More Animal Adventures at Puppet Showplace!

"Animal April"

Series of puppet shows featuring animal characters and nature themes continues with...

“Raccoon Tales” 

by Paul Vincent Davis, Artist in Residence Emeritus

performed by Brad Shur, Artist in Residence
Apr 10 & 11 (Thu & Fri) | 10:30am
Apr 12 & 13 (Sat & Sun) | 1 pm & 3pm

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If you look carefully among the trees and bushes of the forest, you might see a creature peeking from behind the leaves! Meet a trickster raccoon, red coat bushy-tail fox, timber wolf, and brown bear in "Raccoon Tales," a collection of Native American tales from the Seneca tribe of New York. Join us for an exciting week of trickster tales staring the cleverest raccoon around!

Red Coat Bushy-Tail Fox

About the Show:

Get transported into the forest with the trickster Ring-Around-His-Tail Raccoon as your guide! The animals in the forest are always getting into trouble playing tricks on each other. Will they ever learn their lessons? "Raccoon Tales" features three humorous vignettes inspired by the Native American just-so-stories of the Seneca tribe: "How the Fox and the Raccoon Trick Each Other," "Why the Blue Jay is Blue and the Gray Wolf Isn’t" and "Why the Bear has a Stumpy Tail." The show is performed with hand-crafted glove puppets made by Paul Vincent Davis.

About the Seneca tribe:

Seneca is pronounced "SEH-neh-kah." It comes from the name of one of their villages, Osininka. In their own language, the Senecas call themselves Onandowaga, which means "people of the mountain." The Senecas originally lived in New York state.  Many Seneca people still live in New York today, but others were forced to migrate to Oklahoma or Canada.

There are lots of traditional Seneca legends and fairy tales. Storytelling is very important to the Seneca Indian culture.

Click for more info!

About the performer:

Brad Shur is a versatile puppeteer who has created and performed characters made of everything from pixels to papier mache. As the Artist in Residence at Puppet Showplace Theatre he performs different shows each year in multiple puppetry styles. He also teaches puppetry classes to students of all ages, Pre-K to adult. As protégé of master puppeteer Paul Vincent Davis, Shur trained extensively in the art of glove puppetry and currently performs two of Davis’ classic shows, "Raccoon Tales" and "Clown Circus," at venues across New England.

Prior to becoming the Artist in Residence at Puppet Showplace, Brad toured the country as a performer with Big Nazo (Rhode Island), Wood & Strings Theatre (Tennessee) and The PuppeTree (Vermont). As a builder, Brad has designed and fabricated puppets for American Idol, Dollywood, Avenue Q, and the U.S.S. Constitution Museum. Brad is a graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design.

Paul Vincent Davis with Brad Shur, and Robin character from Brad's new glove puppet show, "Robin Hood"

Here Come the Clowns!

CIRCUS SPECTACULAR!

Nov 7-24: VIEW FULL PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE

UP NEXT: "Clown Circus"

by Paul Vincent Davis, 
performed by Brad Shur, artist in residence 

Sat & Sun, November 16-17 @ 1 & 3 pm

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From silly characters to not-so-ferocious lions, "Clown Circus" features a high energy cast of clowns in hilarious vaudeville bits that will have audiences in stitches! The show was created by award-winning puppeteer, Paul Vincent Davis, Puppet Showplace Theatre's artist in residence emeritus.

Our current artist in residence, Brad Shur performs "Clown Circus," passing on the traditions from the artist in residence before him. As protégé of master puppeteer Paul Vincent Davis, Shur trained extensively in glove puppetry and currently performs many of Paul's classic shows at venues across New England.

About the show: Clowns come in all shapes and sizes, but everything about them is larger-than-life. Join Dusty and his friends Pierrot, Zany and Guffaw for this fun, interactive variety show that features circus-inspired singing, dancing, storytelling, lion-taming, and more.

This colorful performance, originally created by master puppeteer Paul Vincent Davis, is a favorite for young audiences (and their grown-ups).

About the show's creator: Master Puppeteer Paul Vincent Davis is widely recognized as one of America's foremost glove puppeteers. For over 30 years he served as Artist in Residence at Puppet Showplace Theatre where he and founder Mary Churchill worked tirelessly to establish a home for puppetry in New England. Throughout his career, Paul was a dedicated member of the Boston Area Guild of Puppetry.

Davis created over a dozen full-length puppetry productions and received four prestigious UNIMA Citations of Excellence for his work. He was honored with the President's Award for Lifetime Achievement by the Puppeteers of America. Now retired from performing, Davis remains active as a teacher and mentor in the New England puppetry community. He is the subject of the bookPuppeteer by Kathryn Lasky and is currently writing his own book about the art and philosophy of glove puppetry.

