Workshops, Performances & Kids Corner

Come enjoy a day of fun and puppetry with the Puppetry Arts Guild of Utah (PAGU) as they present the 20th Annual Utah Puppetry Festival. Click here to download and print the registration form.  Registration and payment for workshops and tickets for the performances are now available by calling (801) 225-ARTS, in person from 10am-6pm weekdays at the main office of the SCERA Center for the Arts.

WORKSHOPS

9:00am-2:30pm
Advance Registration: $15 (includes all workshops)
At the Door: $20 (includes all workshops)
Some workshops may have an additional materials fee. 

There are classes for adults and kids that  include the following workshops and more.

 

 

Click here to download and print the registration form.  This form is where you will choose what specific workshops you want to attend.  If you order by phone, please be prepared to choose your workshops.  If you order online, you will still need to bring the completed form to the main office at the SCERA Center or you can fax it to (801) 225-2507. 

• Wannabe Puppets

 

 

• Toe Sock Marionettes
• Puppet Stages
• Wide Mouth Puppets
• TV Puppetry
• Puppet Manipulation
• Rod Puppets
• Puppets for Storytelling 

 

 

 

This year we are offering classes for our littlest puppeteers. While parents are off in their workshops, children ages 4-8 will be able to learn to make simple puppets and puppet related crafts in their own class.  Parent(s) must be registered and on premises.  Click here to download and print registration form. This form is where you will choose what specific workshops you want to attend.  If you order by phone, please be prepared to choose your workshops.  If you order online, you will still need to bring the completed form to the main office at the SCERA Center or you can fax it to (801) 225-2507.

Session #1: 10:15-11:15am
Session #2: 11:30-12:30pm
Session #3: 1:30-2:30pm
$5.00 per session or $12 for all three sessions.

PERFORMANCES
3:00-5:00pm
$5 Adult, $3 Child (age 3-11)
SCERA Showhouse II 

Don’t miss The Great Puppet Follies, a puppet variety show featuring performances by puppeteers from all over the state of Utah.

 

 

 

We are also pleased to announce that our headline performer will be

 

 

The Fratello Marionettes. The Fratello Marionettes produce high quality marionette shows using the “cabaret style” of manipulation. In this truly American style the puppet and puppeteer perform in full view of the audience. Their shows present intricately handcrafted marionettes that range in size from one foot to three feet tall. Shows are geared for children of all ages, and some of our work is performed without dialog. These music-based programs are designed to surmount the language barrier. Founder Kevin Menegus developed his unique style of puppetry while performing throughout the world. Kevin has studied with puppeteers Tony Urbano, Bob Baker, Randall Metz and Lewis Mahlmann. 

The Fratello Marionettes will also perform on Friday, April 29th @ 3pm.  Tickets for this performance are $3.00/person.  This would be a great performance for home school famlies to enjoy!

 

 

The Great Puppet Follies – Puppet Variety show had record attendance Saturday evening at the wonderful theater in the SCERA. We’d like to thank Nat Reed and his SCERA team for their management of the lights, sound, and stage. And, of course, we are so thankful for all of the performers, especially Kerry Summers, and our headliner Freddie Spencer, for their wonderful performances and hard work.

The Daily Herald has a short video review of the Festival: SCERA hosts puppetry festival

Check here at UtahPuppetry.com regularly for other puppetry events and guild activities throughout the year, and we’ll see you all next year at the SCERA Center for the Arts for PuppetFest 2011!

Here are a few photos:

The board met on September 20, 2008 to discuss guild business and we laid out plans for the coming year. As many of you already know, the Utah Wyoming Puppetry Guild is now known as the Puppetry Arts Guild of Utah, or PAGU (pronounced “pa-joo”.)Non-profit incorporation plans are on track and are being handled by Nat Reed.
Change in dues

We have reduced the cost of membership in the Puppetry Arts Guild of Utah. Emailing our newsletters has practically eliminated the need for postage, so we felt a reduction in dues was warranted. We will still mail to those without a computer if we know who they are. If you want to become a member, please send a check for $10 for your 2009 annual membership to:

Carla Schulz

P.O.BOX 115

Paradise, UT 84328

Please join before the end of this year or your name will be purged from our files. Our fiscal year begins on January 1 and runs for the calendar year.

