Had a phenomenal experience this year at the Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival - in their sixth year offering over 100 performances and events from puppeteers worldwide.
In one week I made new friends from Finland, Australia, Mexico and China, saw performances by puppeteers from Norway and Kenya, connected with longtime online puppet friends I got to meet in person for the first time, got to practice my Spanish from a college minor 20 years ago while building a giant puppet and practice my salsa from dance classes 10 years ago all night to a live brass band at a gala (in hiking boots, no less)!
Puppeteers are some of the nicest people and it was so great to learn and connect with so many, I just wish I had more time to talk with every one of them - especially in the workshop when I barely looked up from making the puppet!
Two years ago I got to work and perform with Bread and Puppet Theater, and this year working with La Liga Teatro Elástico felt a lot like that in how they engage the community - with an adult workshop teaching us giant puppet builds and a workshop for kids building bird puppet and wolf masks and letting all of us perform alongside them with a large brass band.
Their beautiful and imaginative puppets and ingenious design reminded me of Handspring Puppet Company but with so many beautiful elements mixed in, like rattles to play along with the music or a rig that could make the deer fart at the wolves. Just working with Iker Vicente and Alberto - two masters at their craft, who were also so collaborative and worked with our ideas and added their own - who were so careful to make sure everyone in the workshop had a chance to speak as we discussed puppetry and materials and our own personal connection to the materials - it was so great to see how they worked with us and each other and in creating such beautiful chaos, helping us build giant moving puppets from bamboo and leading a parade down the street with music and kids tied along a string with the wolf puppeteers helping them howl following the deer playing with the audience as we all danced for such a fun huge crowd who came out in the cold Chicago weather to see it - it was an experience I'll never forget and hope to recreate in my own small way here with all the tools and lessons learned this week!
Photo by Alex Griffin
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