About the performer: Brad Shur is a versatile puppeteer who has created and performed characters made of everything from pixels to papier mache. As the Artist in Residence at Puppet Showplace Theatre he performs regularly and teaches puppetry classes to students of all ages, Pre-K to adult.

Brad with a character from "Clown Circus"

Shur’s original works include "The Carrot Salesman," "Dr. Doohickey and the Monster Machine," "The Yankee Peddler: Stories and Songs from Old New England" and "The Magic Soup and Other Stories," recently featured at the Puppeteers of America National Festival 2013.

Brad with a character from "Clown Circus"

Shur is currently working on a new adaptation of "Robin Hood," set to open in January 2014. Prior to becoming the Artist in Residence at Puppet Showplace, Shur toured the country as a performer with Big Nazo (Rhode Island), Wood & Strings Theatre (Tennessee) and The PuppeTree (Vermont). As a builder Shur has designed and fabricated puppets for American Idol, Dollywood, Avenue Q, and the U.S.S. Constitution Museum. Shur is a graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design.

For more shows by Brad Shur, CLICK HERE

Join us for a Japanese folktale at PST!

"The Singing Turtle" 
by Paul Vincent Davis, performed by Brad Shur
Thurs & Fri | March 14 & 15 | 10:30 AMSat & Sun | March 16 &17 | 1 PM & 3 PM

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Recommended for ages 4 and up. 

ABOUT THE SHOW:
A young, hard working farm boy, Taro, is desperate to earn money to buy medicine for his mother. He is helped by an amazing singing turtle in this heart-warming Japanese folk tale. Dancing dragons, beautiful costumes, and traditional music make this a memorable show for audiences of all ages.

Paul Vincent Davis

CREATED BY:

Paul Vincent Davis joined the Puppet Showplace Theatre in 1977, as its first Artist in Residence. Today Paul serves on our Board of Trustees and is widely recognized as one of the foremost hand puppeteers in the country. He has received numerous awards, including four "Citations of Excellence in the Art of Puppetry" from UNIMA-USA (the highest award given in puppetry) and the distinguished President's Award from Puppeteers of America. 

Brad with The Singing Turtle

PERFORMED BY:

Brad Shur has been PST's Artist in Residence since 2009. Brad has been professionally involved in puppetry for almost 15 years. He began as a performer with the Providence puppet and mask company Big Nazo while studying film and animation at the Rhode Island School of Design. He has worked in various capacities with Wood & Strings Theatre (Tennessee), and Vermont PuppetTree, and as a builder has designed and fabricated puppets for American Idol, Dollywood, and other theaters and performers from Austin, Texas to Boston, Massachusetts.

JAPANESE FOLKTALES

A folktale is a type of traditional story that tries to explain or understand the world. Japanese folktales reveal information about the history, life and customs of Japan. These stories were often orally passed down from one generation to another and teach the importance of patience, honesty and hard work. The elements of Japanese folktales are similar to those of traditional American folktales. The characters are often animals and royalty and the plots are magical worlds of transformation. Kindness is rewarded and evil is punished. In Japan, folktales are often told through a series of large pictures depicting the important scenes of the story. This is called a Kamishibai or paper play.

Kamishibai

MORE TALES FROM JAPAN! 

Let's take a look at more stories from the rich tradition of Japanese folktales:

In “Tongue Cut Sparrow” an old wood cutter rescued a little sparrow he found crying for help in the woods. His wife however disliked animals and one day cut the sparrows tongue out, after realizing it ate all of their starch. The bird flew away prompting the man to search for it once he returned home and noticed it was gone.

The man found the sparrow in “the sparrow’s inn.” The sparrows offered the man a gift and he had to choose between a small and large basket. Being a selfless person the man choose the smaller basket and upon returning home discovered in was filled with treasure. This prompted his greedy wife to search for the sparrow and get a gift of her own. She choose the large basket and the sparrow warned her not to open it until she got back home, but she did not heed the advice. The basket was filled with snakes and poisonous bugs which chased her over cliffs.

A long time ago in the story of Kachi-Kachi Yama, an old man and his wife lived at the foot of a mountain. They lived in perfect harmony with their vegetable garden. One morning the old man caught a raccoon dog (Tanuki) eating his vegetables and yelled at him until he ran away. However he came back and ate all the man’s vegetables. This made the man so mad, one day he caught the raccoon dog and tied him up. When the man was not around the raccoon dog cried and apologized to the man’s wife so she would let him go, but he bit her leg before he escaped.

