Alexander Winfield Performing
at Open Door Designs

OPEN DOOR DESIGNS is crammed with puppets this season. Along with Open Door Designs' own child-friendly puppets and theatres you will find Kelly Kirkham's puppets, Alexander Mergold's marionettes, Steven Barkley's muppety puppets (Diabolo Puppets) and Kristy Wilson's delightful felted animals. We also have a wide variety of vintage puppets for sale in the store including Hazelle, Pelham, Peter Puppet Playthings and many other puppets from around the world. Please feel free to drop in just to visit!

OPEN DOOR DESIGNS booth at the One of a Kind Show was visited by hundreds of new customers. It was a great year and we would like to thank all those that visited us at F34!

ALEXANDER MERGOLD'S MARIONETTE WORKSHOP AT OPEN DOOR DESIGNS

The two-day workshop turned into three and possibly four to finish painting and dressing. It was very moving to see these characters come to life.

If you are interested in working with Alexander we will be offering other workshops in the new year.
Please email or call (416) 531-1290 to get on the list. More info click here

Taken from the NFB Website:

The Film
Madame Tutli-Putli boards the night train, weighed down with all her earthly possessions and the ghosts of her past.

The National Film Board of Canada presents a stunning, stop-motion animated film that takes the viewer on an exhilarating existential journey. The film introduces groundbreaking visual techniques and is supported by a haunting and original score. Painstaking care and craftsmanship in form and detail bring to life a fully imagined, tactile world unlike any you have seen.
Jungian thriller? Hitchcockian suspense? Artistic tour de force? The night train awaits you.

Taken from the National Theatre Warhorse Website:

The story
At the outbreak of World War One, Joey, young Albert's beloved horse, is sold to the cavalry and shipped to France.
He's soon caught up in enemy fire, and fate takes him on an extraordinary odyssey, serving on both sides before finding himself alone in no man's land.
But Albert cannot forget Joey and, still not old enough to enlist, he embarks on a treacherous mission to the trenches to find him and bring him home.
Actors, working with astonishing, life-sized puppets, lead us on this emotionally-charged journey through history.

Taken from Boston.com - October 7, 2009

Earlier this week, 1.5 million people filled the streets of Berlin, Germany to watch a several-day performance by France's Royal de Luxe street theatre company titled "The Berlin Reunion". Part of the celebrations of the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Reunion show featured two massive marionettes, the Big Giant, a deep-sea diver, and his niece, the Little Giantess. The storyline of the performance has the two separated by a wall, thrown up by "land and sea monsters". The Big Giant has just returned from a long and difficult - but successful - expedition to destroy the wall, and now the two are walking the streets of Berlin, seeking each other after many years apart.

The biggest puppets you'll ever see! Sublime and deeply moving. Theatre Royal de Luxe theatre based in Nantes performed in Berlin in October. There is a lot of film on Youtube as well.

RED WAGON COLLECTIVE: DONATIONS NEEDED:
wool, embroidery floss, needles, crochet hooks, old sweaters

RED WAGON COLLECTIVE was formed in 2006 in response to our desire to deepen our artistic, collaborative, and community-engaged practices through residency projects that would enable us to develop both intensive and extensive relationships in the Junction - a rapidly changing neighbourhood in Toronto's west end. We share a desire to work collaboratively with artists and non-artists to create work that inspires new conversations; softens boundaries between groups separated by age, culture, ability, and economic status; promotes the presence of art in everyday life and contributes to increasing public engagement in community development. The work we create with communities is used in producing exhibitions, public installations, and celebratory performance events.We are currently working within the walls of the Evangeline Shelter.