Well, I now throw our hat into the ring.

I promise that it will be nothing like you have seen before- we don't do marionettes for starts. The beautiful music of Prokofiev and the curious touch of Il Teatro Calamari.

The Adventures of Pinocchio
Carlo Collodi

So, about 5 or 6 years ago every puppet company in the Great North West did a production of this most beloved children's story.

So we waited for our grand IDEA (ooh, all capitals) to burst into fruition.

In a nutshell: Our production travels both backwards and forwards in time. One way Pinocchio becomes real and the other, a tree. All we need now is a grant and an old stinky building to put the show on.

Did you know that Collodi didn't like writing Pinocchio stories? He did it for the money. Explains why the poor puppet-guy gets kicked around so much in the story.

Read the original story here.

The Tell Tale Heart
E. A. Poe
This production is set in the Golden Age of America, 1950 and will explore the dualism, madness and soul of the story.

This project was set to mount in 2002. With several artists from around the globe working on the initial phase of this project.

And then we ran out of money.

What happens next? Don't really know. Maybe the project was cursed (that's what one of the artists said) and the couple from England got some nice recording equipment out of it.

I love 'A Christmas Carol'
I could do this show again and again. The theme of redemption is so universal and full of warm puppies that it's hard not to. There are plans for doing the following:

IN THE YEAR two-million: A full-on puppet version of the beloved classic. Where at the end of the run the puppets are sold off or burned.

In a distant future: "NOT A Christmas Carol", I'll tell you this much. What if Scrooge was full of Christmas love and the ghosts were sent to corrupt him?

IN 2004: Technically this should be in the past project page BUT since I'll be doing this show again and again... here are the pictures from the actor's theatre piece done in 2004 at the home of Dreamweaver's Theatre in Napa, California.

Red Riding Hood
Mask and table top puppetry. You know the drill. A girl, a dim wolf, a grandma and a woodcutter. But who's grandma is it?

We've run into a snag here. Red seems to be the new brown for puppetshows. For two years in a row we've tried to sell it. For two years people have been, "Like, oh, we just had that. Do you have something else?".

What the heck?

Read the original story, and other tales of Aarne-Thompson type 333, here.

Alice in Wonderland
Lewis Carroll

Ah, the classics. Did you know that originally 'Alice in Wonderland' was a scathing attack on class, government and 'mind sets'. You didn't? Oh, then you might not like this production.

Two performers, a trunk and lots of laughs. At least that's the plan.

(Damn you Tim Burton.)

Read the original story here. .
Read some great research here .