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Not your mom's Muppets: A weekend of whimsy and performance at the Detroit Puppet Slam

By April Van Buren,
Ellie Katz
Published October 21, 2022 at 12:14 PM EDT
A large puppet manned by several people looks like a stone man falling down. It's happening in front of a school bus.
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A photo from the Bread and Puppet performance Our Domestic Resurrection Circus, staged in Detroit Puppet Company’s backyard amphitheater.
Stefan Petrmichl
A man dressed in all white holds a basket and anothe person stands in front with a large white mask
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The puppet company Bread and Puppet perform Our Domestic Resurrection Circus, staged in Detroit Puppet Company’s backyard amphitheater.
Stefan Petrmichl
A Black man and a white man hold up two handheld puppets as they face the camera
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Puppet artists Oliver Pookrum and Jason Hicks show off characters from their show Reality Revolution: The Kids Vote. "There is a whole psychology that I'd like to understand more because...puppets are magical and non-threatening. You know, like Oscar the Grouch, who's grouchy all the time, is very beloved and never in trouble."
April Van Buren / Michigan Radio
A Black man with long dreads holds a large furry black cat puppet on his arm
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Puppet artist James Abbott poses with his 3D-printed hand puppet Tomato the Cat. Tomato owes his name and on-stage antics to James’ real cat.
April Van Buren / Michigan Radio
Tomato is a 3-D printed puppet created by puppet artist James Abbott, and based on James's actual cat, who is also named Tomato. "He doesn't do all the antics that he's got to do on the show. But he does quite a lot of antics. And that's why his name is Tomato, because I want to throw a tomato at him sometimes," said Abbott.
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Tomato is a 3-D printed puppet created by puppet artist James Abbott, and based on James's actual cat, who is also named Tomato. "He doesn't do all the antics that he's got to do on the show. But he does quite a lot of antics. And that's why his name is Tomato, because I want to throw a tomato at him sometimes," said Abbott.
April Van Buren / Michigan Radio
A puppet stage in black and white filled with paper mache plants and an old man
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A scene from American Vegetative Lowlives Gone Wild--written by puppet artist Lindsay McCaw. It's one of a dozen shows planned for this year's Detroit Puppet Slam.
April Van Buren / Michigan Radio
A white woman in a purple sweater and blue hat laughing
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Carrie Morris founded what is not the Detroit Puppet Company in 2012 after working as a puppet curator at the Detroit Institute of the Arts for several years. "I started to feel like I wanted to see more of that high-caliber puppet work that I was curating at the DIA in neighborhoods that maybe would have historically not had the same access to high caliber arts experiences," Morris said.
April Van Buren / Michigan Radio
A white woman in a purple sweater and blue hat opens the drawer to a wooden flat file cabinet
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The Detroit Puppet Company is filled with all kinds of puppets. Here, Carrie Morris shows off the organization's large flat file filled with some of the shadow puppets they've used in past performances.
April Van Buren / Michigan Radio
A black and white striped one story house from the side. Leading up to it is a line of blue metal loop sculptures
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The Detroit Puppet Company's headquarters in Detroit. "There are sometimes misconceptions about the field of puppetry that it is just for kids or that it is just, you know, this kind of this art that's for ages three or 3 to 5 years old, or is it's didactic than the narratives and stuff like that," said Morris. "But it wasn't until a few years ago that we actually started doing all ages based productions. Up until that time, up until a few years ago, all of our productions were for adults in terms of pacing and content and so. So youth based puppet productions is actually a way that we have grown as well since we have been here."

When you hear “puppet show,” your mind might go to googly eyes glued onto a sock. Or maybe you think of something like Sesame Street or Jim Henson’s iconic movie Dark Crystal. But chances are you haven’t seen the puppets starring in the 2022 Detroit Puppet Slam.

From papier-mâché talking plants to larger-than-life black cats, the Detroit Puppet Slam will feature original puppets in a line-up of live shows this weekend. We spoke with several artists set to perform plus Carrie Morris, the founder of the nonprofit behind the slam: Detroit Puppet Company.

After years as a puppet curator for the Detroit Institute of Arts, Carrie purchased a house in Detroit—near the border of Hamtramck, and founded Carrie Morris Arts Production—which would eventually be rebranded as the Detroit Puppet Company. What began as a grassroots art and performance space in 2015 has grown to include arts programs, professional development for local artists, and place-keeping initiatives for northwest Detroit and Hamtramck.

The annual Detroit Puppet Slam is one of those initiatives. This year’s slam, which runs from Thursday, October 20 to Sunday, October 23, will showcase local and national puppeteers for Detroit audiences. The event includes two family-friendly matinees and three evening performances for adults. You can purchase tickets here.

Find a sneak peak of the artists and their puppets, as well as snippets from Stateside producer April Van Buren's conversations with them, in the slideshow above.

Support for arts coverage on Stateside comes from the Michigan Arts and Culture Council.

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Stateside puppetsDetroithamtramckDetroit art
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April Van Buren
April Van Buren is a producer for <i>Stateside</i>. She produces interviews for air as well as web and social media content for the show.
See stories by April Van Buren
Ellie Katz
Ellie Katz joined the Stateside team as an intern in September 2022.
See stories by Ellie Katz
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