwise be hidden behind their craft (puppets). You can also see examples of this inverse expression of puppetry later in the article with the humanistic puppet shown at the end. I wonder if, being a puppetry festival, the venue might shape the visibility of the puppeteers. Would fellow puppeteers want to see or not to see the artists behind the puppets?
I’d have to disagree with the article claiming that puppetry is one of the most polarizing art forms. I mean, come on, who doesn't love a good puppet, maybe like a ventriloquist doll is a little creepy, but I don't think that’s enough to make that sort of claim. That being said, this sounds like an incredibly cool festival to attend. I think puppetry is so fun because it's such a diverse art form, as this article points out it's got everything from crocodiles to the sex lives of puppets. Fun for the whole family! I wonder what sort of exhibitions they have going on at this festival. I also wonder if they have any workshops or panels from the incredible puppet makers that have made this festival possible. This festival also seems to have an impressive number of countries represented, and it would be very interesting to see how this art form has evolved differently across different cultures.
Puppet festival?! This sounds amazing. I've always had mixed feelings towards puppets since they are cute and creepy at the same time. This art form is always extremely creative in the sense that they create human-like figures, like a god creating a lively human being. The characteristics and spirits are given to each unique puppet. I remember watching a puppet show production. There was a puppet booth onstage with hundreds of puppets. Each of their forms is inspired by a famous or influential figure in this world. The actors would randomly choose puppets from different time periods or different cultural backgrounds and create stories based on their imaginary encounter. The whole production was so intriguing and mind-blowing that I nearly forgot that the actors were manipulating those puppets. When the article mentions the wide range of styles this festival covers, I wonder how much of a cultural conversation it holds when different puppets live in this same space together.
I’ve always liked the idea of puppets, even if they do freak me out a little. Part of me finds them slightly scary, but another part really wants to love them because the artistry behind them is so cool. That’s why this festival sounds extra interesting to me. It feels like the perfect place to see the full range of what puppetry can be. I love that the event brings in artists from so many different countries and styles, from huge character puppets to more traditional forms. The fact that there are free exhibits also makes it feel really welcoming, especially for people who aren’t totally sure how they feel about puppets yet, or people who have never seen a puppet show at all. It seems like the kind of festival that could change someone’s perspective just by showing how creative and expressive puppetry can be. I’d honestly love to go someday.
I love puppets. I think that they're super important to the history and artistry of Theatre and art. Also, I just think they're really cool! I think that this is a really cool event, and I want to go really, really badly. The idea of an "adult" puppet show - even though it started with Avenue Q - feels fitting right now in the age of adult animation. Animation and puppetry are both styles, not genres, that are synonymous with children's media. Something like, say, Bojack Horseman or Bob's Burgers, is animation, but does not fall under the category of animation in terms of children's media. I wouldn't let a kid watch Bojack Horseman, and I probably wouldn't let a kid watch "The Sex Lives of Puppets." Nevertheless, I'm excited to see that puppetry is now getting the more recent traction that adult animation has been getting for the past few years, and I hope to see more Avenue Q-like shows in the future!
I have never really explored the world of puppetry much. I think this is mostly because I have never really had the opportunity to do so. However, I have still loved and been incredibly fascinated by all the puppetry work that I have come across in theatre. My favorite puppets that I have seen were in Water for Elephants on Broadway. All the detail and acting that went into making it feel alive was super cool and really moving to watch. I was super excited to read about a puppet festival in Chicago. I am happy that there are so many people from around the world that came to Chicago for a puppet convention. This highlights for me how effective and connecting art can be; that people will travel far and wide to share in something that they love and appreciate art together. I would love to read more about the events that were put on and the work that happened behind the scene to make it all come alive.
In the past month I’ve found puppets coming up a lot, which is such an awesome and intimidating realm to me. I have never explored puppetry, beyond the occasional sock puppet in elementary school. I’ve also found Chicago coming up a lot… maybe this event is calling to me. I love the idea of large festivals like this that can be for a very wide range of audiences. I love the integration of adult shows as well as shows for kids, since not every production needs to be censored. Often, puppetry is seen as something childish and I love when it is used for more “adult” performance- versatility of the medium promotes something other than it being a childish interest, but a respected art form. I love hearing from the perspective of voice actors and puppeteers because of just how far removed they are from the character, it’s a very interesting exploration to me as someone who doesn’t perform. Overall, love to see a growing puppet industry- maybe I’ll take a trip to Chicago and check it out.
This whole show seems really cool and a great concept, but unfortunately I have this thing with puppets and I blame UCONN for that but it’s ok. Usually when I think of puppets I think of the silly little finger puppets or even Sesame Street and the Muppets, but these puppets are so cool and I really like the alligator puppet. Puppets can be a really cool theatre tool but in my opinion they aren’t like SOOO cool. If used right they can be cool especially in shows like the lion king since the entire show isn’t just puppets. I think a line can be drawn for when a show uses puppets when does it become a kids show. I feel like eventually any adult in the room will lose interest because it’s not really as eye catching to adults as it is to children.
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