Kindergarten Isn’t Just For Kids

Cynthia VonOrthal studied acting at the Goodman School of Drama (now The Theatre School at DePaul University), and figured she’d make a living as an actor. But a friend’s invitation to a puppet performance of the Brothers Grimm fairy tale Rapunzel changed the course of her life.

“I thought it would be really dumb, I mean, it’s just puppets. But I sat in the audience with about sixty 5-year-olds and it was so funny!” VonOrthal said.

“I immediately thought, ‘I want to do this,’” recalls the master puppeteer, who went on to earn a Master’s Degree in Puppetry in Prague, along with students from Israel, Croatia, Ireland and Wisconsin. “I didn’t speak any Czech, and the professors didn’t speak any English, but there was an assistant who would translate for us, and, of course, there was a lot of pointing. ‘Do this!’”

VonOrthal is Artistic Director of VonOrthal Puppets, whose studio has been located at 4541 N. Ravenswood since 2000. She grew up on Berwyn Avenue near Ravenswood, and had always wanted an art space in the warehouse district. “There’s lots of foot traffic, the Lillstreet Art Center is a block away, and it’s just so cool.”

Tiffany Lange has a background in fine arts and science, and worked as the creative director for a health care advertising company. She became interested in puppetry after seeing The Lion King on Broadway. Soon afterward, she signed up for the first puppetry class VonOrthal offered, and then she took another class and started contributing to the curriculum. Last July, she left corporate America to take the position of Designer for VonOrthal Puppets.

Lange, a resident of Lincoln Square, likes the Ravenswood studio’s location because of its easy access to public transportation (many of their students are car-less), and because of the neighborhood’s artsy/industrial feel. “It’s got all of the things we need, and some things we don’t need, like the tavern [O’Shaughnessy’s Public House] on the corner,” she laughs.

Why puppetry? VonOrthal says, “Because they can fly! It’s like being in Kindergarten for adults all day. Plus, it’s so much more than just performing. There’s costuming, choreography, vocal technique, painting, sculpture, playwriting. It’s about the whole craft.”

VonOrthal Puppets offers a variety of puppetry classes and design workshops for adults, including: “Puppetry of the Spirit,” a course in sculpting, painting, costuming and mechanics of assembly; Puppet Animations, in which the students learn to build the mechanisms that control the puppet’s facial movements; and Puppet Performance, for those who don’t want to make their own puppets.

Students can choose to make European-style marionettes, which are controlled from above using strings or wires, or Japanese-style Bunraku puppets, which have rods for moving the puppet’s arms and legs, and a handle on the back with rings attached to strings that are pulled like a trigger to move the puppet’s facial features, such as the mouth or eyebrows.

In the first class, students decide what to make, using reference books, nature books, or graphic illustrations. Then they are required to draw their ideas, whether or not they think they can draw. “We’ve had a lot of students who’ve been told they’re not creative, or don’t consider themselves to be artists, but they’re surprised at what they can do,” says VonOrthal. Lange tells of one student who is a scientist who “needed something to do with the other side of her brain.”

“Surprisingly, no two students have ever made the same puppet,” says VonOrthal. Lange interjects, “Well, we did have two students who made mermaids, but one was actually a ‘mer-witch’.” Other puppets that have been made in VonOrthal classes include an insane waiter, a hoarder-witch, an old woman who’s afraid of cats, a five-year-old girl monster, a Day of the Dead puppet, and the scientist is making a praying mantis.

Classes usually consist of about 6-15 students, and many students come back for more after completing the first course.

VonOrthal Puppets also offers workshops for children in libraries or grammar schools. They’ve done after-school programs and summer camp classes.

Besides teaching classes, VonOrthal Puppets has touring performances at schools and libraries, and has had contracts with theaters locally and nationwide. They were even invited to perform in Guatemala, with custom-made puppets for a traditional Mayan story. And last year at the Raven Theatre they premiered their original play, Berwyn Avenue, written and directed by VonOrthal, about a group of neighbors in the summer of 1971.

Starting this weekend, VonOrthal Puppets will begin a series of performances at their studio every Saturday at 3:00. The first show will be Aesop’s Fables.

Coincidentally, Saturday, April 23rd will be the 13th Annual National Day of Puppetry. What better time to take the family out for a puppet show?

For more information, see vonorthalpuppets.com.

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1. Kindergarten in the 21st Century
2. The kids are waiting
3. Merchant applications for Kids in Sq due
4. CPS schools cut sophomore spring sports; Schools protest

Tags: Cynthia Van Orthal, Cynthia VanOrthal, Goodman School of Drama, Theater School at De Paul University, Theatre School at DePaul Univeristy

This entry was posted on April 13, 2011 at 11:31 am and is filed under Neighborhood News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.