Center for Puppetry Arts, Atlanta
04.06.07By Lorraine Newberry
My two young kids and I traveled to Atlanta last week looking for a change of pace and some warmer weather, and while there we took in some of the city’s top family attractions, including the quirky Center for Puppetry Arts - a must see for puppet and doll collectors. The Center opened almost thirty years ago, the first organization of its kind in the United States. Its museum started out with 150 puppets that were donated by a puppet collector, and over the years the collection grew to its current size of more than 1000 puppets.
The price of admission included a puppet making workshop, a puppet show and a visit to the museum. I was impressed by the puppet show, an entertaining and educational production about dinosaurs, especially when I learned that the dialogue and singing were not taped but performed live. The artists used several different types of puppets to tell the story, including rod, shadow and body puppets. The usher advised us to sit in the back of the theater, where we wouldn’t be able to see the people in blacksuits operating the puppets on stage and could stay focused on the puppets. After the show the performers came back on stage to demonstrate how they worked the different puppets, which was fun to see, especially with the body puppets. The Center puts on performances for the whole family as well as teen shows and those intended for adults only.
Young kids will enjoy the puppet making workshop and the puppet show, but the museum was full of many different types of puppets, including nightmarish, creepy puppets from all over the world - fascinating to adults and older children, but quite scary for the little ones. Right off the bat a trash can turned into a huge phoenix amidst flashing lights and crashing noises. I was impressed, but it convinced the kids that they were going to hate the museum. The puppets in the next room that were on electronic timers that made it seem as if they were moving by themselves didn’t help much either.
After that, though, came room after room of amazingly detailed and varied puppets. There was a video of reknowned muppet creator Jim Henson, who cut the ribbon at the Center’s opening ceremonies, interviewing several of his top puppeteers. There were puppets from cultures around the globe that were used in festivals and ceremonies, as well as those seen in films like The Dark Crystal and tv programs like The Muppet Show. My personal favorite was the Elizabeth I puppet shown above.
