Mission and History

Mission

The primary mission of The Piccadilly Puppets Company is to provide puppetry experiences of highly artistic quality to young audiences of ethnically/culturally diverse populations. 

Piccadilly Puppets is committed to becoming an inclusive organization that reflects and honors the diversity of the community we serve, both in hiring and in the stories we tell through our puppet shows.

We wish to acknowledge that we work on the native lands of the Muskogee Creek Nation and appreciate their cultural contributions, as well as those of their neighbors, the Cherokee Nation.

We feel it is important that all children have an opportunity to see the plays, so we bring the performances to them.   Every effort is made to serve culturally diverse and economically disadvantaged audiences.  Since many of the programs take place in educational settings, great care is taken to blend content with curriculum.   Most of the plays feature original scripts and music, stimulating creativity in the audience.  To create further interest in the art of puppetry, performance techniques are demonstrated for the children whenever possible, and classroom workshops are available with hands-on puppetry experiences for students, teachers or puppeteers. Often the workshops relate to existing literature, thus encouraging reading, and include some scripting and simple performance experiences.  We will continue to experiment with new puppetry techniques and explore a wide variety of content areas to share with our audiences.

History

Since its founding by Ken Daniel in 1970, The Piccadilly Puppets Company has produced and performed puppet plays for audiences, mostly children,  demonstrating high artistic quality. The company has performed at schools, theatres, churches, day care centers, community gatherings, nursing homes, hospitals, private companies, homes, libraries, recreation centers, community festivals; regional, national, and international puppetry festivals. Some highlights in addition to regular performances are:  an industrial film for AT&T, a production on child abuse for Northside Hospital, special tours for the Georgia Department of Education and State PTA, two years of performing at every elementary school in Cobb County, a one hour video production for GPTV/Department of Education, and performances at Wolf Trap Park.  The company was featured at Callaway Gardens for several weeks of performances and workshops during Callaway’s Spring Festivals from 1995 – 1998.  The company has been awarded the UNIMA Citation for Excellence in the Art of Puppetry.  The company goal is to continue to offer a variety of experiences in the art of puppetry for children and family audiences.  In addition it will continue to experiment with new puppetry techniques and to explore a wide variety of subject areas to share with enthusiastic audiences.

Carol Daniel was the Director of the Piccadilly Puppets for over 20 years until her death in 2011. For a tribute to Carol, click here.

Rachel Frawley is the Director of the company. She is an Atlanta based actor, writer and producer. She holds a B.F.A. in Theatre from Michigan State University and is an apprentice company graduate of the Atlanta Shakespeare Co.

In addition to acting, she has narrated over 30 audiobook titles, and was a producer for the Weird Sisters Theatre Project for their 2017 and 2018 seasons. She has taught and directed acting camps, classes and master classes for theaters and studios across Atlanta. Rachel has worked and continues to train as an intimacy professional, and is a certified Artistic Mental Health Practitioner and Mental Health First Aider.