Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer at Atlanta’s Center for Puppetry Arts
Everyone loves the Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer™ story, and seeing it on TV is one thing, but watching it in a puppet show brings Rudolph (and his misfit pals) to life in an incredibly special way. Atlanta’s Center for Puppetry Arts is performing the show through the end of the year and it’s a special treat for all ages. There are approximately 60 puppets involved in the show which premiered last year, delighting sold out audiences.
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer™ will run through December 31, 2011 at the following times:
- Nov 29 – Dec 18: Tues – Fri @ 10am & 11:30am; Sat @ 11am, 1pm & 3pm; Sun @ 1pm & 3pm
- Dec 20 – 31: Tues – Fri @ 10am, 12pm & 2pm; Sun @ 11am, 1pm & 3pm
- CENTER CLOSED: Dec 25 (Christmas Day), & Jan 1 (New Year’s Day)
TICKETING
Tickets for patrons two and older are $16.50 and include admission to the performance, Create-A-Puppet Workshop (or Create-A-Puppet To-Go Kit), and all museum exhibits. Membership and group rates are available. ORDER TICKETS ONLINE AT WWW.PUPPET.ORG OR CALL THE TICKET SALES OFFICE AT: 404-873-3391.
Stress Free Baby wanted to know more about what goes into the show and bringing the puppets to life, so we took a minute to ask some questions of Michael Haverty . He’s been working with puppets since 2000 and has a 5 month old son.
SFB: Tell me what you like most about performing Rudolph with the puppets (which characters do you handle).
MH: I handle Santa, Fireball, and Charlie-in-the-Box. I most like shouting ‘Merry Christmas!’ at the end of the show. The audience cheers and shouts ‘Merry Christmas’ back! I also love working with such a talented group of puppeteers, all of whom are my friends. The majority of our performances are only done at the Center for Puppetry Arts. (And everything we use, all of the puppets, sets, animations, and music are created in Atlanta, at the Center.) We do not often tour our shows, although we have a Distance Learning program that sends shows and workshops to schools all over the world! Occasionally we will collaborate with another organization and build a show to tour, as we did with our recent production of Captain Healthy and Safety Dog, developed in partnership with the DeKalb Library System and the DeKalb Board of Health. And there are other special occasions when we will tour as we last did with our production of ‘Avanti, da Vinci!’, which we took to a puppetry festival in Slovakia.
SFB: What is the hardest part about handling the puppets and your kind of performance?
MH: The hardest part of this performance is keeping our stamina up. We perform up to 17 shows a week, and it is quite a workout! We must always stretch before performances, drink lots of water and keep healthy habits so we don’t get sick.
SFB: What is the best part about it?
MH: The best part is the camaraderie that a cast forms – we love hanging out with each other at the theater and outside of it. Also being able to work on your craft every day, to get a little better at manipulation or acting, singing, what have you, is very rewarding.
SFB: What made you become a puppeteer?
MH: I became a puppeteer because I love the visual nature of the art form. I also enjoy writing and directing for the puppet theater, as you can do so many things visually with puppets that you can’t do in any other medium.
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If you’ve seen the show, please let us know what you think!