Pennyworth at Lookingglass, written by ensemble member Doug Hara.
Chicago puppetry skin#
In devising and building puppet elements for playwright/director Mary Zimmerman and Lookingglass Theatre, Thomas makes use of a method known in-house as “open hand,” which is about laying bare the mechanism in real time behind spectacular creations like the giant squid in 2018’s 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea, or the massive boar-made of aluminum, very thin plywood, and a skin of mesh-and diminutive puppet of the female character Thomas built for a 20-minute scene of dialogue in Mr. Widening the circle of puppetry is crucial to Thomas as well, who has taught puppeteering and design at the School of the Art Institute for 30 years. Simple, transparent machinery complements the outreach Rough House practices through their winter puppet cabaret Nasty, Brutish & Short at Links Hall.
Chicago puppetry professional#
For years a small, close-knit community, the scene is concentrated on the inclusion of new voices and perspectives while at the same time upping the bar of quality and codifying itself into an ever more professional art form. It’s believed that Van Volkenburg coined the word “puppeteer” in her program notes to that staging.īrimming with energy after a long pandemic hiatus, Chicago puppet theater is undergoing a time of transition. The Festival and its workshop, the Chicago Puppet Lab, took up their new permanent residence this summer in the same building-and possibly the same set of rooms-where, in 1916, the Little Theatre under Ellen Van Volkenburg first performed its landmark all-marionette A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Over in the South Loop, at about the same time, Blair Thomas, doyen of Chicago puppetry, was realizing his own dream: opening the new offices of the Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival inside the Fine Arts Building on Michigan Avenue. Claire Saxe with one of the creations for Rough House Theater Co.’s House of the Exquisite Corpse. “It was the dream fully realized,” Oleon says. Oleon spent the day building ghouls and monsters in the property’s dedicated puppet garage.
Joey Meland, a musician friend working with puppets for the first time, had the use of Saxe and Oleon’s apartment on the second floor to play around with speakers and contact microphones. Grace Needlman, as what Saxe calls the show’s “puppet consultant,” crisscrossed the yard tinkering with prototypes. Lighting designer Connor Sale was in the attic studio with a mock-up of a puppet booth, experimenting. Rough House’s anthology production House of the Exquisite Corpse wouldn’t be opening at the Chopin Theatre for another three months, but there was plenty to do. headquarters at coartistic directors Claire Saxe and Mike Oleon’s home in Humboldt Park morphed into a puppet rehearsal palace. In July, as COVID-19 restrictions began to lift and the Chicago performing arts geared themselves up to resurrect, the Rough House Theater Co. Best of Chicago 2022: Sports & Recreation.
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