Even madder the man set off into the mountain to get some medicine for his wife’s leg. On the way he meet a rabbit and explained what happened. The rabbit said, “I’ll get revenge on him for you.”

The rabbit went to the mountain with a rice ball and gathered some hay. When the raccoon dog passed the rabbit offered him the rice ball if he would carry the hay. He agreed but when he put the hay on his back the rabbit set the hay on fire. Once he was burned he regretted his previous actions.

That night he went to the old man’s house and apologized to him and his wife and they all shared a delicious meal together. 

Behind the Scenes at PST: Raccoon Tales

Paul Vincent Davis, creator of Raccoon Tales

Raccoon Tales, Not Tails

Greetings, Readers!  In honor of Thanksgiving - which we all know is tied for "Best Holiday of the Year" with Christmas because you get to sample so many different kinds of pies (*insert happy "YAY!" here*) - we're bustin' out some of our favorite stories, each seasoned with a dash of food-themed fun.

We begin the yummy, finger-lickin' season with Raccoon Tales by Paul Vincent Davis, performed by PST artist-in-residence Brad Shur, which, we think, will inspire you to create a family folklore of your own - with the help of some tribal tricksters, of course.

About the Show...

What better way to bring in the holiday season with a show inspired by Native American tales of the Seneca Tribe?  That's right!  Thanksgiving's (basically) just around the corner and we're celebrating with Raccoon Tales.  Based on tales such as "How the Fox and the Raccoon Trick Each Other," "Why the Blue Jay is Blue and the Gray Wolf Isn’t," and "Why the Bear has a Stumpy Tail," Raccoon Tales is guaranteed to get you in a "thankful" mood.

Yes, see what happens when the animals from the forest play tricks on each other. Will they learn their lessons? Boy, we hope so because!

Its History...

Although our artist-in-residence Brad Shur is performing Raccoon Tales this week, the show was first created by Paul Vincent Davis in the late 60's - one of the six shows commissioned by the New York Town/Park Department.  Drawing inspiration from a humorous collection of Native American tales called Skunny Wundy, written by Arthur C. Parker, Paul prepared the show in a year, with puppet making help from friend, Karen Larson.

The "Inspiration"

Of course, the show due at PST this week is Paul's third revision.  That's right.  Paul loved Raccoon Tales so much - more than the other five shows he was commissioned to do - that he thought, "Let me make some changes.  So, how did the show change?  Well, it used to be that the puppets were glove puppets with Styrofoam heads, but then Paul changed them into glove puppets with paper mache heads - all handcrafted with faux fur.

Paul's Hand Puppets

You may be wondering: why glove puppets?  Well, in case you didn't know, they're Paul's signature - his "thing."  For the longest time, he's been fascinated by glove puppets because they're the hardest puppets to manipulate.  Seems strange, right, to enjoy something so challenging?  Wrong.  Paul loves a challenge - and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that.  As a puppeteer, he believes in communicating through movement - to use a puppet's entire body to showcase what it feels about what it's saying - and it takes a lot of work to do so with glove puppets.  Of course, Paul's so invested in his work - studying his art - that he's, in a way, mastered it.

Paul, performing an earlier version of Raccoon Tales

Now, when Paul handed down Raccoon Tales to Brad, he was a little nervous, not because he thought Brad was a "bad" puppeteer but because he was asking him, this other person, to do the show in his voice.  One of the reasons why Paul was so invested in Raccoon Tales during its earlier run was because he wrote the script using his own sense of humor - his own voice.  Of course, after meeting Brad and seeing how much of a fast-thinker he is, Paul gave him his blessing.

And the Man Behind the Raccoon...

Paul is widely recognized as one of the foremost hand puppeteers in the country.  Not to mention, he's a great artist, writer, etc.

One of Paul's sketches

Paul joined the PST team in 1977 as its artist-in-residence and has been part of its history since then.  He has received many awards, including four "Citations of Excellence in the Art of Puppetry" from UNIMA-USA (the highest award given in puppetry) and the distinguished President's Award from Puppeteers of America.  In addition to performing, Paul has taught at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.  Pretty impressive, eh?  Well, he's also served as a faculty member and on the Board of Overseers for the Institute of Professional Puppetry Arts at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre.  With a resume like this, we're proud to call Paul "family!"

