Atlanta’s Center for Puppetry Arts

The other day my kids and I went on a tour of Atlanta’s Center for Puppetry Arts. We were escorted by Jeremy Underwood, the museum’s Curator of Exhibits. Not only was it interesting, but it was informative – not only to the kids, but to myself, and quite unforgettable. I used to go to the Center as a child. I remember being shuffled off in a school bus to watch amazing puppet shows and make puppets in their puppetry workshops. I am thrilled to have taken my own children at such a young age to experience the Center for Puppetry Arts, and I hope that when we return to Atlanta next time, they will be inclined to request a return trip. It’s a magical, stimulating, creative environment buzzing with my childhood memories.

Some interesting facts about the Center for Puppetry Arts before launching into what we saw and learned on the tour:

*It is the largest non-profit organization in the U.S. dedicated to puppetry.
*It teaches more than 500K people annually through its live performances.
*It is the headquarters of UNIMA-USA, the American branch of the international organization Union Internationale de la Marionette, the world’s oldest theater organization.
*It was chosen by MSN.com as one of the top 10 children’s museums in the country.
*It was picked as one of the top 25 experiences every Atlantan should have by Atlanta Magazine.
*It has educated more than 130K students and teachers through Distance Learning, an innovative teaching tool offered by a two-way interactive video conferencing network.
*It provides over 40K and 140K greatly discounted tickets annually to underserved audiences.

To sum it up, it’s an amazing place.

The Center was founded in 1978, when Kermit the Frog, accompanied by his creator, Jim Henson, cut the ribbon to officially open the Center (there’s a video in the museum to mark the ceremony’s significance0). Founded by Vincent Anthony, it’s mission is to entertain and enlighten audiences. Housed in a three-story building on Spring Street, the center is, indeed, magical. When my children walked in, they were instantly intrigued and ready to roam the exhibits. Underwood explained that historically, the center serves 3 functions: as a theater, as a museum and as an educational center. First, we explored the museum.

The museum includes 2,000 objects from all over the world. We saw all types of puppets in this exhibit from wooden to fabric to animatronic (remote control). We went into a storage room and learned about string puppets, hand & glove puppets, shadow puppets and body puppets. We saw old puppets, as well as more contemporary puppets. Underwood explained that “anything can become a puppet in the right hands.” He defined a puppet as any inanimate object that’s brought to life through human and mechanical means.” The kids loved activating “Trash Phoenix,” an animated figure that unfolds two “wings” from a heap of scrap metal and flashed red and white lights. They also enjoyed operating a large praying mantis with levers that made the creature disappear.

In the exhibit titled “Global World of Puppetry,” we saw puppets with intricate designs from Asia and India where puppets are sometimes used for sacred ceremonies. We saw original versions of Punch & Judy. We also learned how puppets are manipulated and sometimes take up to 3 persons to execute a puppet’s movements. In addition, we learned that it can sometimes take puppeteers up to 30 years to learn to manipulate a puppet. There are also original puppets on display from the first film ever to use puppets, Jim Henson’s The Dark Knight.

Henson is clearly a star that shines bright in this museum. There are three fascinating exhibits that focus on his puppetry matery:

1. “Wonders from His Work Shop” features Big Bird, Fraggle Rock, his work with George Lucas and his use of technology in modern films and in PBS’ “Sid the Science Kid,”

2. “Jim Henson: A Man and His Frog” about Kermit’s humble beginnings in a 1950s show Sam and Friends

3. “Jim Henson: Puppeteer” – The exhibit features many puppets that Jim performed and created including Ernie, Rowlf the Dog, the La Choy Dragon, Dr. Teeth, The Swedish Chef, Bugsy Them and others. In addition to these puppets the exhibit features personal archival photographs, seldom seen designs and doodles, sketches, quotes and a behind-the-scenes video.

The museum really does a terrific job of celebrating Henson’s legacy. I absolutely loved introducing my kids to the Swedish Chef, Dr. Teeth and all my favorite muppets from the series and films. Underwood said that Henson was making shows primarily for adults. This being said, I’m a big kid at heart and appreciate everything that he did for the puppetry world. His vision shaped this museum, and I’m sure it shaped the history of the industry.

Cameras were not allowed in the Henson exhibit. My children were pretty tuned in during the entire tour. We didn’t get to see the current production, “Rumpelstiltskin” as we came off-season when all of Atlanta is back in school. It plays until September 12th on weekends. After that, they will be showing “Wake Up Your Weird,” “Charlotte’s Web,” “The Nightingale,” and “Rudolph and the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” the timeless tale of Rudolph and his “misfit” friends. The Center also offers programming for teens and adults, including puppet shows, workshops and films. They offer Create-a-Puppet workshops, preschool workshops, shadow puppet invention workshops, as well as distance learning for pre-K to 12th grade.