Brew House toasts Black Sheep Puppet Festival
Pittsburgh and puppets.
Someday, they may be as inextricably linked in the minds of the world as Pittsburgh and steel -- or football, or, um, soot.
If it doesn't work out for Pittsburgh and puppetry, it won't be for lack of trying. This month, the Black Sheep Puppet Festival returns for its eighth installment, reanimating the original multimedia art form for today's audiences.
"It is a little bit unusual, I have to admit," says co-curator and puppeteer Tom Sarver. "Years ago, when we started in 1999, I couldn't figure out why the group I was involved in wanted to do puppets. They were all metalworkers."
But Sarver, who also is a painter and sculptor, found that puppeteering embraces a number of artistic and theatrical discliplines -- and has the intimacy and expressiveness missing from a lot of art in this high-tech, over-mediated world.
This year's festival features a monthlong residency at the Brew House by Beth Nixon. She is known for tackling serious political and environmental themes in irreverent, unexpected ways.
"She's in town now, and is starting her installation," Sarver says. "People can come in and see the process of building it -- it's partially a papier-mache exhibit, where people can see how it's done, and even come in and help her."
Saturday is the free Make Your Own Puppet Day at the Tom Museum on the North Side. Yes, Tom Sarver has his own museum, called the Tom Museum. He also lives there.
Sarver pitched the idea for the museum to the nearby Mattress Factory, and won a Creative Heights grant for the project.
"I'm extremely excited about it," Sarver says. "In my living room, I'm building a model of the universe -- you actually walk through a sculptural form that I've installed. Little by little, I'm adding different worlds to that universe. In my kitchen, I'm trying to make kitchen magnets of everyone I've ever met. On the front of the building, I've painted a mural of Pittsburgh. I'm running it pretty much like a normal museum, except it's just me and a couple of volunteers."
Oct. 20 and 21 are the main performance days, each with multiple troupes coming in from all over the world.
One of the most anticipated performances is Toronto's Stranger Theatre, which will do "what Alice found there," based on the works of Lewis Carroll. It pulls together "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" and other Alice stories with the life of Carroll, through physical theater, animation, slides, video projection and Victorian photography. A puppet Carroll attempts to regain control of his incorrigible Alice, while she battles the strange world in which he has dropped her.
Other performers include Sleepy Sybil, from Denver, who explores the terror of Stalinist Russia -- bringing to life the works of a persecuted poet through shadow puppets, masks and papier-mache. Local artist Diana Vencius will animate the beloved nonsense poem "The Owl and the Pussycat" for the Family Matinee on Saturday afternoon.
"We get submissions from all over the world," Sarver says. "We can't afford to bring in all the performers that apply -- but we have people applying from Africa, Australia. Pittsburgh seems to be this hub of puppet activity. There's lots in Chicago, Philadelphia and New York -- maybe we're just in between. Maybe it is becoming 'Puppet Central' for the country."
One thing there won't be this year is fire -- Flam Chen's flaming acrobatic puppetry won't be back.
"I think we were asked ... to never have fire again in a performance," Sarver says. "Now, every year, we try to look for people who are exploring the boundaries of puppetry -- but that was at the very edge, maybe a little bit too far." Additional Information:
8th Annual Black Sheep Puppet Festival
When: Through Oct. 21
Where: The Brew House, 2100 Mary St., South Side
Details: 412-381-7767 or www.blacksheeppuppet.com
Schedule
Open Gallery: 6 to 9 p.m. today and Wednesday; noon to 5 p.m. Saturday, The Brew House. Free
Make Your Own Puppet Day: 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday, The Tom Museum, 410 Sampsonia Way, North Side. Free
Puppetry Lecture: 2 p.m. Sunday, The Tom Museum. Free
Create a Show: 7-10 p.m. Tuesday, Beth Nixon leads a performance workshop. Free; contact the Brew House to register.
Gallery opening: 7-10 p.m. Oct. 19, with music by the Hope Harveys. The Brew House. Free
Artist Talk: 1 p.m. Saturday, with Beth Nixon. The Brew House. Free.
Family Matinee: 3 p.m. Saturday, puppets for the whole family, The Brew House. Free
Performance Main Event: 7 to 11 p.m. Oct. 20-21, for adults, The Brew House. $15 each day.
