Characters in Grays Harbor College’s upcoming production of the children’s story “James and the Giant Peach” require more assistance coming to life on stage than typical method acting lessons. It’s because they are puppets operated by human actors.
Fifteen puppets — five of which are significant characters in the play — have been custom designed by Jason Kramer, founder and creative director of Gabriel Design Theatricals, based in King of Prussia, Pa., near Philadelphia. He has worked in theater for 25 years as a scenic and prop designer, painter and educator.
“There has been a resurgence of the art of puppetry and most of it’s due to ‘The Lion King’ on Broadway,” Kramer said. “While it didn’t reinvent puppetry, it gave it a new lease on life and a popularity that hasn’t been there in a long time.”
Kramer’s Broadway-quality props, masks and puppets are used in theaters of all sizes in the United States and abroad.
A lady bug, centipede, grasshopper, spider and earthworm are major characters in “Peach” and described by Kramer as “slightly humanized insects.”
He was in Aberdeen this past week to teach several workshops on puppetry and to see how the puppets were going to work out. Most of the time Kramer’s workshops are geographically limited to the northeastern United States. The puppets and other production items are usually shipped to performance venues from his East Coast headquarters.
Popular production items produced by Kramer include well known characters in the previously noted stories in addition to stage version pieces to portray Donkey, Gingy and other favorites from “Shrek”; Iago in “Aladdin”; and, Milky White from “Into The Woods.”
Brad Duffy, GHC’s theater instructor, rented items from Kramer for a recent production of “The Little Mermaid.”
“After that, he asked me if I had this show,” Kramer said.
Kramer didn’t, but he decided to fast-track puppets for GHC so its production could be presented in early November.
“It was a very quick build — two months building what would normally take six months,” he said.
During an event held Tuesday, Oct. 11 for members of Greater Grays Harbor Inc. inside the college’s theater, three of the puppets were brought out by students who will perform with them. The debut appearance was definitely crowd pleasing with many people pulling out cellphones to snap pictures.
Kramer always tries to create characters that are somewhat familiar to people who will watch the puppets and accurately reflect each character’s personality. But being an artist, he still works hard to give each one a fresh, distinctive style.
For example, Mr. Centipede resembles a New York tough guy and Mrs. Ladybug is “a combination of my two grandmothers — their appearances,” he said.
Those two characters weren’t strongly defined visually in other forms of the story so Kramer had ample room for interpretation.
There are also four large seagulls, five shark fins and one rhinoceros he created for “Peach.”
The central character, James, is an orphan boy with a bleak and lonely life until he discovers a giant enchanted peach and crawls inside of it. There, he meets the insects and sets out on an exciting adventure.
“It’s a great story,” Kramer said. “The journey they go through together. James goes through a transformation.”
The puppets and the GHC play will debut next month.
Tickets are on sale for performances at the Bishop Center for Performing Arts Nov. 4, 5, 11 and 12 at 7:30 p.m., and Nov. 6 and 13 at 2 p.m. They can be purchased online at the Bishop Center website — ghc.edu/bishop
Jason Kramer poses next to some of the puppets he created for “James and the Giant Peach.” The play and puppets debut Nov. 4 at the Bishop Center for Performing Arts at Grays Harbor College. (Terri Harber|The Daily World)
