The Puppeteers Cooperative

The Puppeteers (or Puppeteers') Cooperative is an association of puppeteers, musicians, dancers, and singers, working to form community bonds through the medium of puppets, parades, and pageants.[1][2] It is an extremely loose affiliation - there is no membership as such, so that people are sometimes surprised to find themselves belonging to the group without having joined it.

River parade

History

The Puppeteers Cooperative was formed in San Francisco in 1976[3] by George Konnoff[4] and Sara Peattie, two puppeteers formerly with the Bread and Puppet Theater.[1] It was incorporated as a non-profit in Massachusetts in 1994.[5] In 1993, Teresa Linnihan,[6] then the director of the Newburyport Children's Theater at Maudslay State Park,[7][8] joined in about 1997. George Konnoff died in 2001.[4]

The Puppeteers Cooperative is known for its community outreach and education. The Cooperative has giant puppet pageants,[9] community workshops[10] that stress community involvement, and Free Puppet Lending Libraries[6][11][12] that make giant puppets available to the general public. It publishes an educational booklet called "68 Ways to Make Really Big Puppets: A Patternbook of Parades and Pageants,"[13] web pages,[14][15] and videos, all of which share ways of making giant puppets and spectacles from simple techniques and everyday materials. As well as the Lending Libraries, the group includes The Back Alley Puppet Theater, which does pageants, parades, and puppet dances in the Boston area;[16] The Construction Section, giant puppet makers;[17] Hi-Art Productions, video makers;[18] and Puppaganda, which performs short and small news shows.

Continuing events
  • 1976 – present: the Back Alley Puppet Theater and later the Puppeteers Cooperative have participated in the First Night Boston Grand Processions.[19] They also worked with other First Nights from around the country - Portsmouth, NH;[20] Raleigh, NC; Pierce County, WA; St. Petersburg, FL; Pensacola, FL; Mobile, AL; State College, PA; Kingsport, TN; Owensboro, KY; Teaneck, NJ; Wilmington, DE;[21] Jackson, MS;[22] Hartford, CT; Binghamton, NY; Atlanta, GA;[23] and Seattle, WA[23] - to teach local puppeteers to make giant puppets and parades.
  • 1994 – 2010: The Puppeteers Cooperative organized giant puppet pageants for the Lincoln Center Out of Doors festival, with the staff and students of the Lincoln Square Neighborhood Center, and other community and senior groups. These were often based loosely on Shakespeare plays.[24][25]
  • 1994 – present: The group organized, produced, and performed "The Rights (or Rites) of Spring," a free outdoor giant puppet pageant, in various states and venues.[26][27][28] One of the earliest pageants – produced in 1994 in Yellow Springs, Ohio, in cooperation with Antioch College – was credited with causing a temporary break in rainy spring weather.[29]

References
  1. Mindy Childress, The Antioch Record, May 10, 1996, "Parade! The Hounds of Spring are on Winter's Traces!"
  2. Elijah Wald, The Boston Sunday Globe, April 23, 1994, "With help from JP students, puppets will usher in spring"
  3. Hosker, Jr., George (30 July 1993), "So Much Larger than Life", Portsmouth Herald
  4. "George Konnoff". The Puppeteers Cooperative. Retrieved 2011-10-12.
  5. "PUPPETEERS' COOPERATIVE, LTD., THE Summary Screen". The Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Secretary of the Commonwealth, Corporations Division.
  6. Little, Karen (20 November 2010). "Puppeteers' Cooperative and Its Puppet Free Lending Library in New York City". Littleviews Travel. Retrieved 2012-03-23.
  7. "Theater Company". Theater in the Open. Retrieved 2012-03-23.
  8. Young, Emily (13 December 2007), "Icy return: 'Snow Queen' resumes her holiday reign at Newburyport's Firehouse", The Newburyport News
  9. Ghosh, Sampa; Banerjee, Utpal Kumar (2006). Indian puppets. New Delhi: Shakti Malik / Abhinav Publications. ISBN 81-7017-435-X. Retrieved 2012-03-23.
  10. "Play Making". Archived from the original on 2013-01-04. Retrieved 2012-11-02.
  11. "Amalgamated Puppet Libraries". Puppeteers Cooperative. Retrieved 2011-10-12.
  12. Weissenstein, Michael (8 June 2005). "Need an enormous puppet? Dozens on loan at weird Brooklyn 'library'". The Florida Times-Union.
  13. Peattie, Sara; Palmer, Nicholas (12 June 2000). 68 Ways to Make Really Big Puppets: A Patternbook of Parades and Pageants. Puppeteer's Cooperative. ISBN 978-0951360088. Retrieved 2011-10-12.
  14. "The Puppeteers' Cooperative Home Page". Puppeteers Cooperative. Retrieved 2011-10-12.
  15. "For Your Edification and Amusement!". The Puppeteers' Cooperative. Retrieved 2 November 2012.
  16. "BAGOP Puppeteers' Directory". Boston Area Guild of Puppets. Retrieved 2012-03-23.
  17. Rose Sage. "The Puppetry Home Page - Puppetry Building and Building Materials". Sagecraft Productions. Retrieved 2012-03-23.
  18. Davis, Theo (October 1994). Peacework. The Puppeteer's Cooperative.
  19. "Best Family Events At First Night Boston 2012". CBS Boston. 2011-12-16. Retrieved 2012-03-23.
  20. Farrell, Erin (4 August 1993). "Big puppets prepare for First Night". Foster's Daily Democrat.
  21. Clements, Nan (29 October 1994). "Pumped up for puppets". The News Journal.
  22. Snow, Donnie (1 October 1999). "New year's party set for families downtown". The Clarion-Ledger.
  23. Whole Earth (22 September 2002). "The Puppeteers Cooperative". HighBeam Research. Archived from the original on 24 February 2016.
  24. Graeber, Laurel (1 August 2003). "Family Fare". The New York Times.
  25. Graeber, Laurel (13 August 2004). "Family Fare". The New York Times.
  26. Davis, Ellen Small (1994). "A Triumph of Spring Spirit". Newburyport Daily News.
  27. "Celebrate Earth Day in Central Park". City Guide Magazine. 14 April 2009. Retrieved 2012-03-23.
  28. Miller, Ruth (March 2011). "Street Theater examples and ideas". democracyeugene [licensed for non-commercial use only]. Retrieved 2012-03-23.
  29. "Letter to the Editor". Yellow Springs News. 1994.
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