Pinocchio, Lamb Chop and the Sesame Street Cast: just a few beloved characters with something in common . . . .they are all puppets. This popular art form entertains and delights audiences of all ages and is one Grand Rapids Civic Theatre’s newest class offerings.
This winter, they will be collaborating with master puppeteer, Kevin Kammeraad and his wife Stephanie, a local early-elementary educator. Second and third grade students will learn to make puppets and create stories to perform. “I’ve been working with puppets for over 20 years and I’m really excited to share my experiences and ideas with a younger generation in a very hands-on format” noted Kevin Kammeraad. “Stephanie and I are very excited to be working together on this class. She’s a teacher. I’m an artist. Together, we make a great team!" Kevin is a top-notch professional puppeteer and children book author. He has a long history with ArtPrize, with most entries in the Time Based category. In 2017, his entry “Mr. E” was a Top 25 Public Favorite.
Theatre is storytelling, and Civic Theatre uses many different mediums to tell those stories: dialogue, monologue, music, singing, dance -- and puppetry is another way that theatre artists tell stories. The Lion King really brought Puppetry into mainstream theatre, and since then puppets & puppeteers have popped up in all sorts of productions on & off Broadway, and in Regional Theatres. Not only is it an incredibly fun way to explore characters, but it is a useful skill in today's theatre!
But there’s more than puppets awaiting students this season. Civic Theatre is committed to offering educational opportunities for students of all ages to explore theatre from all angles - we want students to explore the many ways that we put stories onstage: acting, singing, dance, design, technical skills, and more! It's an exciting time to take classes, because there really is something for everyone, whether you are interested in being onstage, behind the scenes, or a little of both.
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