Puppet Shows -Birthday-School-Enrichment Programs-Gerwick Puppets in New England-MA-Boston-CT-VT-NH-RI-NY

The Gerwick Puppets

Whenever you search for a performance that will enthrall children and is age appropriate, a show by Gerwick Puppets will fulfill your needs. Gerwick Puppets tours the New England states and performs with 35 years of experience throughout the Northeast. The elaborate stage, sets, lights and hand made puppets engage family audiences at public performances. We do shows at the Boston Public Library, The Puppet Showplace, The Clark Institute, the Springfield Massachusetts Museum of Art, The Mark Twain House in Connecticut, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston and repeatedly at the Peabody Essex Museum and First Night in Boston, Massachusetts. Our shows at schools, libraries, recreation departments, camps and home birthday parties are very popular.

All Gerwick Puppet productions incorporate music. Classical music predominates and is the main content of 'Midwinter Magic', a show that visualizes music with puppets, movement and light. It appeals to a family audience from pre-school children to adults. 'The Case of the Missing Woodpile', a summer show that can be performed outdoors, is built on a jazz score. Especially enjoyed by all are the holiday shows such as the Halloween 'Inside the Haunted House' that uses atonal music as well as the music of Bach and 'Pilgrim Adventure to America' which is favored at Thanksgiving.

Gerwick Puppets offers productions designed for middle, upper elementary, primary grades, kindergarten and pre-school. Shows for middle school and upper elementary are keyed to the school curriculum and take their content from American history and literature. 'Rip Van Winkle' closely follows the Washington Irving story from his Sketch Book of 1819 that is considered one of the earliest works of American literature. 'Pilgrim Adventure to America strives to make understandable the beliefs, needs and conflicts of the early English settlers of New England, notably in Massachusetts, and the Native Americans.

Productions for primary grades and kindergarten are related to the school curriculum and are elaborate and colorful. They range from classic stories such as 'Aladdin', the fairytale 'Cinderella', and 'Aesop's Fables' to the nature tales of New England author Thornton W. Burgess. The shows are performed with humor and careful crafting of each individual character.

Deborah Costine, a puppeteer of Gerwick Puppets has solo shows for pre-school and kindergarten as well as for home birthday parties. These include 'A Woodland Cinderella', 'The Three Little Pigs and Other Tales', and 'The Twig Family in the Oak Tree'. 'Cinderella ' and 'The Three Little Pigs are designed for an audience of 100 or less rather than the large productions that can handle assemblies of 200 and 300 such as those given by Gerwick Puppets. 'Twig' is an intimate show that encourages young children to be aware and attentive to nature. This production is limited to an audience of 35.

Workshops show children and adults how to create a useful and sturdy hand puppet. Upper elementary students make puppets of historic figures or characters from American literature. Children in primary grades and kindergarten make characters from familiar stories. These puppets are then used to enact the written stories in short plays. Gerwick Puppets conducts workshops that simplify these stories and transform them into puppet dramas.

Shows and workshops for all ages are available from Gerwick Puppets. When you want something colorful and exciting, think of a puppet production. Fee information is provided at the top of this page.