There's Something About Puppet Festivals

So, ya wanna' go to Festival but, you don't know what it is?! Puppetry Festivals of some sort happen just about every year! I've managed to get to a few of them, beginning with a Regional Festival in San Diego in 1996 (Of course I didn't take any pictures then! What was I thinking!). Most of the Fests I've visited were hosted/sponsored/organized by the Puppeteers of America or Puppet Guilds under the umbrella of P of A. In San Francisco, there's a great little festival called PuppetLOVE, which comes around every spring and features some really great, really different puppetry. This year's PuppetLOVE is one night only! April 1 at 8PM. I've seen some crazy, amazing stuff there!

The more traditional Festivals are longer. Regionals are usually a weekend long and Nationals are roughly a week long. What is a Festival (the question posed above...)? Well, usually, they feature performers and workshops from around the country (Nationals will sometimes host international troupes as well) with different techniques or performance style. Classes can be for the extreme beginner or for the veteran. A festival I've always wanted to go to is the O'Neill Puppetry Conference. It's a really intensive 8 day workshop that I've heard raves about!

If you've never been to a festival, I'd recommend checking one out (use the link to the P of A to get started on finding groups in your area). For now, to inspire you, I'll be posting more photos from some of my trips to festivals and I'll try my darndest to include performer info!