After three years long break Dream Tale Puppets is bringing puppetry presentations to Woods Hole again. Join us on:
Tuesday, July 11th
for “Badger Meets the Fairies”
by Margaret Moody Puppets,
Monday, July 17th
for “The Twig Family in the Oak Tree”
by Deborah Costine Nature Puppets,
Tuesday, August 8th
for “Alice, or the Red King’s Dream”
by Dream Tale Puppets,
and on Tuesday, August 15th
for “Jack and the Beanstalk”
by Dream Tale Puppets.
All presentations start at 5:00 pm.
The admission fee is $12 paid at the door (cash only).
Woods Hole Community Hall address is 68 Water St, Woods Hole, MA 02543. Arrive early to find the parking space.
Tuesday, July 11th
Badger Meets the Fairies
by Margaret Moody Puppets
In this show, Mr. Badger is thrilled to meet Blossom, a flower fairy, in the garden. He flies away with her to help the fairies build a playground, but complications arise: the fairies won’t use cement, and Mr. Badger wants to learn to fly. This gentle tale is based on European fairy lore. Puppets, sets and music work together in the show to evoke a woodland garden. Fairy puppets and sets for their garden were built by visual artist Sandra Pastrana alongside Margaret Moody. Alison Plante of the Berklee School of Music composed an original score for the piece based on Celtic melodies. If you see Margaret perform as a solo artist, you will hear Alison’s melodies.
“Badger Meets the Fairies” is best for ages 4 to 10, and lasts 40 minutes.
Margaret Moody studied traditional Taiwanese puppetry with the I Wan Jan Troupe in Taiwan and often uses its lively choreography and small puppets in her presentations of Chinese and European folktales through Galapagos Puppets, a troupe she founded in 1987 with Madeleine Beresford. She performs solo as Margaret Moody Puppets, employing traditional hand puppetry to introduce her audiences to the humorous and instructive adventures of gentle trolls, lovely fairies, and kind farm and forest animals. As a Dream Tale Puppets’ member, Margaret performs in the theatre’s two earlier shows and partners with Jacek in “Alice, or the Red King’s Dream”.
Monday, July 17th
The Twig Family in the Oak Tree
by Deborah Costine Nature Puppets
“The Twig Family in the Oak Tree” is an upbeat, tender story about a family of imaginary “twig” people who live in harmony with nature; they are Leaf, Fern, and their daughter Mossy. The Oak Tree provides them with everything they need to live and be happy. It is their home; they grind the acorns into dough for bread, they collect rainwater to drink and the leaves give them oxygen for fresh air—AND it’s a fun place to live! What a surprise when they receive a visit from a very nervous “cousin Lawn,” who is determined that they should leave their home!
The stage is constructed entirely of papier mache. The Twig Family people are free-standing “puppets” that are moved around the different places in the tree, just as a child plays and creates stories.
The show runs about 45 minutes and is recommended for ages 3 and up
Since 1974, Debbie has been one half of the well-known “Gerwick Puppets,” touring throughout New England at schools, libraries, museums, and events such as First Night Boston. She wrote scripts with her partner Lenny Gerwick, and over the past 30 years, she has made over two hundred puppets! The Gerwick Puppets have presented more than 5,000 performances to over a million children.
Besides her work with “Gerwick,” Debbie designs, constructs, and performs solo shows. Titles include “The Three Pigs and Other Tales,” “A Woodland Cinderella” (the production which received the UNIMA U.S.A. Citation for Excellence, the highest award for puppetry in North America), and “The Twig Family in the Oak Tree.” For lower elementary grades, “Turtle’s Wetland Quest” reflects Debbie’s growing interest in the environment and the value of being connected to the outdoors.
Tuesday, August 8th
Alice, or the Red King’s Dream
by Dream Tale Puppets
“Alice, or the Red King’s Dream” invites audiences to a world of fantasy, make-believe, and play where at the beginning, two vagabond-like characters bring to life the puppet of a little girl. They call her Alice and set her on a journey to find her lost kitten. Alice enters a world of puzzles inhabited by talking flowers and a jumble of characters from Lewis Carroll’s stories. Each of Alice’s encounters—some nonsensical, some scary, others whimsical—challenges her sense of reality and sense of self. As the audience follows the heroine and enjoys deciphering theatrical puzzles, Alice strives to make sense of the events and to find her way to her lost kitten.
Puppeteers use tabletop, figure, and rod puppets, altogether about twenty-five puppets of various sizes and types.
The show is about 60 minutes long and is recommended for ages 5 and up.
Dream Tale Puppets was founded in Falmouth in 2003 by Jacek Zuzanski, a puppetry artist, actor, stage director, and theatre teacher. As a Cape Cod resident, he has worked at or collaborated with the local cultural and educational organizations which supported the development of Dream Tale Puppets and its programs. The theatre produces quality original puppetry performances and educational programs, and, in cooperation with partnering organizations, also presents other puppetry artists.
For “Alice, or the Red King’s Dream,” Dream Tale Puppets’ founder would be accompanied by Margaret Moody.
Tuesday, August 15th
Jack and the Beanstalk
by Dream Tale Puppets
“Jack and the Beanstalk” is a joyous, original adaptation of the classic tale about poor Jack who left home to sell his cow and returned with three magic beans. Jack’s daring adventure up the huge beanstalk helps him and his mother out of their difficult financial situation, even if his mother is a bit worried about the moral issues surrounding this unusual way to acquire wealth. The show is created in a Story and Puppet Time format where one performer (in this role Sarah Kane) provides narration and gives voices to the characters and a second actor (Jacek Zuzanski) performs in mask and operates hand puppets, figure puppets, and a marionette.
The show is 45 – 50 minutes long and is the best for the ages 4 to 10.
The series in Woods Hole Community Hall is sponsored by John Wesley United Methodist Church and supported in part by a grant from Woods Hole Foundation. We are grateful to Woods Hole Community Association for the opportunity to present the series in the Woods Hole Community Hall.
