puppetry

[Angela Toucan]

I've always been fascinated by puppets. I remember making finger puppets and shadow puppets a lot as a child. Then there are marionettes, sock puppets and other hand puppets. Such a wide range. I absolutely adored puppet shows.

I was surprised to discover a few years ago that some people have a strong dislike or even fear of them

How about you? DO you like or dislike them?

I still have a marionette upstairs that I was given in my preteens. I keep meaning to get it down and do some repairs and play. Making a puppet one day is on my "bucket list".

My youngest is a puppeteer using hand puppets and is also quite good at ventriloquism. She has a lot of "friends" in her room. She leads a small team of puppeteers in the local community. Her dad had to go with her when she started as she was under 16, so he's joined them. They have rehearsals tonight for a show on Sunday. My husband wrote the script and I've made the scenery and props.

Do you or someone in your family have any puppets? Do you have local puppet shows you can watch?

 

[StefanieS]

We don't have puppets, the kids enjoyed watching the shows when they were small.
I don't know of any puppet shows anymore.

 

[jk703]

I lean on the they kind of freak me out. In my mind, they remind me of old dolls in scary movies, especially the old paper mache puppets. I get a bunch of creepy feelings. I do realize I like the more mainstream ones, like Muppets. But they aren't really around anymore.

No one in my family has puppets (but we are all older, and no little kids/toy puppets) and I don't think we have a true puppet show... I googled and I see some based out of NYC and NJ... but they are really only ones that travels and are for hire. Not a true show, per se.

 

[Memaw2Wm]

I have my grandfather’s hand puppets … I’m not sure, but I think he bought them to entertain me and my sisters BITD. I have a hand puppet that I made in school … papier-mâché head and a felt body.

My sisters and I used to put on puppet shows.

it’s been years, but I gone on field trips to, and taken my grandchildren to the Children’s Theater @ Glen Echo Park (https://glenechopark.org/childrenstheater) to see puppet shows.

 

[umyesh]

I like them but have only watched a few puppet shows at our local library.

Do you or someone in your family have any puppets?
We had finger puppets long ago but I have no idea where they ended up. I also grew up with one lamb hand puppet.

Do you have local puppet shows you can watch?
Only the ones at the library that I’m aware of.

 

[cfile]

I always loved puppets. I had the hand puppets as a kid and we had a Jerry Mahoney Ventriloquist dummy too growing up.. My Mom would do it really well with our "Jerry"... My next door neighbor had marionets and when they moved (it was my doctor too!) about 30 min away, we would always get the last appointment of the day so we could visit, as he had his office in his new home. I would hang with his daughters (my friends) and play with their marionettes!

I always loved watching Thunderbirds too growing up and then of course the section of the Sound of Music with the marionettes of the goats etc always fascinated me.

Creepy puppets are a no go

@Angela Toucan I love hearing about your children's puppetry. So fascinating!

As far as local puppetry shows I have never checked but I do not believe so.

 

[HeatherB2]

Creepy puppets are also a no go for me!

Both my boys had hand puppet stuffies that they would sleep with at night when they were very little. I remember going into my boys' rooms and seeing their puppets on their hands as they were fast asleep, all cuddled up to their hand puppet, and thinking "awww"!

 

[tanteva]

How to tell you're British without telling your British.

Only time I've ever seen puppets iscin British crkme shows.