Do you love the puppet shorts at ATLFF? Check out the National Puppet Slam

At ATLFF '14, puppeteer Beau Brown helped us curate our puppetry short film program, in addition to his hosting and performing duties in the spectacular Touch the Puppet Head event. Beau is an extremely accomplished puppetry master here in Atlanta—a pretty important city in the industry, thanks to the Center for Puppetry Arts and other vibrant community members. 

Later this month, Beau and puppetry fans and professionals from across the nation will converge for the National Puppet Slam! If you love having puppetry as a part of ATLFF as much as we do, check out this event and support this community.

Puppet Slam (noun): A curated collection of short-form pieces of adult puppet theater.

Experience the beauty, ingenuity, and hilarity of the best puppet slams from across the country. Thursday through Saturday, August 28-30, 8 PM each night on the Mainstage Theater at the Center for Puppetry Arts.

Ages 18 & up ONLY. Beer and wine bar available.

Show lineup:

• The Joshua Show: Trick Yourself Into Being Happy by Joshua Holden from New York
  Mr. Nicholas, the sock puppet, expresses his frustration with feeling grumpy and sad every day. Joshua, his soul mate, teaches him how to kick the blues by tricking himself into being happy.
   
• Sifters by Sarah Nolen from Connecticut
  The story of love, loss, and letting go is told in silhouette.
   
• Real Puppetry of the Penis by Michael and Valerie Nelson from California
  A demonstration of various penis puppets with commentary.
   
• The Mantis Sisters by Donna Kimball, Alison Mork, and Kristin Charney from California
  Three sisters discuss the joys as well as the unique pitfalls of dating in the praying mantis world.
   
• Moon Gas by David T Steinman with Blake Love, Kit Leffler, Kalen Keir and Skyler Nowinski from Minnesota
  A wild rock opera set in a subterraneous moon tavern.

INTERMISSION

• Milo the Magnificent by Alex Vernon and Sarah Olmsted Thomas from Maryland
  Milo is a young, aspiring magician who’s thrilled to debut his first performance in front of a live audience. He will also exhibit his latest invention: the mechanical man!
   
• Who’s Lovin’ You by Marta Mozelle MacRostie and Jessica Simon from New York
  A man and his heart-dog must struggle on after being dumped.
   
• Superstition by Brodrick Jones from New York
  A black cat has a bad day.
   
• The Master by Anamaria Craciun from Connecticut
  An apprentice has a life and death confrontation with its Master.
   
• Hot Carl by Paul McGinnis with Victor Yerrid and Haley Jenkins from New York
  A black light, tabletop piece featuring a dancing skeleton.

Beau Brown wants you to Touch the Puppet Head!

Beau Brown with some puppet friends. Hint: Beau is the one without seams.

Touch the Puppet Head is a mix of puppet film shorts and live puppet acts. Puppeteers from Atlanta and beyond will dazzle the audience with their modern day vaudeville performances. Acts will include previous National Puppet Slam featured artists Carla Rhodes and Gavin Cummins; local acts Raymond Carr, Charles Pillsbury and Charles Kelso; as well as puppeteer and playwright Zeb West.

Touch the Puppet Head is curated and hosted by Atlanta's very own Beau Brown, host of Atlanta's hometown puppet slam, The Puckin' Fuppet Show, director of the Dragon Con's Puppetry Track and curator and host of The National Puppet Slam.

Films curated by Beau Brown and Elizabeth Leary.

“Carla Rhodes and Cecil Sinclaire" — Join ventriloquist Carla Rhodes and her cantankerous sidekick Cecil Sinclaire for melodies, vitriol and salt water taffies.

Bio: Carla Rhodes is the world's foremost (and only) rock'n'roll ventriloquist. Mentored by the legendary Shari Lewis, Carla has performed since her teens and appears regularly in New York City when not touring nationally. www.carlarhodes.net

“The Odd Shuttle” — In a television, film, and theatre mash-up we see if two lovable rogues, James Tiberius Kirk and Han Solo, can live together on a small spaceship without driving each other crazy.

