It\u2019s curtains for Puppetworks\u2019 longtime theater in Park Slope, but the team behind the marionette mainstay say the show will go on \u2014 just somewhere more affordable.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe PUPPETWORKS, INC. is searching for a new Home,\u201d a note on its website says. \u201cAfter 40 years in Park Slope, our building is being sold to a developer, but we will continue, still in Brooklyn, to present the Classics of Children\u2019s Lore, in what has become a unique and rare event, a fully staged Marionette performance.\u201d<\/p>\n
Manager Terry Smith said the current theater will close by Oct. 1 but talks are underway about a new location at Industry City.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey want us,\u201d he said Friday. \u201cI think it will work out favorably.\u201d<\/p>\n
Smith said the building\u2019s owner has connected the team with a realtor who is helping them scout spaces at no charge.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019ve been good,\u201d he said of the owner. \u201cThere are a lot of sympathetic people.\u201d<\/p>\n
The closure marks the end of an era for the puppet theater on Sixth Avenue, which has entertained generations of Brooklynites since 1991. Marionettes perform classics like \u201cWizard of Oz,\u201d \u201cCinderella\u201d and \u201cHansel and Gretel.\u201d Adults typically fill the benches while kids sit cross-legged up front.<\/p>\n
For many, it\u2019s their first experience at a theater, and the puppeteers offer guidance about when and how to clap. Puppetworks is a frequent school-trip destination, as well as a neighborhood institution.<\/p>\n
The theater was so well known that at one point the Brooklyn Paper ran regular puppetry<\/a> reviews<\/a> on Puppetworks productions.<\/p>\n Smith said he could only speak briefly because the team is busy with rehearsals ahead of its next production, “The Tortoise and the Hare,” which runs April 11 and 12.<\/p>\n The website advertises shows through the summer, including “Pinocchio,” which starts next weekend.<\/p>\n According to the theater\u2019s website, artistic director Nicolas Coppola was inspired to become a puppeteer when he saw his first marionettes show as a third grader at P.S. 200 in Brooklyn. Coppola\u2019s seamstress mother and tailor uncle helped him create his first cloth marionette, the website says, and he eventually became a professional puppeteer, part of a traveling troupe before landing at the Sixth Avenue spot.<\/p>\n Smith said the group is still scouting locations, but doubts it will remain in Park Slope. \u201cIt\u2019s too expensive,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s curtains for Puppetworks\u2019 longtime theater in Park Slope, but the team behind the marionette mainstay say the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":192838,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[98,100,99,9,24,63],"class_list":{"0":"post-192837","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-brooklyn","8":"tag-brooklyn","9":"tag-brooklyn-headlines","10":"tag-brooklyn-news","11":"tag-new-york","12":"tag-new-york-city","13":"tag-nyc"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192837","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=192837"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192837\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/192838"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=192837"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=192837"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=192837"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}