Paul, surrounded by clowns (literally)

Oh, and be sure to keep your eyes open!  Paul's been writing a book - working title Glove Puppets: Fantasy and Realism Hand in Hand.  "It's almost done," he says.  There was a minor setback when his computer lost the pages, but our wonderful artist-in-residence Brad Shur saved every file.  The finished work is being proofread, so we hope to see it on shelves soon!

And Finally...

Be sure to come on down to PST this week to see Raccoon Tales.  Tickets can be purchases online HERE.

Till next time!  Yours truly, Esra Erol - marketing intern at PST.

Food and Folktales at PST!

PST Feast of Food and Folktales 2012!
November 1 - December 2
View Show Calendar

With our Halloween Extravaganza coming to an end, we're getting ready for Thanksgiving - a special time that brings families together to share stories while enjoying yummy food!  Take a seat at our table as we present some of our favorite stories, each seasoned with a dash of food-themed fun!

THIS WEEK AT PST:

Raccoon Tales by Paul Vincent Davis, performed by Brad Shur, PST Artist-in-Residence
Thursday Nov 1 | 10:30 AM
Friday Nov 2 | 10:30 AM & 3 PM
Saturday and Sunday Nov 3 & 4 | 1 PM & 3 PM

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About the Show: The animals in the forest are always getting into trouble, playing tricks on each other. Will they learn their lessons? Three humorous tales inspired by the Native American tales of the Seneca tribe: "How the Fox and the Raccoon Trick Each Other," "Why the Blue Jay is Blue and the Gray Wolf Isn’t," and "Why the Bear has a Stumpy Tail." Recommended ages 4 & up. Hand puppets. Tickets: $12/general admission, $8/PST members.

About the Artist: Brad Shur, PST Artist-in-Residence, has been professionally involved in puppetry for over 10 years.  He first began as a performer with the Providence puppet and mask company Big Nazo while he was a student at the Rhode Island School of Design and has toured nationally with Wood & Strings Theatre, a marionette company out of Tennessee.  As a teaching artist, he teaches workshops and classes for students of all ages. 

The Clown Circus - only at PST!

THIS WEEK AT PST!

Wed	July 25	10:30am & 1pm
Thu	July 26	10:30am & 1pm
Fri	July 27	10:30am & 1pm
Sat	July 28	10:30am & 1pm

Step right up, and join us for a Circus this summer at PST! This isn't just an ordinary circus - it's a clown circus with beautiful and colorful hand crafted glove puppets made by PST's Artist in Residence Emeritus, Paul Vincent Davis.

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About the show: Clowns come in all shapes and sizes, but everything about them is larger-than-life. Join Dusty and his friends Pierrot, Zany and Guffaw for this fun, interactive variety show that features circus-inspired singing, dancing, storytelling and more!

Recommended for ages 3 & up.

About the performer: Brad has been professionally involved in puppetry for nearly 10 years. He first began as a performer with the Providence puppet and mask company Big Nazo while a student at the Rhode Island School of Design and has toured nationally with Wood & Strings Theatre, a marionette company out of Tennessee. Brad recently finished working with the Vermont PuppetTree as a freelance puppet designer and performer.

He has experience in teaching workshops and classes for students of all ages and hopes to be known in the future as an Arts Educator. Brad has a passion for performance and describes his style as “carnival barker” driven by interactive audience dialogue.

He is thrilled to join the Puppet Showplace Theatre as its Artist in Residence!

Meet the Puppets on Display @ PST

Did you know that the Puppet Showplace Theatre is home to the hand-made puppets of some of the area's best-loved puppeteers? It's true! Next time you're at the theatre, look up – they're all around you, displayed up above the Puppet Store in our lobby.

Here are just some of the puppets you're bound to find.

Hummingbird created by Eric Bornstein (puppet in the background created by Paul Vincent Davis)

Betsy and other Cranberry Puppets created by Puppet Showplace Theatre founder Mary Churchill



Rob Roy created by Paul Vincent Davis

Lion created by Puppet Showplace Theatre founder Mary Churchill, shown with a friend of the Showplace, Jim Henson

Puppets Now on Display @ PST: Punch & Judy

This season, the Puppet Showplace Theatre is excited to display posters and puppets depicting and portraying the irascible – and ancient – puppet duo of Punch and Judy. Did you know that Punch and Judy is one of the oldest puppet shows still being performed today? It's true. The show is over 400 years old... and we thought the Puppet Showplace Theatre has been around a long time!

The next time you join us for a show, make sure to look up at the walls all around the theatre. Until then, here's a peek at what you'll find.

Judy & Baby by Paul Vincent Davis


Punch & Dog by Paul Vincent Davis


Punch & Judy by Nancy Laverick