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Join ACA supporters at Arlington’s Patriots Day parade on 4/15

Patriots’ Day Parade, Sunday, April 15, 2 p.m. — 4 p.m.
Put on a hard hat and join other ACAACAparade artists, students and supporters marching in the 2018 Arlington Patriots Day Parade! We’ll carry giant cardboard tools and wear elegant/whimsical/brilliant hard hats to let everyone know we’re building a new ACA. All ages are welcome! Feel free to bring a stroller or wagon.
Marchers will meet near Brattle Street and Massachusetts Avenue at 1:00 and start marching at 2 p.m. By 4 p.m. the parade ends up at Adams St. and Massachusetts Avenue, near the East Arlington Walgreen’s.
Shuttle buses are available to the parade start from the Walgreen’s parking lot at 324 Massachusetts Avenue between 12:15 and 1:30. After the parade, buses run from Walgreen’s back to near Brattle Street between 4 and 4:30. BUT don’t park in the Walgreen’s lot — find an on-street spot.
Please join us! Email Judi Berman ([email protected])or Margaret Moody ([email protected]) to let us know you’re coming. And with questions.
Would you like to help make signs and giant tools? Great! We’ll meet Saturday, April 14 at 1 p.m. at Margaret Moody’s house, 78 Varnum. All welcome. Please email Margaret or Judi to let us know you’re coming.

 

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Magical Neighborhood

pixiedragonYAA

“Would you be mine?
Could you be mine?
Won’t you be my neighbor? ”

(lyrics from the Mr. Rogers Neighborhood theme song)

What kind of neighborhood would make magical creatures know they’re welcome?  We’ve been talking about that in the Youth Arts Arise teen program at Arts at the Armory.  My sample storefront of the #1 Troll Florist got students started. Now they’re creating a spa for dragons, a snack store for pixies and more. Next week we’ll put the neighborhood together.

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Home, News & Events, Teaching Workshops

Coming this winter: Create “Your Stylish Puppet”

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I’m trying out some ideas for a Youth Arts Arise class at Arts in the Armory in Somerville. We’ll make heads with small styrofoam balls, then style hair, clothes and jewelry for the outfit that makes the puppet. The schedule will be posted soon at artsatthearmory.org/

Home, News & Events, Teaching Workshops

Summer fun, Arts at the Armory

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Creating our own “Jack and the Beanstalk” at Arts at the Armory in August

We created characters, tied green fabric into a beanstalk, and got the story going at Arts Discovery Week in August. At some point the beanstalk became horizontal — oops!

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“Badger Meets the Fairies” at ACA, March 4

Saturday, March 4 at 2 pm
Arlington Center for the Arts, 41 Foster Street

Mr. Badger flies off to help the fairies build a playground. Then  it gets complicated: the fairies won’t use cement, and Mr. Badger wants to learn to fly. Best for ages 3 to 10.

I perform this fairy story with multicultural fairy puppets because I’ve found fairy stories from every continent. Arlington artist Sandra Pastrana helped make the fairies and sets; Alison Plante of Berklee School of Music created lilting music based on Celtic melodies.

Come for the show; stay for puppet-play and coffee!

Tickets $7; 3 for $20 at the door.

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Jack and the Beanstalk coming to ACA

February 4, 2017 at 2pm, Arlington Center for the Arts, 41 Foster Street

Join Dream Tale Puppets for a joyous romp through the classic tale of poor Jack, the cow and the magic beans. Dream Tale Puppets director Jacek Zuzanski creates the story with physical comedy, hand puppets, masks and a marionette. Margaret Moody provides narration and voices for the production.

Stay after the show to create your own hat or mask with paper strips. (This mini-workshop is included with admission.) Tickets are $7, available at jack-and-the-beanstalk-tickets.eventbrite.com

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Dream Tale Puppets was founded in 2003 at the Cape Cod Children’s Museum and now includes actors, puppeteers and visual artists who enjoy working with both traditional and innovative styles of puppetry. Troupe director Jacek Zuzanski is a theatre artist and acting teacher with over 30 years experience in Poland and the US. He earned his MFA from the Ludwik Solski State Theatre School.

Puppeteer and voice actress Margaret Moody loves old stories and the characters that inhabit them. She studied traditional Taiwanese puppetry with the I Wan Jan Puppet Troupe in Taiwan, and often uses its choreography and small puppets in her work with Galapagos Puppets and as a solo artist.

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Puppets Together Class at Arlington Center for the Arts

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I will be teaching a 5-session workshop at Arlington Center for the Arts, once a week from January 18 to February 15, from 3 to 4:30.
We will create puppet characters — with felt, socks, paper plates and fabric — and have a lot of fun teaching them to walk, run, dance, fly, talk and sing. Each class will include time to explore and play with puppets and props.
I hope your 5 to 8-year old will join me!
To see the course catalog and registration:
The fee is $100 for ACA members; $120 for non-members
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“Cow and Mouse’s Picnic” ON at ACA, Today at 2 pm

I’ll perform “Cow and Mouse’s Picnic” at Arlington Center for the Arts today at 2 as planned. Please join me if the weather doesn’t get in your way. Safety first, always. Stay to play with puppets and have some coffee or tea! Tickets $7 at the door.smcow

Arlington Center for the Arts is at 41 Foster Street in Arlington and has ample parking.

News & Events

“Cow and Mouse’s Picnic” at ACA on January 7

“Cow and Mouse’s Picnic” by Margaret Moody Puppets

January 7, 2017 at 2 pm,  Arlington Center for the Arts

Cow’s mother makes it clear that he should share his picnic with his good friend Mouse. But if that means sharing cookies, Cow has other ideas. Join me for a gentle farm fable that was created for children ages 3 to 7 and their families. Stay to play with all kinds of animal puppets, and have some coffee.

Tickets are $7, available at the door with cash or check. Please email me at [email protected] if you’d like to reserve tickets.

 

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Families and their puppets at ACA, 12/3

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makingpuppetsdogAt “Making Puppets Together” on December 3 I had the fun of watching parents make puppets along with their children. Lots of look-alike puppets, a family dog, and some robots, too.  When I asked to take photos of puppets only for privacy reasons, the kids, moms and dads immediately dropped to the floor and held their puppets up high. They’ve drilled a “best practice” for photo privacy.