The Puppet Theater
The School of the Transfer of Energy Puppet Theater, established 2000.
Puppet theater is the beautiful and slightly rickety marriage of a multitude of art forms and craft coming together to communicate experience and story. This theater is a life long undertaking. It is constantly evolving as more effective ways of problem solving technology are discovered and wrought out of the former ones.
The stage in its present form in the above and below photos. In 2009 it received right and left stage wings as well as two new shadow screens and curtains. Older versions of the stage can be viewed further below.
The play, The Two Death’s of John Beartrist Laceroot, is an original, semi-auto-biographical account of the spiritual journey of John Beartrist Laceroot, commonly known as Walking Man. Part one has been performed since 2002 in a variety of venues in four states.
The play and theater were conceived as a traveling one-man show employing a variety of partially mechanized rod puppets, marionettes and shadow puppets. The project grew in complexity requiring the addition of one assistant puppeteer and an extra musician, usually a violinist.
A view of some of the under-stage controls.
A moving shadow projector.
red bellied woodpecker
red bellied woodpecker’s controls for wing and mouth.
Wichita Center for the Arts
Below is display of The Theatre and some of its puppet players and props from the show at The Wichita Center for the Arts in 2003.
Below are thumbnails of a few more image from the exhibition, which may be selected in order to view the full sized image. First a view of the theater itself with curtains down; the tree scene removed from the stage; Jonas, the narrator; the red bellied woodpecker which crowns Laceroot with cedar boughs.
Part one of the play closes as John Beartrist Laceroot turns into a tree. More to come….
A SHORT PHOTO ESSAY
Below is a short photo essay taken from various performances, and stages of construction. These are all scanned from 35mm photographic prints taken by Annie Stone, Kristen Hartsell Champion and Jack Baumgartner.
I love your work! I have enjoyed the idea of puppets for years but don’t like most of what I see. Your work is fantastic! Do you ever sell scripts?
Thank you Cheryl. Puppetry is a wonderful art form, and there are some really creative and wonderful puppeteers and theaters out there, but they are not always easy to discover. I am glad that you like my theater. I will be performing with it this April in Wichita, KS. I will post the information, so keep an eye out, although you may not be anywhere near Wichita.
I do have a script for part one of the play The Two Deaths of John Beartrist Laceroot. Even though it has been performed, It is kind of a living and evolving project. The script itself is fairly stable, but I am constantly re-working and improving many aspects of the performance- and gathering the ideas for part two. I will email you concerning the other part of your question.
Your exhibitions are super fresh! I am really liking the pine tree props and silhouette action you have going on. (I saw your show at KCAI…)
Really nice work. I travel through Kansas a couple of times a year and would love to see some of your work in person. Are you open to the idea of studio visits?
I am an artist based in St Louis. If you are interested in seeing the kind of things I make, there are some things on the web if you do a quick search (still behind on the website). Or I could send you a few images if you were so inclined.
I started my art education in printmaking and have slowly evolved more toward sculpture and installation. Last few years have been doing a considerable amount more woodworking. My girlfriend is an animator and painter and we have toyed with the idea of all manner of projects that I think share something in common with your work. She has organized a community parade event here and we’ve joked about a traveling old time road show.
Anyhow, great work.
Cameron Fuller