On Thursday evening, with 20 puppets and one set of hands, Tanglewood Marionettes co-founder Peter Schaefer, captivated an audience of families and children.
Dressed in costumes having returned from trick-or-treating, the Newton community gathered at the Women’s Club of Newton Highlands for a showcase of The Fairy Circus.
The Tanglewood Marionettes were selected by the Hyde Community Center in Newton Highlands in coordination with the Women’s Club of Newton Highlands and The Village Bank.
The Hyde Community Center aims to provide a variety of events throughout the year. During the months of June, July, and August, the center offers Friday night concerts.
John Rice, executive director of the Hyde Community Center, explained that they have, in the past, staged haunted houses on Halloween. He added that it takes a lot of time and people, so they opted to hire a performer this year instead.
“It’s for community building—activities to bring people together,” Rice said. “But, this is the first year we’ve done a puppet show.”
Founded in 1993, the Tanglewood Marionettes began touring nationally, but have since shifted to performing primarily in New England, explained Schaefer.
“We had a family and decided that local was easier, so now we’re mostly in Massachusetts, New York, and New Jersey,” Schaefer said. “It’s great to perform in Newton, it’s home.”
The Fairy Circus began with a variety of marionettes juggling, riding tricycles, contorting, and flying. The show featured little to no dialogue, composed primarily of music and sound effects.
The performance opened with Schaefer defining the distinction between hand puppets and marionettes. The remainder of the performance included Schaefer positioned above the stage to demonstrate how the marionettes are able to move.
Schaefer explained he usually is the front of the puppets with his wife Anne Schaefer, with the two of them bringing the creativity behind their characters.
“I am the puppet uncle,” Scheafer said. “The kids love it.”
As the show came to a close, children and families were given the opportunity to take a closer look at the featured marionettes and ask questions. In response to a question from an audience member, Schaefer explained that he began playing with puppets as a child.
“I got a summer job doing puppet shows, and the company that hired me taught me how to work marionettes,” Schaefer said. “Basically I have been doing it ever since then.”
Five-year-old Ayla, who attended the show with her mother and father, shared that it was her first puppet show.
“It was cool,” Alya said. “I didn’t know how they moved.”
Many children were interested in the mechanics of the puppets. They inquired as to how the puppets worked, were stored, and how one marionette carrying a flower could spray water from the bloom.
Schaefer detailed how he linked a fish tank tube, which served as the flower’s stem, to the nozzles of a hand sprayer and a pressure sprayer, generating a stream of water to flow from the marionette.
“They’re unique puppets,” Schaefer said.
Fashioned from an array of materials, from wood and styrofoam to rubber and paper mache fabric, the marionettes are cutting edge. They have recently begun 3-D printing certain parts of the puppets, explained Schaefer.
“You name it, we use it,” Schaefer said. “Puppetry, it’s an art. It’s theater with an object.”
