By Steve Abrams F
Puppetry for the Public SCENEEAST
rom Florida to Maine, dozens of East Coast puppeteers are doing amazing work keeping the art of puppetry in public view. This “Scene East” briefly profiles three remarkable artists and an
online festival. Puppetry Journal Cover: A Renaissance man of many talents, Schroeder Cherry performed at both the kid-friendly Saturday morning puppet shows and at the slam at the National Capital Puppet Guild Festival. He played with puppets as a kid growing up in Washington, DC. He has an undergraduate degree in fine arts and a PhD in museum education from Columbia University. He had long, productive careers as a museum educator. From 2002 to 2010, he was on the staff of the Institute of Museum and Library Services. Dr. Cherry has performed original shows with puppets in museums, libraries, and cultural centers for adults and children across the United States. Performances include Can You Spell Harlem?, The Land of Primary Color, and Underground Railroad, Not a Subway. His work was exhibited as part of the recent Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry exhibit Living Objects: African American Puppetry. He was the curator of the 1994 exhibit African and African-American Puppetry at the Center for Puppetry Arts in Atlanta. The Baltimore resident is a prolific visual artist. His acrylic paintings and multimedia work are represented in several galleries.
https://www.youtube. com/watch?v=FhdO4M2Gu3A Puppetworks is open. With more
than 60 years of experience, national treasure Nicolas Coppola, founder of Puppetworks, continues to inspire. After years of touring, in 1980 Nick began looking for a permanent theater location. Thirty years ago, Puppetworks opened in the lovely Park Slope neighborhood of Brooklyn. After closing for COVID-19, they opened again and presented Jack & the Beanstalk, September 26, 2020. The marionette heads are the work of
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Addis Williams and Wayland Flowers. The costumes are by Nick Coppola. In 1954 at the age of 19, Nick Coppola began working with Dorothy Zaconick’s Suzari Marionettes. The company evolved in 1962 with Nick as the artistic director of the Nicolo Marionettes. Todd Stockman’s profile of Nick in Puppetry Journal (Spring 1988) chronicled a few of the puppeteers mentored by Nick, including David Syrotiak, Pady Blackwood, and Martin P. Robinson. Vincent Anthony, the founding director of the Center for Puppetry Arts in Atlanta, said, “I couldn’t have chosen a better teacher/mentor
than Nick Coppola.” Wayland Flowers, creator of Madame, worked for Nicolo, and Nick was the director for Wayland’s off-Broadway show, Kumquats (1971). In the 1980s, Kevin Frisch worked with Puppetworks before founding his own company in Cincinnati in 1995. In 2011, Nick Coppola was honored with the Puppeteers of America President’s Award. Company managers Terry Smith and Jamie Moore have announced three productions for the 2021 season: Aladdin & the Wonderful Lamp, Little Red Riding Hood, and The Wizard of Oz. http://
www.puppetworks.org/Our%20History/ our%20history.htm
Jack & the Beanstalk by Puppetworks, adapted for marionettes by Nicolas Coppola. Photo courtesy of Puppetworks
Alex and Olmsted (Alex Vernon and Sarah Olmsted Thomas) have been making puppets together since 2010. Based in Takoma Park, Maryland, they created “Milo the Magnificent,” which dazzled audiences at the 2015 National Puppetry Festival at UConn. Milo performed in Canada, Denmark, and South Korea. Rising stars, Alex and Olmsted are “makers of original puppet works, physical theater, and mechanical wonder.” They were awarded a Jim Henson Foundation Grant in 2017. They are now serving on the board of the National Capital Puppetry Guild. They were splendid hosts for both the kid- friendly Saturday morning shows and the puppetry slam at the virtual National Capital Puppetry Festival. https://www.
alexandolmsted.com/
The National Capital Puppet Guild’s Puppetry Festival, August 21–23, 2020
Alex and Olmsted hosting National Capital Puppetry Guild Festival. Photo: Paul Gillis
Fifteen online events included seven workshops, a panel, a virtual field trip, an ice cream social, a potpourri, a Punch and Judy show, a slam, and two showings of a collection of “kid-friendly” shows. Acclaimed puppeteers Alex and Olmsted of Takoma Park, Maryland, served as hosts for the Saturday Morning Puppet Shows and for the Puppet Slam. The DC guild has always included Washington, Virginia, and Maryland. Nine
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