Pupperoos is very excited to be performing “The Whirlwind” on Saturday, 27th November, 2010. This show was commissioned by Wentworth Galleries, Sydney, and will be performed in one of their three galleries in Sydney’s CBD.
A young girl goes on a desperate journey across the Australian bush in search of her baby brother. The child has been stolen by a Whirlwind. To win him back, the girl must give the Whirlwind something in exchange. But what does she have that it could ever want?
The Whirlwind is inspired by Indigenous culture and storytelling, as well as the 1940’s picture book, “The Way of the Whirlwind” by Mary and Elizabeth Durack. The performance incorporates glove, shadow and rod puppetry as well as traditional storytelling.
Tickets are $20 and the proceeds will go towards funding the “Cambodia Kids Project” run by Globalteer (a UK-based charity). Puppeteer Kay Yasugi will be travelling to Siem Reap in February 2011 to help run the “Giant Puppet Parade” project, where children in the community are invited to help build large parade puppets and star in their very own parade.
Tickets are available at the door. As seats are limited, please book ahead by contacting Kay atinfo@pupperoos.com or please call Maria Aitken at (02) 9223 1700.
Nathan Rosettenstein tries out his new shark mouth puppet at "Pupperoos Playtime"
Pupperoos recently ran a fun-filled puppetry workshop for 4-10 year olds at Pennant Hills Baptist Church, Sydney. The children enjoyed making a variety of “Under the Sea” puppets, including jellyfish marionettes (string puppets), rainbow fish rod puppets and jaw-snapping shark mouth puppets. They also met Chee-Chee the Cheeky Monkey, who despite her tendency to fall asleep still managed to put on a fun show. The children also got to put on a show at the end of the afternoon and their parents were delighted!
For more information about Pupperoos workshops (for children and adults), please contact Kay at info@pupperoos.com.
Click on the thumbnails below to see more photos from the workshop.
"Billy Jean" rod/marionette by Kay Yasugi at the Jeans for Genes Denim Charity Dinner
On 22nd July 2010, Kay Yasugi from Pupperoos and her puppet “Billy Jean” performed for the guests at the Jeans for Genes Denim Charity Dinner. “Billy Jean” danced, ‘moon-walked’ and kicked around a football with guests as they enjoyed the night’s festivities. The dinner was held at Sydney’s Doltone House and raised funds for the Children’s Medical Research Institute.
Some of the celebrity guests included MC Chris Bath (Anchor for Channel Seven News), the cast of the Channel Nine TV series “Underbelly“, Angus McLaren (who plays “Nathan” on Channel Seven’s ”Packed to the Rafters“) and a myriad of artists who had donated their time and talent to create the denim artworks being showcased. The main highlight of the evening was auctioning off the various artworks of jeans donated by International and Australian celebrities. The People’s Choice Award was given to Paul Dorin for his artwork of Ricky Ponting’s jeans. Click here to see all the 2010 Celebrity Jean Artworks.
Jeans for Genes Day is on Friday August 6, 2010. Please wear your favourite pair of jeans and give generously to a very good cause.
The images below are from the Jeans for Genes Art Exhibition launch and the Denim Charity Dinner:
Kay Yasugi with actor Salvatore Coco (from Channel Nine's "Underbelly" TV series) and "Billy Jean" marionette at the Jeans for Genes exhibition launch, Sydney. "Underbelly" painting by John McCartin and Photo by Craig Peihopa
On 6th July 2010, Kay Yasugi from Pupperoos attended the Jeans for Genes Art Exhibition Media and Gallery Launch at Wentworth Galleries in Sydney. She performed with her ”Billy Jean” marionette/rod puppet (which could dance, moonwalk and kick around a soccer ball) as the guests arrived and mingled at the event.
Jeans for Genes is a major fundraiser of the Children’s Medical Research Institute. International and Australian celebrities including Russell Crowe, Sigourney Weaver and Emma Thompson have donated their personally signed jeans, which have been beautifully painted by a selection of talented Australian artists. These artists have volunteered their time and materials to create the artworks which will be auctioned at the Denim Charity Dinner on Thursday 22nd July, 2010.
