A Vancouver International Puppet Festival? Here’s hoping!

Cassady, Morris Chapdelaine, Tara Travis and Dusty Hagerüd have joined forces to create the Vancouver International Puppet Festival. 

Cassady, Morris Chapdelaine, Tara Travis and Dusty Hagerüd have joined forces to create the Vancouver International Puppet Festival.

There are puppet festivals in Ontario, Chicago, England and Montreal (where it’s known as Festival de Casteliers). Now, puppet fans in Vancouver’s theatre community are asking: Why doesn’t Vancouver have its own puppet festival?

The answer seems to be “for no good reason.” And so, performers and organizers are banding together to raise funds for a new Vancouver International Puppet Festival, the inaugural edition of which they hope to hold in the fall.

On April 1 (and, hopefully, this is no April Fool’s prank!), puppet festival proponents are putting on Fools After Dark: A Saucy Puppet Cabaret. The fundraiser will feature a ventriloquist, puppeteers and musicians for an adult-oriented night of puppet fun on the Granville Island Revue Stage (1601 Johnston St.).

Performers include ventriloquist Emcee Kellie, who will host an evening that includes puppet burlesque and “adventures into the absurd” and “cheeky fun” with companies such as Dandelion Wine, Fluffy 10th Street, Moth Orbit Object Theatre, Salmon Avalanche, Francine and Frankie B’s Frantastic Wonder Show, Alice and Friends and Mind of a Snail.

Fluffy 10th Street's Tara Travis and friend.

Fluffy 10th Street’s Tara Travis and friend.

The evening will also include food and silent auction.

GICS (Granville Island Cultural Society)’s Executive Director, arts and culture advocate extraordinaire Barbara Chirinos and local puppeteer/theatre artist Tara Travis (Monster Theatre, Sticky Fingers Productions) are behind the idea.

“For years, my colleagues and I have heard the same questions again and again: ‘Where can I see puppetry in Vancouver? Is there a centralized place to learn of all things puppet? Why don’t we have a puppetry festival?’” Travis is quoted as saying in a media release. “Well, it’s time we take action and address that!”

What do you think? Is Vancouver ready for its own international puppet festival?

FOOLS AFTER DARK: A Saucy Puppet Cabaret
April 1, Doors at 7 p.m., show at 8
Tickets $20 in advance at theatrewire.com or 604.257.0350, $22 at the door

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