Last August, when Jackie Katz took on the role of director of education for Marin Theatre, she came to the position with loads of creative ideas. One of them did not take long to put into action.
Puppets.
“I love puppets,” Katz confirmed. “I knew I wanted to create something here at Marin Theatre where kids and families got to experience the beauty and excitement of puppetry as an art form.”
Katz, whose official bio refers to her as a “radical educator, human rights activist and social practice artist,” has spent the last several years teaching private and public school classes in San Francisco. She’s also taught college-level theater courses in San Quentin Prison. She is the founder Teatro Almas Libres, a group formed to promote and improve the rights and financial situations of LatinX women, domestic workers, farmworkers and artists in Sonoma County.
Beginning this month, under Katz’s guidance, the Marin Theatre education program is launching its new “Saturday Series,” a monthly lineup of puppet-focused theatrical events for young people, families and puppet-loving adults.
“I was a drama teacher for 15 years, and I taught political puppetry,” Katz said shortly after announcing the first three shows in the new program. (Each employs a different form of puppetry, with all three events paired with a hands-on puppetry workshop designed for the whole family.) “It’s my favorite form that theater takes. I knew that I wanted to engage local puppet artists and connect them with Marin audiences.”
The first show in the series, taking place on Saturday, Dec. 7, is titled Agents of Change. It is presented by Possibly Puppets Handmade Theatre Company and directed by Berkeley-based puppeteer Risa Lenore. Agents of Change features articulated anthropomorphic puppets in the form of carrots.
“Yes,” Katz said, unable to suppress a delighted giggle. “The subtitle is ‘Lizards, Carrots, Noodles, OH! MY!’ Lenore, the puppeteer, is absolutely brilliant. I’ve known her for years. She’s a tremendous performer, writer and teacher. I think that a lot of her skills as a teacher and a storyteller come out in the show. And the puppets themselves, all made out of recycled materials, are incredibly beautiful.”
Agents of Change includes the contribution of a live musician, something that sets it apart from the average Punch & Judy show. The performance, held in Marin Theatre’s 99-seat black box space, will be followed by a 90-minute family puppet-making workshop.
“The workshop, just like the puppets that everyone will have seen in the show, will be using only recycled and reclaimed materials,” Katz said. “As a teacher, I understand how powerful it can be to make a shadow puppet with a manila folder and a pair of scissors and a stick, the wonder and awe that can happen when you say to young people, ‘Look how easy it is to make a character come to life.’”
She pointed out that each show in the series is paired with a hands-on workshop afterward.
“It can be so transformative for young people to see and know what it’s like to do this work themselves,” Katz noted.
For the second show in the series, a free event at the Mill Valley Library on Jan. 11, Vallejo’s Michael and Valerie Nelson of Magical Moonshine Puppets will present Puppylocks and The Three Bears. Using traditional Bohemian-style marionettes, the hour-long show is a clever reimagining of the classic tale. Goldilocks, now a playful puppy, causes a series of hilarious mishaps in the home of three teddy bears, who are off at the Teddybear Circus.
“It’s really about finding new meaning in old stories,” Katz said, succinctly summarizing the subtext of the play. “It’s a celebration and encouragement of the imagination, which can inspire a belief that we can make changes in the world. I personally think that when young people are given access to creativity and imagination, they can use that as a tool to build change.”
The third show in the series, returning to Marin Theatre and taking place on Feb. 15, is titled The Endless End, performed by Lydia Greer, founder of the artist collective Facing West Shadows. Using found footage film clips, shadow puppetry, stop motion animation and a complex musical soundscape, the story—if that’s the right word for something taking place in segments happening all around the audience at once—explores themes of interconnectedness in nature, and humanity’s role “as prey, predator, caretaker and destroyer.”
“It’s really neat, and sort of STEM-based,” Katz explained. “It’s really an exploration of extinction, putting the audience into the middle of this experience, showing how and why certain animals and insects are becoming extinct, all done through a lens of shadow puppetry.”
Though so far only these three shows have been announced, Katz feels positive that the series will prove popular among Marin County families. She’s already working on expanding it into a monthly program that will last year-round and believes she will have no trouble finding a wide variety of puppet artists to bring to Marin Theatre.
“I’m really excited about using the puppetry talent and energy that lives right here in the Bay Area,” Katz stated. “There are a lot of new artists, just beginning their careers, and plenty others that have been practicing their craft for decades. I look forward to eventually extending the reach to other companies outside of the area, possibly bringing in artists like Boxcutter Collective and others.”
As much fun as she expects the puppet shows themselves to be, Katz believes the most important element of the series is the workshops. The optional activity, beginning at 1:30pm—giving everyone a chance to grab some lunch after the show—will cost an additional $15, and will be 90 minutes long.
“It’s so exciting, given how much young people are interacting with digital forms of art and creativity, to be able to showcase the absolutely awe-striking nature of simple, 2-D art, of paper and pencil art, and to give families an opportunity to experience something together in which they can be inspired by an artistic presentation and then sit down and make work like that side-by-side,” she said.
Katz’s hope is that the audience leaves the post-show workshop with their new puppet inspired to tell stories themselves. As she observed, “The great thing about puppetry is how easy it is to believe and see how we can do that ourselves, to some degree, with just a sock puppet and an idea of a story.”
For information on Marin Theatre’s Saturday Series and to reserve tickets, visit MartinTheatre.org.
