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Planning, Shooting and Editing; How to Make Movies with Puppets.

Saturdays March 29 & April 5 in-person 10:30 to 5:30 at Puppetmongers Studio.  Plus Saturday April 12 – online Zoom 10.30 to noon, solo work, then Zoom again at 4.30.

Fee: TBA

Learn how to make movies with puppets, from story-boarding to post-production – by DOING IT! This class is a 3-days one; two in-person in studio, and the last day is online with two Zoom sessions and some offline independent work. By the end, you’ll have made a short puppet film!

The image on the right is of one of Robin’s film sets.

Robin is a whimsical storyteller, puppet builder and performer at festivals and events. She makes short films, organizes online and in-person Puppet Slams, and teaches puppet building & performing workshops. RoRo Art is her toy-making business, and Puppet What What is the irrepressible sock puppet who bosses her around. www.youtube.com@sockpuppety

 with Ann and Davidof Puppetmongers – in person in Toronto – 5 evenings: Monday May 12^th through to Friday May 16^th, 5:30 to 9:00 p.m.

 Fee: $375 (materials included)

Tabletop puppetry is a technique that has been evolving in the West ever since the first international tours of Japan’s Bunraku Theatre Company. Having spent fifty years developing their own version of this style of puppetry, Puppetmongers have generated a great store of information, techniques and skills. In this workshop, Puppetmongers Ann and David will help participants design, construct, dress, and manipulate their own puppet figures in this form of puppetry.

Some previous experience with saws, tools and sewing required.

Ann and David started their puppetry journey when they were kids, with marionettes from the Pelham Puppet Company, and in their teens started making their own. They founded Puppetmongers Theatre in 1974, and have toured the world and received many awards for their innovative theatrical productions.

With Ann of Puppetmongers – in-person – May 3rd & 4th, 10.30 to 5.30 daily

Fee: $200 (materials included) 

Making and performing Toy Theatre was a popular at-home activity in the 19^th century. Now this theatrical form is enjoying a resurgence in popularity, with artists exploring its unlimited potential in the context of contemporary theatre.

Workshop participants will transform ordinary cardboard boxes into magnificent miniature theatres, complete with little puppet actors, and scenery that rolls, folds or flies, and all kinds of wonderful theatrical surprises.

As co-artistic director of Puppetmongers Theatre, Ann has been playing with puppets of all kinds and creating critically acclaimed new works for audiences of almost all ages with her brother David, since they established the company in 1974. Outside of Puppetmongers, Ann collaborates on projects with other theatre companies and artists, and teaches puppetry arts in universities, colleges and schools. She has also illustrated books for children and written one, and was a founding member of Kids Can Press.

With Puppetmongers / Ann & David

In-person in Toronto – 5 evenings: Monday April 14^th through to Friday April 18^th, 5:30 to 9:00 p.m. Fee: $400 (materials included)

The goal of this workshop is to teach the essentials of marionette making, with Ann and David guiding each participant through the building, costuming, stringing and animation of their own marionette. We will explore character development and design, simple woodworking and jointing, the basics of costuming, and bringing your character to life.

Ann and David started their puppetry journey when they were kids, with marionettes from the Pelham Puppet Company, and in their teens started making their own.  They founded Puppetmongers Theatre in 1974, and have toured the world and received many awards for their innovative theatrical productions. Nowadays they seldom work with string puppets, but have retained and honed their interest in this classic form.

With by David Powell of Puppetmongers

in-person in Toronto – 5 evenings: Monday March 17^th through to Friday March 21^st, 5:30 to 9:00 p.m. Fee: $375 (materials included)

This workshop will immerse you in shadow puppetry: in the living traditions and contemporary methods and technology.  It will be hands-on, focusing on shadow in theatrical work as fabricated actors (puppets), as powerful images, and for kinetic set design.  Participants will design and build shadow puppets, explore animation techniques and light sources, and work together to develop a short piece.

As a co-founder of Puppetmongers Theatre in 1974, with his sister Ann, David has toured world-wide, and received many awards in Canada and the USA. He co-founded the Toronto School of Puppetry in 1996, for adult enrichment, and has taught puppetry arts at many universities, colleges and schools across Canada.

Kathy McLellan & John Nolan of Ottawa’s Rag & Bone Puppet Theatre

Half day workshop at Puppetmongers Studio, Toronto: April 26th, from 2 to 4.30 p.m. Fee: $60 (materials included)

We’ll make masks or puppets out of a durable, tear-resistant felt called Flexi-firm. We love using this stiff fabric for masks, props and puppets because it can be sewn or glued, then painted or coloured using a variety of materials. Participants will then work in small groups to create a short presentation.