Pupperoos is very excited to be performing “The Whirlwind” on Wednesday 28th July, 2010. The show was commissioned by Wentworth Galleries, Sydney, and will be performed in one of their three galleries in Sydney’s CBD.
“The Whirlwind” is the story of a girl who goes on a journey across the Australian bush to find her baby brother. It is inspired by Indigenousculture and storytelling and incorporates shadow, rod and glove puppetry.
Tickets are $20 and includes a lecture on Aboriginal art by Gallery Expert, Peter Aitken.
Tickets are available at the door. As seats are limited, please book ahead by contacting Kay at info@pupperoos.com or please call Maria Aitken at (02) 9223 1700.
Kay Yasugi as the puppeteer/storyteller in "The Whirlwind"
Kay Yasugi from Pupperoos has recently developed a new solo show to be performed in June/July 2010. The show was commissioned by Wentworth Galleries and will be performed in one of their 3 art galleries located in Sydney’s CBD. This gallery space is used to showcase their many stunning Indigenous artworks, and for that reason, the show has been inspired by Indigenous stories and culture. The show, “The Whirlwind“, is the story of a little girl searching for her baby brother who is stolen by a whirlwind. The show incorporates glove, shadow and rod puppetry as well as traditional storytelling. It has also been devised with the assistance of students from Wesley Institute as part of their Puppetry Secondment Project.
"Hand Ballet" performed by Natasha Lukins, Juliana Purnell, Faith Treacy, Scott Mason and Vanessa Hall. Directed by Kay Yasugi
From March-June 2010, Kay Yasugi from Pupperoos ran a Puppetry Secondment Project with a small group of students from Wesley Institute, a Christian Arts College in Sydney. The project involved developing Pupperoos’ solo show, “The Whirlwind“, as well as introducing the students to puppetry: making various puppets, performing with puppets and showcasing the work achieved over the 8 sessions. The project also aimed to equip the students with knowledge and skills in puppetry that can be applied for future work in their own fields of drama/dance.
For more information about Wesley Institute, please visit www.wi.edu.au.
To see photos from the project, click on the album below:
Joy Hopwood, Geoff Field and Kay Yasugi with Rupert the Puppet
On March 11th, Kay Yasugi from Pupperoos worked with Mission Australiato film a TV commercial for their “Hush for Homelessness” campaign. The aim of the campaign is to raise money to help homeless Australians by sponsoring people to not talk for 60 minutes on Friday 14th May. Celebrities Joy Hopwood (presenter on ABC’s “Play School“) and Geoff Field (news reader for 2day FM’s ”Kyle and Jackie O Show“) presented the campaign on the commercials, and were joined by a very cute little sock puppet called Rupert.
In April 2009, Pupperoos participated in a 2 week animation film project at the Royal College of Art, London. The short film is called “Den mörka ” (”Dark Island”) and is about a young boy, Ludvig, who is forced to grow up when confronted with the bleak realities of his adolescence. It was directed by Jöns Mellgren, who also created all the tiny paper puppets. The finished film was recently screened at the Stockholm International Film Festival and won the “1km Honorable Film Mention” for Mellgren’s ”spellbinding narrative, visual flair and ability to bring a rich and darkly intriguing world to life from a single island of cardboard“.
For more information about the Stockholm International Film Festival, click here
To see photos from the project, click on the album below:
Pupperoos recently ran a puppetry workshop at the ‘Kids Can’ training event (run by Logosdor) as part of the Baptist “Revive ‘09” Conference. The event was held at the Olympic Park Sports Centre in Homebush, Sydney.
‘Kids Can’ is aimed at equipping children aged 7-14 with a variety of skills that they can use in Christian ministry and beyond. After having a chance to sample a few short workshops, these young participants chose their electives which included: electronic story telling (using Microsoft Photo Story), Drama, Dance, Song writing/recording, Creative Prayer, Juggling and even Balloon Modelling.
It was an exciting day full of creativity and fun, and Kay from Pupperoos had a brilliant time teaching the kids how to make hand puppets out of simple materials like pipe cleaners, styrofoam balls and even plain cardboard.
For more information about Pupperoos workshops (for children and adults), please contact Kay at info@pupperoos.com.