Bio: Charles Pillsbury of Death By Puppets and Charles Kelso of Felt Nerdy are collaborating on several sci-fi themed puppet shows for local conventions this year. Kelso and his wife Veronica regularly appear as Felt Nerdy (feltnerdy.com) at The Puckin' Fuppet Show, Atlanta’s local puppet slam. As part of Death By Puppets, Pillsbury also performs at puppet slams in the Atlanta area and produces video shorts which can be seen on deathbypuppets.com.

“Spacetansmananagasm” — This musical puppet odyssey celebrates the Rocket Man mythos, told from the perspective of Ground Control, Major Tom and Major Tom's wife—mashing all your favorite astronaut songs (and some of your favorite 90s slow jams) to tell a love story about being lost in love and space!

Bio: Zeb L. West is a writer, performer and director currently living in Austin, Texas. He is a member of Austin’s Trouble Puppet Theater Company, and Brooklyn’s Alphabet Arts. He graduated from The Dell’Arte School of Physical Theater in Northern California, where he studied Commedia Dell’Arte, Clown, Mask­making, Tango, Tumbling and Corporeal Mime. Prior to that, he received his undergrad degree at San Francisco State.  In the past 15 years, Zeb has worked in San Francisco, New York, Philadelphia and Austin and toured nationally performing with masks and puppets.

“Puppet Show The Movie" — In the end the audience will be the only survivors... barely.

Bio: Raymond Carr has been a Puppeteer filmmaker, artist, director and designer for more than 15 years. Starting at an early age, Raymond performed with his families clowning and puppetry troupe based out of Los Angeles, California. In 1999, he made Atlanta his home. He has since traveled nationally and throughout Europe performing and teaching workshops in the art of puppetry. Some of Raymond's credits include: Puppeteer for Nick Jr.'s Lazytown, Head puppeteer for Walking with Dinosaurs The Arena Spectacular: North American Tour, Puppeteer/writer/director for various performances at The Center for Puppetry Arts, regular performer at Dad's Garage Puppet Slam and various other theaters throughout Atlanta and the Southeast. He has produced and directed several award-winning film and multimedia projects that have been featured in film festivals around the country. He has also been commissioned to create films and interactive puppetry experiences from organizations such as Scoutmob and Ibex Puppetry run by Heather Henson (daughter of Jim Henson).

“Bread Death” — The epic tale of three breads and their quest to recover the Golden Crystal from the Scary Castle. Written by Chanz Kalestrom age 5 and performed by Gavin Cummins age 41.

“Jack's Story” — The classic story of a boy and his dog with cars and cones and talking cats.

Bio: Gavin Cummins is a puppeteer from Seattle who is currently studying puppetry at the University of Connecticut's Puppetry Arts graduate program. Gavin co-founded the Fussy Cloud Puppet Slam in Seattle and has performed various slam pieces across the United States including the 2013 National Puppetry Slam at the National Puppetry Festival. He has built puppets for several theater's including Youth Theater Northwest and Seattle Shakespeare Company. He most recently helped curate an exhibit for the opening of the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry and will be performing in the puppet play Reverse Cascade in Boston at the Puppet Showplace in April.
 

Film selections

• "Conrad Fails at Normal" by New Puppet Order
  Conrad, an odd old man suffering from a number of mental maladies, has a chance encounter while feeding squirrels in the park.
• "Death by Puppets" by Charles Pillsbury
• "Happy Memories" by Jack Fields
  A cupcake is born to a loving mustachioed mother. As it embarks on its journey, it is exploited and tortured by a series of terrifying beings. It is torn from the prenatal pastry world, eviscerated by 12-dimensional Mathuloxes, and experimented on by a doctor of unknown powers. Will the cupcake be destroyed by torment, or metamorphose into something greater?
• "Melvin the Birder" by Katie McClenahan, Spencer Lott and Nicolas Mahon
  Melvin Littleton has dedicated his life to documenting woodpeckers. The most elusive species, the Mustard Billed Wood-pecking Belly Wiggler, is proving...well, elusive.
• "Retire for the Evening" by Ed Hellman
  After a lifetime together, a ventriloquist expires in his apartment; his beloved sock puppet struggles to continue performing their act on his own, dragging the dead body behind him.
   

Saturday, March 29, 10:00 PM - The Plaza Theatre, Main Theatre - $10

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