Upcoming: Fup Duck, Glass Half Full Theatre and the White Ghost Shivers, Salvage Vanguard Theatre, August 10 - 25

presents

FupDuck

Tabletop Puppetry and Live Americana Music

adapted and directed by Caroline Reck and accompanied by the White Ghost Shivers

August 10th -25, Thursdays-Saturdays 8 p.m., Sundays at 3 p.m., plus a 3 p.m. matinee on August 25

Salvage Vanguard Theatre, 2803 E. Manor Road, Austin, TX, 78722 (click for map)

Tickets: $8 children/ $12-$25 adults via

(http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/256690)

[*3PM Matinees will feature gentler language for parents who don’t want to expose their children to a foul-mouthed old geezer of a puppet. Family-Friendly matinee shows recommended for children ages 8 and up.]

Granddaddy Jake is a foul-mouthed, back-woods octogenarian who receives unexpected custody of his grandson Tiny, a child as gentle as Jake is cantankerous. Fup is their ornery twenty-pound duck, who embodies both chaos and heartfelt wisdom. The story explores this non-traditional family’s diverse obsessions, namely whiskey-brewing, fence-building, checkers, and an enthusiasm for sitting still. Granddaddy Jake's memories of his conversations with Johnny Seven Moons, the local Medicine Man, and Tiny and Fup's ongoing feud with the wild boar, Lockjaw, lead to a wry examination of what it means to live and how it is to die. 

Click to read Wayne Alan Brenner's comments in the Austin Chronicle of the production in March, 2010 ("Live music by the White Ghost Shivers made this puppet adaptation complete")

Click for additional information at AustinLiveTheatre.com

Reviews from Elsewhere: Wayne Alan Brenner on FupDuck

From the Austin Chronicle, March 25 -- comments by Wayne Alan Brenner on FupDuck presented by Trouble Puppet Theatre Company, March 17-20:

You might think something is missing in this fine adaptation of Jim Dodge's modern, backwoodsy fable Fup, as directed by resident artist Caroline Reck for Trouble Puppet Theater Company.

You might think something more is necessary for a feeling of completeness as Chris Gibson, seated all dignified and authorial at a small table, performs the sole narrator's job with such solid professionalism and such compelling mastery of different voices that you suspect the man to be a star at some major audiobook company.

As the puppeteers maneuver their near-life-sized, articulated mannequins of Granddaddy Jake and the tall boy called Tiny around the darkly appointed stage, their movements smoothly choreographed and well-rehearsed, you might imagine . . . .

Read full text at AustinChronicle.com . . . .

Upcoming: Fup Duck, Glass Half Full Theatre and White Ghost Shivers at the Salvage Vanguard, March 17 - 20

Click for review by Wayne Alan Brenner, Austin Chronicle, March 25

UPDATE: Click to read Robert Faires' feature piece in the Austin Chronicle, March 17

Found on-line:

Trouble Puppet presents
Glass Half Full's production of

FUP DUCK
March 17 - 20 at the Salvage Vanguard Theatre

Plus don't miss Trouble Puppet's Late Night Puppet Cabaret on Friday March 19 at 10 p.m. featuring the Bric-a-Brac Band and Trouble Puppet company members Aileen Adler, Heather Eakin, Robert Jacques, Parker Dority and Connor Hopkins. Admission to Cabaret free with purchase of tickets to FUP. Cabaret only, $5 at door.

Trouble Puppet Theater Company hosts Glass Half Full Theatre, collaborating with The White Ghost Shivers on a work of American puppet theater.

Trouble Puppet Theater Company launches its Resident Artist Program by hosting Caroline Reck, Artistic Director of Glass Half Full Theatre. Reck is spending a month training local puppeteers to perform FupDuck, her adaptation of a novella by Jim Dodge, using puppets she crafted for a performance in Baltimore. In the future, Trouble Puppet will host other puppet artists from around the country and the world, providing workspace, technical support, and performers for workshops of new pieces, experimentation with puppet design and performance, and exploration of ideas.

Read more at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .