This hands-on crash course will give you the quickest, most essential short-cuts used by puppeteers to create the illusion of life. Participants will learn how to place their instincts directly into their hands so the object they are holding can vividly breath, live, move, react, and emote. First with simple cloth puppets, and then with the added challenge of “muppet style” speech. We will learn economy of movement, a puppet’s law of gravity, and how best to give your audience exactly what they need to see - when they need to see it.
Let’s bring your puppets alive!
This is an adults only workshop.
Nov 15 | 1pm - 3pm
Alternate date:
Nov 16 | 1pm - 3pm
About Mike:
Mike Petersen is a Dora Award-nominated puppet artist who has performed around the world with such companies as Mermaid Theatre, The Edinburgh Puppet Company, Poland’s Teatr Arlekin, Kaleidoscope Theatre, and Theatre Beyond Words. He directed the puppetry for the first Canadian production of Avenue Q, and his tabletop show A Short History of Niagara is a mainstay of the outdoor series at Shaw Festival. Screen credits include Fraggle Rock, Labyrinth, The Mighty Jungle, Toopy & Binoo, the Emmy-nominated preschool series Miss Persona, and Go Togo for CBC-Gem. As a puppet teacher Mike has worked alongside Graham Whitehead at Mermaid Theatre, Seanna Kennedy and Bruce Dow at Lower Ossington Theatre, Allen MacInnis at YPT, and Lynda Hill at WeeFestival. He has also developed curriculums for Sheridan College, Humber College, The Canadian College of Performing Arts, and The Toronto School of Puppetry.
