We’ve learned two things in our years of watching live puppet shows. 1) Puppets aren’t really for kids, they just look that way. And 2) When puppets decide to party, you’ll want to cover the eyes of anyone under the age of 18.
Which is why theatre lovers looking for an adult night out would do well to swing by the summer edition of the Vancouver Puppet Slam, dubbed “Skool’s in Session”, taking place this Friday at the Granville Island Revue Stage.
A party for puppets and the locals who create them, this “classroom” won’t be kid-friendly.
“People should expect it to be an adult show,” says co-organizer Jeny Cassady, with a laugh. “First of all, we are not able to edit anything, us who are organizing it. It’s in the vein of what you would see at a poetry slam, [so] people basically sign up and say I’m going to present something I’ve been working on.”
The brainchild of Cassady and fellow actor-puppeteers, Morris Chapdelaine (Stargate), Dusty Hagerüd (Lillian Code) and Fringe favourite Tara Travis (Til Death – The Six Wives of Henry VIII), the puppet slam is the second of two fundraisers for the inaugural Vancouver International Puppet Festival, which is bringing puppeteering talent from around the world to Vancouver this October.
Featuring local, national and international standouts in marionette puppetry, shadow puppetry, rod puppetry, hand puppetry, bunraku, clowning, and object puppetry, the festival represents a cross-section of the contemporary scene.
“We were putting it together and we thought, what would best suit our public? How can we best introduce puppets to our audience?” asks the Avenue Q and Imaginary Mary puppeteer. “ We’re very small – that’s why we’re doing a fundraiser – but we’re trying, and accomplishing, to get a nice small, little picture of puppetry as a whole.”
Meanwhile, at the slam, the audience will be treated to 10-minute sets by locals like Monster Theatre, Color Sound Lab, Carnival Sized Cinnamon Hearts, Stephanie Elgersma, Vancouver Puppet Theatre, Alison Ward, and Mind of a Snail.
The Granville Island Cultural Society has donated the venue for the night, and Cassady hopes events like this will help fill a void that she, and her fellow organizers, see in the local arts community.
“We’d been talking about how the city really needs something to do with puppeteering – the people need an outlet. [...] So it’s exciting for the puppet community to have a central place to play,” Cassady explains. “As the founders of the festival, we’re always getting questions from people: ‘Where can I learn how to puppeteer? Where are workshops? How can I get into the union? How can I perform? Where do I learn the craft?’ And it’s always a sad, sad thing to say, well, in Canada it’s very difficult to do that.
“We’re hoping that things like the slam and the puppet festival itself will create a better communication for the community and people interested in puppets.”
• Puppet Slam Summer Edition: Skool’s in Session takes place Aug. 26, 8pm at the Granville Island Revue Stage. Tickets $20 at Theatrewire.com
