Little Artshram announces our sponsorship of O’k Puppet Theaters’, original and wonderful, musical puppet play at the Traverse City Film Festival…..

This Friday, August 3, 2012, at the TCFF Kids Fest, in Traverse City,”In the Night Kitchen and Way Beyond” a puppet show paying tribute to the language of lines and the storytelling of Maurice Sendak! At Central Grade School @ 11:00 am!
O’k Puppet Theatre and the Pretty Good Players believe that the ancient art of puppetry and storytelling is a necessary, fun, and, powerfully transformative skill for our present day lives.  As we share this act of designing and performing stories with puppets and masks, we find that theater brings people together.  It builds community while also allowing for creativity to be revived, reconnected and renewed, whether we are performers or audience members.  It is with great respect and awe that we see the power and joy of this ancient art flourish in unsuspecting ways and places.

Since 1998, we have been using water, flour, newspaper, paint, cardboard and unlimited imagination to tell stories that explore the struggles and celebrations of human existence, fusing the arts, natural sciences, history and current events into multi-layered performances accessible to audiences of many ages.

Drawing inspiration from the world’s traditions of puppet and mask theater and its lively roots in transformative ritual and street theater, O’k Puppet Theater is inspired and long-time mentored by Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theater, in Minneapolis who creates vital, poetic theater for all ages and backgrounds.

In 2011, O’k Puppet Theater and the Pretty Good Players, debuted at the Traverse City Film Festival performing “Shel is Swell” a tribute to Shel Silverstein at the Kids Fest.  This year, in addition to the artistic vision and design of Penny O’Krebiehl, the company is shaped by the talents of composer and musician Rokko Jans, violinist, Kerry Alspaugh, acting coach Michael Nunn, special guest performer Marian Methner and (pictured above) performers Emma Burns, Zoe Hall, Westley Hullman, and Gwen Mollica.  Gwen also contributed to the set design.

O’k Puppet Theater also conducts residencies, introducing children and youth to the fine-art of mask-making and puppetry, and helps hosts an annual Earth Day parade, creating a story-telling theme, with Little Artshram in their hometown of Traverse City, Michigan.

We invite you to join us and watch our short puppet and mask performance, created and produced in a 2-week “Puppet Camp” at O’k Studio with a small group of 4 budding puppeteers. We hope that you are struck by the visual poetry and elemental presence of the larger-than-life size characters; by surprising transformations from scene to scene; and by the live music that imbues our special tribute to Maurice Sendak as a performance with lyrical energy.

This Friday, August 3, 2012, at the TCFF Kids Fest, in Traverse City,”In the Night Kitchen and Way Beyond” a puppet show paying tribute to the language of lines and the storytelling of Maurice Sendak! At Central Grade School @ 11:00 am!

Brought to Traverse City by the O’k Puppet Theater and Pretty Good Players, with the grateful support of Little Artshram. 

More information:   penny.ok.art@gmail.com or 231-922-2014