Join us “All Together Now” for our 2023 Summer Reading Shows!

In honor of 2023’s Summer Reading theme, “All Together Now,” Piccadilly is putting the spotlight on two of our shows that bring together stories and folklore from all over the world: Wish Tales and Cat and Mouse! These shows each feature multiple tenets of ELAGSE and are the perfect way to get kids excited about stories, reading, and working together!

Thank you, Fayette County Library for hosting!

Today we are connecting with libraries and educators at the Fayette County Public Library Performer’s Showcase. Make sure to keep Piccadilly Puppets in mind for all your summer entertainment and education needs!

Can the power of wishing unite folklore on a global scale? Will cats and mice ever learn to work together? Find out when you book these delightful shows today!

Thank you to the City of Atlanta Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs

Thanks once again to the City of Atlanta Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs for supporting us through the Municipal Support for the Arts Program. This support helps us reach more children in the city by keeping our prices low and sometimes providing free programs for children experiencing homelessness (for example). They are also responsible for much of the new public art we’ve been seeing in the past few years!

Read on for more information about this wonderful program.

Municipal Support for the Arts

The Municipal Support for the Arts program is the City of Atlanta’s means of granting public funding to the arts. MSA awards contracts related to the production, creation, presentation, exhibition and management of artistic and cultural services in the city of Atlanta. The program recognizes that the presence of artists and non-profit organizations involved in the arts are critical to Atlanta’s cultural vitality. The arts enrich the creative development of the city’s diverse populations and contribute positively to the social and economic well being of Atlanta and the region. The goals of the MSA program are:

  • To provide support for the existence and excellence of artists and arts organizations in Atlanta.
  • To assist in the artistic development of the arts in Atlanta so that all citizens may participate in the diverse cultural life of the city.
  • To develop the contributions of Atlanta’s culturally diverse communities.
  • To ensure that the arts have broad geographic distribution and reach all segments of the population.
  • To support a broad range of educational activities in the arts.
  • To preserve the city’s artistic, cultural and historic heritage.
  • To enhance neighborhood vitality and economic development through the arts.

World Water Day March 22 and Earth Day April 22

Piccadilly Puppets has environmentally-themed puppet shows for these special days!

Splish, Splash: Water Stories explores our most precious resource in a fun and educational way! Large hand-puppets are used in the Australian folktale of “Tiddalick the Frog” and the Creek legend “Rabbit Plays Tug-of-War,” which demonstrate that water is important to all cultures. The original shadow puppet piece, “The Adventures of Drip and Drop,” shows the water cycle from the point of view of the raindrops. As the closing song says, “Everybody needs a little water!”

Big green Tiddalick the Frog hand a rod puppet and blue Eel rod puppet posing in front of a lake
Splish, Splash: Water Stories

Developed for the opening of the Callaway Gardens Butterfly Center, Butterfly Ballad traces the metamorphosis of Katy and Kevin Caterpillar from egg to caterpillar, chrysalis, and butterfly. Join them on their fascinating migration to Mexico and marvel as they return to the United States to lay their eggs, beginning the life cycle all over again. The story, narrated by Mother Nature and performed with hand and rod puppets, culminates in a discussion of what each individual can do to maintain the balance of nature. Students learn a few Spanish words along the way; a bilingual version is available on request.

Mother Nature with Katy Butterfly from Butterfly Ballad
Mother Nature with Katy Butterfly from Butterfly Ballad

Engage your students through the performing arts!

Welcome back to school, all of you educators! We want to help you teach your students by reinforcing your lessons with fun, entertaining puppet shows and workshops! Each show has connections to English Language Arts, Science, or Social Studies, outlined on the show page of the website. Our study guides include vocabulary and suggested activities.

image of the classroom guide for Butterfly Ballad
Study guides provided!

We can do workshops, too!

Piccadilly Puppets Shows

Back to School!

Kindergarten students show shadow puppets that they made in a workshop.

