Tricksters looking to close April Fools’ Day on a high note need to ask themselves one question: How do you feel about puppet nudity?
On April 1, puppet enthusiasts can check out Fools After Dark: A Saucy Puppet Cabaret at the Granville Island Review Stage, a launch party/fundraiser for the inaugural Vancouver International Puppet Festival. Celebrated ventriloquist Kellie Haines will emcee the night while guests enjoy nibbles, a silent auction, a puppet photo booth, live musicians and, of course, lots of puppets, some of whom will be showing a little more felt than others.
“It’s definitely an adult-oriented evening,” said festival co-creator Jeny Cassady. “There will be both puppet and human nudity happening.”
Fools After Dark and the Vancouver International Puppet Festival are the brainchildren of local puppeteers Cassady, Morris Chapdelaine, Dusty Hagerüd and Tara Travis. The foursome joined forces last November to address what they saw as a gaping hole in the city’s arts community.
“We’ve been doing it for a long time, and the more professional we all become, the more we are sought out and asked questions like, ‘Where can I learn how to do puppeteering?’ [and] ‘How can I build a puppet?’” said Cassady. “There’s really not an ongoing or regular anything in Vancouver [and] very little in Canada that can help these people with [their] burning puppet questions.”
Cassady and co. decided to launch the festival by throwing an adult-only party, and festival partner the Granville Island Cultural Society donated the use of the Review Stage for the night. The short planning window, however, has been a challenge for the group, as all four organizers are busy with their day jobs.
“We were very lucky to get April Fools’ as the night that was available, but it did put us in a bit of a whirlwind to prep everything,” said Cassady. “I’ve been on a pilot, Morris is on a film set right now, Tara’s been travelling extensively [and] Dusty just got back from a film set up island, so the four of us are working evenings and we’re texting and we’re Skyping in for all of our meetings. It’s just been crazy.”
Cassady, who was part of the Arts Club Theatre’s Jessie Award-winning cast of Avenue Q, said part of the appeal of puppets is that they can tell stories that humans can’t.
“It becomes very horrible if you do a human version of Avenue Q, but puppets can get away with it,” she said. “The [ancient] Greeks used puppets to do things like rise up from the dead and be angels and save people, which was magical and mystical and reverent and couldn’t be done by humans.”
What’s more, said Cassady, is with a little imagination anything can be a puppet and bring joy to people of all ages.
“My friends are constantly laughing at me because I’ll pick something up off the table or off the floor… and suddenly it’s a puppet,” she said. “I’m known for carrying around these little eyeballs [that] fit like a ring over your finger and it makes your hand into a puppet. They are so much fun to bring out at parties, especially after there’s a little bit of drinking going on, because everybody turns into a kid and everybody engages. I’ve never seen anybody turn down an opportunity to play with it. It’s so fun to see adults just play because we don’t get to often and I think everybody kind of craves it.”
Specifics about the festival will be announced at Fools After Dark, but it’s scheduled to take place over three days this fall at the Granville Island Revue Stage. Planning for the inaugural festival is still in the early stages (Cassady describes it as “more of a wish list”), but she said they’re looking for volunteers, performers and sponsors interested in helping out.
The festival will cater to both children and adults and encompass all kinds of puppetry in as many formats as possible, including theatre, film and television. The group hopes to bring in acts from around the world and also to host panels and workshops for people interested in learning more about the world of puppets.
“We’ve got three days and one venue, so we have a lot of work to do,” said Cassady. “We’re not scared to start small, but boy are we dreaming big.”
@jameswesmith
