Orlando International Puppet Festival
Los Titiriteros de Binéfar El Hombre Cigüeña (The Stork Man)
A passer-by helped by rudimentary objects relates the story of the fish pond where a stork fishes. He believes himself to be a stork. Is he mad? He sings: I'm a robber, a bird on the wing, while I still have a single feather I'll keep flying. Charming animal rod puppets interact with live actors in this charming paean to the environment that stretches the boundaries of theatrical invention.
Bob Théâtre, Nosferatu (Dracula)
Nosferatu, an original adaptation of the Dracula story by Bob Théâtre, derives its inspiration from a variety of sources. Chief among them are Bram Stoker's Dracula and a variety of vampire movies. Bob Théâtre's production tells the familiar story of a young clerk who travels late one night to the castle of a mysterious count in Transylvania's Carpathian Mountains. He wakes the next morning with fresh wounds on his neck, and the story's events unfold from there. While the production does indeed tell the familiar vampire story, humor is as much a part of this production as suspense. The two-person production uses various objects - from light bulbs to coffee grinders - as puppets. They do magic tricks. They caricature famous characters from assorted vampire movies and also play off familiar cliches from such movies - such as ominously exaggerated violin and xylophone music at moments of high drama. As expressed by Montreal's Le Devoir, Bob Théâtre "creates a climate where laughter, horror and derision compete in front of the audience" and leaves them "squirm[ing] with pleasure."
Coad Canada Puppets, The Box? A Show of Feelings
In seven story-sequences the principal characters, a child and a dog, recreate in mime the eight emotions of Curiosity, Sadness, Frustration, Fear, Happiness, Anger, Loneliness, and Love. Each sequence is complete within itself yet the performance builds to a unified theatrical experience where each emotion is not just observed but is felt by the audience.
Compagnie La Pendue, Poli Dégaine (Punchy Draw)
Compagnie La Pendues Poli Dégaine is an interactive two-person puppetry production. As the production begins, the puppeteers proclaim their show will be exceptional. To support their proclamation, they attempt to introduce the most famous puppet in the world: Polichinelle, the traditional trickster character derived from Italian Commedia DellArte also known as: Pulcinella(Italy), Punch (England), Kaspar (Germany), and Karagoz (Greece). Unfortunately, Punchy does not want to cooperate. He refuses to interrupt his nap and play his part, and he wards off a variety of characters from the typical Polichinelle show the dog, the hen, the policeman, the devil, the hangman even his wife Dame Gigogne and their 22 children. He vanquishes all the puppets from the puppeteers traveling case. In the end, refusing the show becomes the reason for the show and the puppeteers have delivered on their promise of excellence.
Marionetas De La Esquina Emilio and The Enchanted Cow
As a result of the separation of his parents, Emilio creates an imaginary friend, the Cow, who will help him accept his new life.
At 8 years old, Emilio must face the mysteries of an unknown island, surely inhabited by terrible monsters. Or as you and I might see it: a new city and a school of full strangers. Luckily, someone understands Emilios situation a little more optimistically than he does, his great and only friend, the Cow. The cow does everything Emilio doesnt dare to do because of his insecurity, shyness, and fear of rejection. Although the cow provides him with options for survival in the mean new world hes been thrown into, at the end of the day, Emilio will be the one who must take responsibility for himself, and to see his new world as a place offering new experiences, and new friends who will help him to overcome the challenges that face him.