File puptcrit/puptcrit.0501, message 18


From: "Steve Axtell" <steve-AT-axtell.com>
To: "LIST Pupcrit" <puptcrit-AT-driftline.org>
Date: Tue, 4 Jan 2005 13:55:36 -0800
Cc: 
Subject: [Puptcrit] Ralph Kipniss Chicago - new theater


 http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chicago/chi-0501040190jan04,1,3905629.story?coll=chi-newslocalchicago-hed

Puppeteer pulls for new theater
With 3,000 marionettes in its collection, a small puppet troupe would like to expand its audience--if only it had the right space

By Jon Anderson
Tribune staff reporter
Published January 4, 2005

In the cluttered basement of an old puppet shop, with almost 3,000 marionettes hanging limp from the ceiling, a marionette master talked wistfully of his dream.

Unlike Geppetto, the aged craftsman who yearned for a son, to be named Pinocchio, what Ralph Kipniss wants is space.

To be precise, a loft.

"This is our 23rd anniversary. We've been in this theater for 17 years," Kipniss said Sunday. He was speaking first of the National Marionette Company of Chicago, then of its current home, the amazing interior of a storefront at 1922 W. Montrose Ave., in the Ravenswood neighborhood.

It's a crowded place, awash in nostalgia.

Indeed, among the replicas of everyone from Dolly Parton to Captain Kangaroo, it is hard not to be reminded of the glory days for local puppets (controlled on poles from below) and marionettes (run with strings from above.)

There was a time, as Kipniss well remembered, when a person could see marionette operas almost every night of the week at the Kungsholm restaurant on the Near North Side. Kipniss, now 64, broke in there when he was 18. Or one could stay home and, with the rest of the country, watch Burr Tillstrom.

"Burr was a dear friend of mine," said Kipniss. "I first met him when he was working at Marshall Field's on State Street, long before he had his television program. The store had a theater for kids. Burr put on the show. And his mother played the piano."

For the last 35 years, Kipniss and his puppetry partner, Lou Ennis, have been doing much the same thing.

"And we're going to keep at it until we get it right," joked Ennis, speaking of a schedule that includes 200 shows a year. They entertain in schools, at fairs and in their tiny Puppet Parlor Theater, a replica of the historic marionette theaters found in many cities in Europe.

The current offering, "Hansel and Gretel," was a big hit Sunday with one audience member.

Chase Kaplan, 3, who was wearing a Superman costume, liked the part where evil was vanquished, by exposing a witch to extreme heat. "Very interesting," added Pam Van Giessen, an adult, attending with two friends from Holland.

So, how is the little theater doing?

"Well, we're just doing," reported Kipniss, who has sunk some $200,000 into the business over the years. "It's not great. We need help. Money helps. And we'll love it if someone could find us a bigger place. Like a nice loft. Here, we can only bring in groups of 75 at a time."

If they could expand--spread their wings, so to speak--they could put on bigger shows, for bigger crowds, and increase the space they devote to classes in puppet and marionette making. The winter session starts this week, around the basement sewing and wood-working machines.

Many of his students are people working in art therapy, Kipniss reported. Children who have suffered trauma and do not trust adults often relate to messages carried to them by puppets and marionettes.

As for Kipniss, one of his great moments came when he trundled his marionette of Marlene Dietrich out to a suburban theater to meet--Marlene Dietrich. "How wonderful of you to bring this," the husky-voiced chanteuse told him, "but what can I give you in return. A kiss? A picture?"

Kipniss wouldn't say what he asked for, but his eyes said he may well have gotten both.
Steve Axtell / Axtell Expressions, Inc.
***************************************

See our new show "AxTelevision"!    http://www.axtelevision.com
Amazing Puppet Characters for over 20 years. http://www.axtell.com
International Performer's Directory (Free
Listing)   http://www.axtell.com/ipd.html
The original content of this email or attachments is =A9 2004 Axtell
Expressions, Inc.
_______________________________________________
List address: puptcrit-AT-lists.driftline.org
Admin interface: http://lists.driftline.org/listinfo.cgi/puptcrit-driftline.org

   

Driftline Main Page

 

Display software: ArchTracker © Malgosia Askanas, 2000-2005