Ramin Zahed

Writer/director Dan Clark on left with puppeteer Sean Johnson on right, both prepping a mutant puppet

The art of puppetry has morphed over the years: from marionettes, to Muppets, to the dancing of shadows on far-away walls to Simon Morley's renowned stage show Puppetry of the Penis. But at the core, puppetry is the art of playing with and manipulating objects as extensions of oneself.

Many events of L.A. Puppet Fest, taking place over the past few weeks, are not what you might expect of puppetry. These gatherings, brought people together from all over, from puppetry pros to scholars intrigued by the history and cultural pertinence of puppetry in our technological age.

Change the World: A Show Puppet Performance combined puppetry in the form of shadow projections with social issues like fracking. Other highlights of the Fest have included a lively night called Pulling Strings & Funny Things at the Bob Baker Marionette Theatre and a lecture by historian J. Eric Lynxwiler at the Los Angeles Central Library, which recognized the connections among puppetry, Hollywood and L.A.'s gay community. The night was dedicated to commemorating how the Yale Puppeteers and Turnabout Theatre gave the gay community a voice, through the practice of puppetry, in a time before they had one. The lecture also included black and white photos, including one of Albert Einstein holding a puppet version of himself at CalTech in 1931.

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Anna Jones

Performers Moira MacDonald, Whitney Rodriguez, Stephen Schilling and Mark Simon and musician Kari Rae Seekins rehearse a scene from "Exhibit A" onstage at Automata in Chinatown.

See also:
*5 Artsy Things to Do in L.A. This Week
*L.A.'s Best Experimental Puppet Theater
*Move Over, West Hollywood -- Silver Lake Is the True Gay Mecca
*Silver Lake Has Always Been Gay, Readers Say

Let's face it, puppets are cool. Automata, the non-profit experimental puppet theater and workshop that is quickly gaining a reputation as the center of cutting edge puppetry in Los Angeles, is yet again proving just how cool puppets can be with their latest production, Exhibit A, which opens today, for a two-weekend run. But the puppets you'll find at Automata aren't your average goofy, fuzzy, kid-stuff. L.A. Weekly sat in on a tech rehearsal this weekend and got a sneak peek.

In the show, a cast of life-size strangely beautiful puppets and live actors all play a number of different characters, mixing and melding personas in a dance both graceful and jarring. But the show goes beyond just entertainment value. Susan Simpson, the director of Exhibit A and co-founder of Automata, has a sophisticated vision of what this show can accomplish in the local arts community, both educationally and politically.

Exhibit A focuses mainly on the inner lives of some key members of the Mattachine Society, one of the very first homosexual activism groups in the United States when it was founded in L.A. in 1950. By the 1960s, the organization had chapters in cities all over the U.S.

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Josiah Golojuh

WIP Featured Artists Meirav Haber, Kevin McTurk, and Sam Koji Hale

A movie must be completed before its screened, right? Not according to Graphation.

Last night, in Downtown Los Angeles' Hive Gallery, the independent film group kickstarted their first installment of Works In Progress by presenting three unfinished films to an audience. The focus of the WIP series is less on product and more on process.

"We want these things to be educational," Andrew McGregor, who comprises half of Graphation, explained during an after show interview. "We've shown finished works in the past, and the questions are always, "How did you come to this conclusion, this destination?" We want to be a resource to the creative community. With the digital revolution, you can make your own movie with an iPhone, but what does that actually mean unless you know how to shoot a film with your iPhone."

McGregor, clad in a cacophony of of patterns and capped by his signature, Jughead-esque felt crown, hosted this evening of movie demystification with his creative partner Josiah Golojuh. This initial WIP showcased a troika of filmmakers specializing in puppet based storytelling. Several dozen attendees crowded into the gallery to watch these artists present hand crafted claymation characters, field questions concerning their creative journeys and screen rough scenes from their infant projects.

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Drew Barillas

Sock puppets and those who control them

The dozen or so people gathered at Atwater Crossing on this Wednesday night are watching the first episode of Friends. You remember how it goes: After ditching her fiance, runaway bride Rachel starts a new life in Manhattan with the help of her friends -- uptight Monica, ditzy Phoebe, smarmy Chandler, skirt-chasing Joey and perpetually sullen Ross. Folks laugh and even sing along to the theme song as if they're watching a rerun on a giant flatscreen.

Except ... there's no TV in the theater. Nor are there any actors -- at least not flesh-and-blood ones wearing costumes. Instead, this staple of NBC's Must-See TV has been reincarnated by sock puppets.

Glamor Puss (brown sock) and Frenchie (white sock, French accent), who introduce the show, are the fur-covered alter egos of Mark Hayward and Charley Knapp, socketeers and producers of the Sock Puppet Sitcom Theater. Beginning in April with Three's Company, followed by I Love Lucy in May, the two have been staging monthly puppet performances of popular sitcom pilots at the Atwater Village complex, which also houses a gallery space, restaurant and bar. Roseanne, Hogan's Heroes and The Golden Girls round out the rest of the season.

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Need a break from all the credit card-maxing, house-lighting, bad party-attending and general seasonal stressing? Why not try something outside of the gift box this year? Here, five festive, somewhat freaky holiday haps in town that are anything but cookie-cutter Christmas confections.

5. Charles Phoenix's Retro Holiday Show
The holidays are really all about nostalgic accoutrements and rituals. And nobody knows nostalgia -- especially in L.A. -- better than Charles Phoenix, a Cali institution known for his enlightening Disneyland tour guides and kitschy slideshow presentations (see image above). Charles Phoenix's Retro Holiday Show is always a hoot. Phoenix "roasts and toasts" mid-century family life and style during the holidays via old photos and oddball commentary that meshes the wit of Awkward Family Photos with a genuine zest for the season that maybe only St. Nick himself could match. Dec. 18, 7:00 p.m. at REDCAT Theater,
631 West 2nd St.
Downtown. www.charlesphoenix.com

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As you know, in fashion, one day you're in and the next day you're out. How then to explain the cheerful ubiquity of Miss Piggy?

Last August, the porcine mop/puppet turned up at Opening Ceremony to promote a muppet-themed apparel line. This month, she graces a spread in InStyle magazine sporting Jason Wu, Suno and Brian Atwood. M.A.C. began pushing its diva pig-themed capsule make-up -- think false eyelashes, black eyeliner and neon pink eyshadow -- around the time Lifetime officially announced her guest spot as a judge on Project Runway: All-Stars in 2012.

With all due respect, and at the risk of finding ourselves on the business end of a karate chop, we find Miss Piggy's heiress-meets-Hollywood look a little staid. Allow us to respectfully submit this list of the top five fashion-forward muppets who deserve equal opportunity to vogue.

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