In addition to designing puppets, set design is also an important part of what Other Hand Productions does. Bridge of the Gods, for Tears of Joy Theater, is a good example of the type of collaboration I’m often asked to do.
This is a Native American story about two brothers, Klickatat and Wy-east. They [...]
Although I consider myself a puppeteer I also do quite a bit of set design. Even when it’s for “straight” theater you can still see the influences that puppetry has left on me. (If you’re not familiar with the play you can check out the brief summary)
In Marvin’s Room the director, Cynthia McGean, and I [...]
This is the Dragon Smaug from a production of the Hobbit by Northwest Children’s Theater and School. (That’s me in the hat, I’ve had my hair cut since then.) To give you an idea of scale, I’m five foot seven. Smaug’s head alone is seven feet long. He is made out of [...]
I spent three weeks in India researching this show, and here are some of the fruits of my labor.
The challenges that I face are that the entire show needs to fit into a van, and be handled by two puppeteers. I also want to create the feel of India, but not an authentic Indian [...]
Made by Mary Robinette Kowal and Fred Riley III
Tales of Japan was the first show I did when I worked at Tears of Joy. It was made up of two stories. The Gift was a short piece, about fifteen years old, done on tabletop. The Teakettle of Good Fortune was just [...]
This is Gerta and Moo from Other Hand Productions’ the Snow Queen. This play was originally developed for Tapestry Theater.
Gerta and Moo are made almost entirely out of paper. Their costumes are cloth but other than that…they are paper. The texture on Moo, the reindeer, is caused entirely by the paper, not paint. The paper is a bark paper from Ecuador, which I chose partly because of its mottled brown color and partly because he is a woodland creature so bark paper seemed perfect.
Between Two Worlds was adapted for the puppet stage by Mark Levenson from the classic Yiddish play The Dybbuk. We based the set designs on the art of Marc Chagall. It received an UNIMA-USA Citation of Excellence in 2001.
Although I did not create the puppets, I was responsible for applying their “makeup.” This too, was based on the paintings of Chagall. …
Arlechino stands about three feet tall. His head is made out of papiermache and his body is slotted plywood (visualize a paperdoll.) He weighs about four pounds. To make the head smooth, I first sculpted it in clay then I made a plaster cast of it; I pressed the papiermache into the mold and did eight layers of sanding and gessoing. (gesso is a plaster-like primer used in painting) …
Note: Our puppets were lost by the shipping company on their way back from their last rental. They are no longer available for rental. Puppeteers are still available to perform the show or train puppeteers. If you are interested in pricing for that please contact us for more details.
Pied Piper is one of the designs I’m most proud of. The set is a touring show, it takes twenty minutes to put it up and it all fits into a van. When you add the puppets and the lights, it winds up being an hour load-in. That’s it. [...]