Practical Puppetry A–Z

Puppetry is an exciting, flexible, malleable art form that can engage the creative forces of children or adults. Puppets can not only tell a story, they can be used to enhance the curriculum, present an idea or a concept in a compelling way, or teach any number of necessary skills. Children and adults presenting a puppet play are given a sense of their own inventive power.
This reference work offers an A to Z view of working with puppets. It covers everything from the basic strategies of advertising and marketing puppet productions, to assembling the puppets out of household materials such as paper bags, cereal boxes, or gloves, to the more elaborate sculpting of armatures. Stages, curtains and props are also discussed along with the history of puppetry. Numerous illustrations give a visual of many of the finished products. This work concludes with an annotated bibliography and index.

Carol R. Exner is a children’s librarian at the Parkwood Branch of the Durham County, North Carolina, library system. A member of Beta Phi Mu, the honor society for library students, she lives in Durham.

Carol R. Exner
Format: softcover (7 x 10)
Pages: 279
Bibliographic Info: photos, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2005
pISBN: 978-0-7864-1516-8
eISBN: 978-1-4766-0787-0
Imprint: McFarland

Acknowledgment      vii

Preface      1

African Puppetry      3

American Indian Puppetry      4

Apron Stages      5

Armatures      7

Assistants      9

Atlanta Center for Puppetry Arts      11

Audiences      12

Bag Puppets      13

Beaks      15

Beginners      16

Body Puppets      18

Bottle Heads and Puppets      20

Box Stages      22

Brush Puppets      25

Bunraku      27

Business of Puppetry      31

Cardboard Boxes      39

Cardboard Tube Sliding-Mouth Puppets      40

Cereal Box Puppets      41

Characters      44

Chinese Bag Puppet Theaters      45

Clothespin Puppets      47

Clubs      48

Comedy      50

Concept Puppets      51

Costumes      53

Courses      54

Craft Clays      55

Curtains      58

Dioramas      61

Directing Puppet Plays      62

Disabilities      64

Doorway Stages      66

Ears      68

Educational Puppetry      68

Egg Carton Puppets      70

Eyes      74

Festivals      76

Finger Puppet Theaters      77

Finger Puppets      78

Fist Puppets      80

Flannel Boards      81

Foam Rubber Puppets      83

Focus      85

Giant Puppets      87

Glove Puppets      90

Glue Gun Techniques      94

Grants and Internships      96

Greeting Card Theaters      97

Guignol      98

Hair and Wigs      99

Hamburger Box Puppets      101

Hand Puppets      102

Hands      111

Hands as Puppets      113

Hanging Stages      114

Hanging Toy Theaters      116

Hinges      120

History of Puppetry      122

India and Puppetry      126

Internet Links      128

Islamic Puppetry      129

Jumping Jacks      130

Junk Puppets      132

Karagoz      133

Life-Sized Puppets      135

Lighting      137

Limberjacks      139

Marionettes      139

Mask Puppets with Movable Mouths      145

Masks      147

Mime      149

Mouth Puppets      149

Mouths      153

Music      155

National Day of Puppetry      156

National Puppetry Conference      157

National Puppetry Festival      157

Noses      158

Object Theater      159

Paper Bag Theaters      160

Papier-Mâché      162

Peep Shows      165

Philosophy of Puppetry      168

Polymer and Air-Hardening Clays      169

Ponytail Holder Movable Mouths      170

Pop-Up Puppets      170

Practice      172

Preschoolers’ Puppets      174

Props      176

Punch and Judy      177

Puppet Corners      179

Puppet Gloves      180

Puppeteers      182

Puppeteers of America      183

Puppetools      183

Puppets Defined      185

Publications      186

PVC Puppet Stages      187

Rehearsal      188

Rod Puppets      190

Scenery      195

Sets of Basic Puppets      196

Shadow Puppet Screens      199

Shadow Puppets      202

Shelf-Sitter Puppets      205

Shoe Box Theaters      207

Sock Puppets      210

Sound Systems      212

Sponge Puppets      213

Spring-Legged Puppets      215

Stages      217

Stereotyping      221

Stick Puppets      222

Storage      225

Stories and Scripts      226

Stuffed Animal Puppets      231

Styrofoam Puppet Heads      233

Table Top Stages      234

Teeth      235

Therapy through Puppetry      236

Tissue-Mâché      237

Toy Theaters      239

Transformational Puppets      242

UNIMA and UNIMA-USA      243

University of Connecticut’s Puppetry Arts Program      244

Voices      246

Wayang      247

Whirling Disk Puppet Theaters      249

Wooden Puppet Heads      251

Wooden Spoon Puppets      252

Wrist Puppets      253

Annotated Bibliography      255

Index      265

“lively…an excellent resource”—Booklist; “well-written articles”—School Library Journal; “useful”—ARBA; “recommended”—The Australian Library Journal.