6 types of puppet stages
Just as there are different types of puppets, there are different types of puppet sets. This article talks about 6 different types of puppet sets.
Paper mache
A church we ministered in had formed chicken wire into a tree shape that they covered in papier-mâché to give it a textured look. The tree had several large knots for the puppets to appear on and it also had a large branch that the puppets could climb up. This was a permanent stage, and it was done well.
entrance theater
Use a fitted curtain rod or tube with rubber stoppers at the ends of a door. (An adjustable tension curtain rod works well for this.) You can place a blanket or sheet over the rod once it’s in place, or run a drape over the rod before putting it up. A nice advantage of this type of theater is that you can easily adjust it to the height of your puppeteer.
However, there are a couple of downsides to this type of stage. You are limited by the size of the input. If it’s a standard 36″ door, two puppeteers might fit in, but it will be tight. Another con is that the door might not be in a good spot in the room and you may need to add a piece of colored material Smooth behind him to block out what’s in the next room.
strong carton box
This works for a temporary theater, but isn’t durable enough for a permanent one unless you have a good supply and can replace parts as needed. We used this as an extension of our normal theater when doing a Christmas play. The scene was a toy store and we used cardboard boxes covered with wrapping paper as shelves for the toys. Several toys were puppets that “came to life” when the owners left.
a wooden theater
You can build several different styles of wooden theaters. A camp near us designed a setting with a western theme. They had a barracks on one side, a wooden fence in the middle, and a country house on the other side. The puppets can appear on the fence or in the windows or doors of any of the houses.
At a church we attended, we built a puppet house. It consisted of a wall across the width of the room, about three feet from one end. We built it to look like the side of a house with a large window on one side, a door in the middle, and a small window on the other side. To give it the effect of the side of a house, we used a 1″ X 6″ novelty siding. We also added a cedar shingled roof. To the right of the door was a 36″ TV and our sound system. We also set it up so we could put a white board above the entry.
wooden frame theater
When our team consisted of more than eight members, our old theater was not big enough. We also did some outdoor shows and found that the wind was causing problems with our regular theatre; so we decided to build a new, sturdier theater.
First we built several wooden frames using 1″ X 3″ boards. The frames were just over 4′ tall and 2′ wide and were held together with L-brackets and screws. We then stretched the fabric over the frames and stapled it to the back. Hinges with removable pins were attached to the back so that the pieces could be interlocked. The frames were then joined to form a semicircle.
We then used 1″ X 3″ boards to make a 6′ long by 3′ wide frame and covered it with fabric like the smaller frames. We then used 1″ X 3″ X 6′ for the back uprights and screwed the frame crosswise on top to make the theater backdrop. The vertical boards were bolted to the end frames. The effect was similar to a PVC pipe theater.
PVC Pipe Frame Theater
This is our most frequently used theater that has 2″ X 6″ wooden bases and a frame constructed of 1 ½” PVC pipe that can be purchased at most hardware stores. The curtains are placed over the pipes to achieve the final look.There are many advantages to using this type of cinema.They are durable, lightweight and portable, easy to assemble or disassemble, strong, easy to maintain, fairly inexpensive, and not too difficult to manufacture.
There are 6 different types of scenarios. Choose the one that best suits your needs, add a little imagination and creativity, and see what happens.