Piccadilly Puppets has many educational shows and workshops! Bring us to your school this year! We have discounted prices for Title One schools.

Bring Piccadilly Puppets to your town with a Vibrant Communities Grant!

grantWould you like to bring Piccadilly Puppets to your school, library or non-profit organization in Fall 2018 or Spring 2019? If your organization is located in a county in which no organization received an FY18 GCA Project, Partner or Arts Education Grant, you can apply for a Vibrant Communities grant from the Ga Council for the Arts. The grants are for arts programming; why not have us do puppet shows and/or workshops?

For more info including a list of counties that qualify:

http://gaarts.org/images/PDFs/FY19-VC-guidelines-FINAL.pdf

Elves and Santa and Foxes, oh my!

See our listing of public Christmas performances:

Spiralina Toepick performs to “The Waltz of the Flowers” in our Nutcracker section of “Piccadilly Holiday”.

Saturday, December 2   3:30 pm.    ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas    Peachtree Branch, Atlanta-Fulton Public Library

Friday, December 8  6:00 pm.    ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas AND Juggler Ron Anglin.    R. E. Lee Auditorium, Thomaston, GA

Saturday, December 9   11:00 am, 1:00 pm.    ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas.          Little River Canyon Center, Fort Payne, AL

Tuesday, December 12   5:00 pm.     ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas   Commerce Public Library, Commerce, GA

Friday, December 15 and 22   6:00, 7:00 pm.     ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas.   Atlanta History Center

Saturday, December 16   10:00, 11:30 am.    ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas.          Aurora Children’s Playhouse, Aurora Theater, Lawrenceville, GA

Tuesday, December 19   10:30 am.      Piccadilly Holiday.        Cleveland Branch,   Atlanta-Fulton Public Library

Wednesday, December 21-22   10:00 am (plus a 1:30 show on Thursday only).   ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas     Roswell Cultural Arts Center

 

Thank you to the City of Atlanta Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs!

Piccadilly Puppets is a proud recipient of funding from the City of Atlanta Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs! We provide puppet performances throughout the City of Atlanta, and the funds help us to cover some expenses, so that we can keep our shows affordable. Funding also enables us to offer discounts to schools that receive Title One funding and other venues in those neighborhoods (such as libraries), and occasionally offer free shows in underserved parts of the city.

Thank you so much to the Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs for helping us to educate and entertain children in Atlanta through the art of puppetry!

Summer shows continue!

We have been busy in June, mostly with camp performances, but here are a couple of upcoming public performances:

Tuesday, June 20  2:30 pm Once Upon a Time in China (ages 3-10)  Fayette County Public Library  1821 Heritage Parkway Fayetteville, GA 30214  (770)305-5251

Tuesday, June 27  11:00 am  Wish Tales (ages 3-8)   A. Mitchell Powell Jr. branch, Coweta Public Library  25 Hospital Road Newnan, GA 30263  (770)253-3625

Also, don’t forget our Puppet Camp through the Johns Creek Arts Center (ages 6-10) July 10-14:

http://johnscreekarts.org/education/camps/2017/jul/puppetry-camp-ages-6-10-july-10-14-johns-creek-presbyterian-church-location

Puppet Camp in July!

What: One week Puppetry camp

Who: Children ages 6-10

Where: Johns Creek Presbyterian Church

When: July 10-14, 9-3 each day

How much: $265 for members of the Johns Creek Arts Center, $285 for non-members

A student putting the finishing touches on her cloth-and-foam puppet

Get a taste of both visual and performing arts with a week of puppet camp! Campers will learn about the different types of puppetry, make 2-3 puppets and write short scripts based on familiar folktales or myths. Instruction on puppet manipulation and rehearsal led by a professional puppeteer from Piccadilly Puppets will prepare the class to put on a fun original puppet show!

Click the link below for registration.

http://johnscreekarts.org/education/camps/2017/jul/puppetry-camp-ages-6-10-july-10-14-johns-creek-presbyterian-church-location