Our History
Mock Turtle Marionette Theater is entering its thirtieth season as a puppet theater company. The theater’s record of over four thousand appearances in schools, theaters, museums, libraries and festivals includes engagements in many fine institutions. Two ten show appearances at the Kennedy Center and, recently, two “Meet the Artist” engagements at Lincoln Center stand out among the theater’s accomplishments.
Tours of the Lakota Indian Reservations, St Thomas in the Virgin Islands and Schwabish Gmunde in Germany are highlights of the company’s performance record.
The Puppetry Arts
Dedicated to the creation of new works, the theater has created the puppets, scripts and staging for more than twenty original plays for the puppet theater. Beyond the adventure of developing new plays, however, has been the theater’s continuing inquiry into the many ways puppets can be used on stage and in the community. From shadow puppets to marionettes; huge Mali Kono puppets to a twenty- five foot high Vishnu puppet, Mock Turtle has explored the varied world of puppets and puppet types.
Community
After obtaining non-profit status in 1999, the company began its current association with the City of Bethlehem by establishing its own theater space at the Charles Brown IceHouse Performing Arts Center. Here, the theater has premiered its most recent plays and presented many regional artists in the company’s Saturday’s Child Family Series. Meanwhile, Mock Turtle has provided a rich field trip program for regional schools in the IceHouse venue.
Education
During Mock Turtle’s first twenty years of operation, it invested a large part of its resources on the use of puppetry in education. Working with the Pennsylvania and Delaware Councils on the Arts, the company provided over sixty artist-in-residency programs to the schools. Meanwhile, Mock Turtle’s current interest in educational projects has taken us out of the classroom to produce our Emmy-nominated educational video My Name Is Jeremiah and our child abuse prevention program, Welcome to Our Family.