Trouble Puppet Theater Company

They’re more than just hand puppets, that’s for sure.  Trouble Puppet Theater Company showed me a side to puppetry that I’ve always wanted to see.  I felt like I was finally able to experience seeing puppetry that made me forget that humans were attached and the puppet was real.  I felt like a kid again.  Except, these puppet shows aren’t really designed for kids.  Their last show run in October was Frankenstein-and the theater was packed full of adults waiting to see what an adult puppet show was made of : a little violence, gore, body parts, betrayal and a love story. And these puppets brought all that to the stage plus more.

Their puppetry derives from a Japanese form - Bunraku - where it can take multiple puppeteers to manipulate a single puppet.  This can be very hard on the puppeteer’s body, and I remember Connor mentioning he owes a cast member a massage certificate.

Connor Hopkins founded Trouble Puppet Theater Company and works assiduously with Jeanine Lisa, who helps him write scrips and manage the time line for upcoming shows.  And of course, it takes time to make the puppets, which you’ll see in the video is a process that seems to be a love/hate kind of situation …a heck of a good challenge for Connor and crew. The puppets are made of recycled materials or anything that looks like it could be used to make a puppet.

The next show will be Trouble Puppets adaptation of Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle, which will be premiering in September.

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