John Nolan and Kathy MacLellan, of Rag & Bone Puppet Theatre, have created twenty shows, toured, and worked in TV since 1978, earning an ACTRA award and a Citation of Excellence in the Art of Puppetry from UNIMA.

with David Lane

In-person at Puppetmongers studio, Toronto – February 28th, March 1st & 2nd – from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily.   Fee: $375 plus materials

This 3-day workshop offers an opportunity to explore flat plane carving techniques echoing the ideas developed by early 20^th century Scandinavian artist Axel Petersson Doderhultarn, whose work influenced generations of carvers in Europe and the US.

Carving locally sourced basswood, we’ll sculpt expressive puppet heads & hands — the bases for each participant to construct either a Polish-style kukiełka or European style glove puppet. We’ll complete our puppets with a simple fabric body and watercolour paint.

David is a two-time Jim Henson Foundation Grant recipient, and was a founding member of the Old Trout Puppet Workshop. He is the co-Director of the New England Puppet Intensive and teaches a yearly workshop in puppet carving at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art.  www.davidlane-theatre.com

with Tim Gosley and Sophie Fuldauer 

In-person if in Victoria, BC – February 16th & 23rd from 10 – 11:30 am Pacific Time.  Online if elsewhere: Mountain 11 am – 12:30 pm / Central 12 – 1:30 pm / Eastern 1 to 2:30 pm/ Atlantic 2 to 3:30/ Newfoundland 2:30 pm – 4pm. Fee: $200

This 2 session Zoom & live workshop explores recent discovered techniques for live video table performances.  These include backlighting, computer-controlled cutting machines, multi-level animation table, and $-store special effects.

Session 1: show & tell with talk back.  Session 2: presentation of projects. Some shadow puppetry involved. Live participants get additional exploration time in studio.

Tim Gosley has experimented with live video projection since the late 1980s. In 2024, two projects, Letters to Rumi by Meharoona Ghani, and poems from Platero and I by Juan Ramón Jiménez with classical guitarist Jacob Cordover, pushed his parameters for new discoveries.  He puppeteered for Jim Henson on the original Fraggle Rock; was Basil Bear on Canadian Sesame Street; and won a Gemini award for Wumpa’s World.

Materials required:  cell phone (both the light & video camera), props, puppets & basic craft supplies from around your house.    Document projector if you have one.

 

 

 

TORONTO SCHOOL OF PUPPETRY

Winter & Spring 2025 Programs Registrations

 

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A MOUTH PUPPETRY INTENSIVE

$625 CDN for the course plus $65 for materials = $690 total.  There is only space for 12 participants, so sign up soon!   If you are interested in this course, please email Kanja at puppetguy_2001@yahoo.com

Monday November 25^th, from 5 to 9 p.m. – Instructor Mike Petersen                    To kick off this film and television Intensive, Mike Petersen will place his fleet of soft “trainer puppets”  onto your hands and give you the simplest tricks he knows – the short-cuts to bestowing life and creating the illusion of thought. You’ll learn the basics of lip-sync and gestures, and we’ll develop a vocabulary of camera-ready movements and emotions. In short: we’ll talk the talk and walk the walk!

Tuesday November 26^th to Friday 29^th, 5 to 9 p.m.– Instructor Kanja Chen      Have you ever wanted to build your very own professional puppet? Do you love creating animal puppets and want to learn skills that will help you design a whole cast of characters? Look no further; welcome to The Furry Friends Puppet Building Workshop! Led by professional puppeteer and puppet builder Kanja Chen of Fraggle Rock fame, this workshop will guide you through the entire process of designing and fabricating your own furry animal puppet. Over four evenings, you’ll learn about design, materials, tools, pattern-making, cutting, sewing, gluing, and adding unique features to bring your puppet character to life.

Saturday November 30^th, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. – Instructor, Kanje Chen          Join Kanja for a “puppetastic” day of puppetry television monitor work for film and television, using the puppet characters you’ve just built. Through hands-on exercises, games and lessons, you’ll learn to bring your puppets to life in engaging and technically sound ways—skills sure to elevate your next project. Applications to enrole in just this Saturday class can be made to Kanja – please email Kanja at puppetguy_2001@yahoo.com

THE INSTRUCTORS’ IMPRESSIVE BIOS

Mike Petersen has performed with Mermaid Theatre, Festival Antigonish, Kaleidoscope Theatre, Poland’s Teatr Arlekin, Theatre Direct, Theatre Beyond Words, YPT, and Shaw Festival. Film and television credits include Fraggle Rock, Labyrinth, Toopy and Binoo Vroom Vroom Zoom, The Mighty Jungle, and the Emmy-nominated pre-school series Miss Persona.

Kanja Chen is a puppeteer, producer and writer who has worked on Emmy-winning Fraggle Rock: Back to the Rock (AppleTV+), The Boys (Amazon Prime), The Fabulous Show with Fay & Fluffy (Family Jr.), and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (CBS). Kanja currently writes, performs and produces for CBC’s brand-new preschool series Go Togo!