Next meeting: October 11, 2008

We are working on a more sophisticated plan for advertising and promotion of our guild and our events and workshops, so we will be video-taping footage on Saturday October 11th between 10:30 am and 12:30 pm at the Orem Public Library. Come prepared to perform a tiny segment of your best show. A montage of guild puppeteers will be put together from these bits. We would like to keep things simple and use the stage that is available at the library. If your show has special staging requirements, be prepared to set up your own stage, but keep in mind that we will only tape about a minute of your work.

We video-taped many of you at our last workshop and that video will be available soon on our website and for use on community access television.

Puppets on display: April 3rd, 2009

This year, our annual workshop will be preceded by a month-long puppetry exhibit, beginning April 3rd at Jeff Cobabe’s gallery in Salt Lake City.

Bring your best puppets for display! All members who are current on their dues are eligible to display their puppetry art. We are evaluating the number and type of pedestals that will be available. Puppets that the public can interact with would be a welcome part of the exhibit, but is not mandatory because it is hard to monitor. It is up to you to encase your puppets in plexiglass display boxes if you do not want them to be touched. Photos or sketches should be mounted, or better yet, framed and wired for display.

Friday night, April 3rd will be the opening night of the show, and we will hold our annual business meeting to elect new officers then.

18th Annual Utah Puppetry Festival: April 25th. 2009

Our workshop will be held on April 25th and will also be held at Jeff Cobabe’s gallery space. Nat Reed will be our festival director. We are setting up the classes now, so if there’s something you want to teach, contact Nat Reed with the information: (801) 259-6040 or nat@utahmarionette.org

It takes a lot of work to put on our annual festival, so you are encouraged to help in any way you can.

So far, the following classes will be offered:

* Millicent Lewis – Urethane Foam Puppet Demo

* Susan Neidert – Talking Tube Puppets – $5

* Joe Flores – Gorilla Marionette – $1

* Nat Reed – Marionette Performance and Discussion

The guild is considering booking a big name puppet show and suggestions are welcome.

Pioneer Craft House

The Pioneer Craft House offers classes to the community, and guild members in good standing are free to offer to teach paid classes. PAGU reserves the right to monitor the content and quality of these classes. We will elect a guild liaison who will coordinate our use of these facilities.

The Craft House is available to us for guild performances as well as our regular monthly meetings. Monthly meetings will be held during the fair-weather months. Winter meetings should be held locally by each county/geographical area, to minimize having to drive in uncertain weather.

Puppets in the Park

PAGU is in the process of developing a “Puppets in the Park” event in cooperation with the Covey Arts Center in Provo. This one day event will be in June or July and will be patterned after the Storytelling Festival. We anticipate having sponsored tents, and a food court. All input should be directed to Joe Flores.

Guild Officers

o Joe Flores – President

o Jeff Cobabe – Salt Lake County VP

o Susan Neidert – Northern Utah VP

o Lorie Hawley – St. George VP

o Mark Sage – Weber County VP

o OPEN – Utah County VP

o Millicent Lewis – Secretary/Newsletter

o Carla Schulz – Treasurer

o Jonathan Max – Webmaster

We encourage all of our members to join Puppeteers of America. We are working on getting our Puppeteers of America charter so all guild officers must be P of A members in good standing.

Members in the News

Millicent Lewis was a delegate to the National Democratic Convention held in Denver in August and received national attention because of her Uncle Sam puppet. So much for crazy hats at conventions, puppets rule!

Millicent Lewis with Uncle Sam and Kurt Bestor at Enesco Field 2008

Upcoming Shows

TBA

Puppet announcements should be sent to Millicent Lewis

http://utahpuppetry.com/17th-annual-puppetry-workshops-variety-show/

The workshops in past years have been a blast. Watch for pictures and video from the event here on the Utah Puppetry blog after the 26th. Hope to see you there!

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Welcome to the wonderful world of puppetry in Utah!