Seth Eberle is a Minneapolis based puppet artist who focuses on using various forms of puppetry to tell stories for family audiences. Seth started his puppetry career in college while pursuing a theatre and visual art degree, interning with the Bread and Puppet Theater, the Nordnorsk Opera of Norway, and In the Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theater. After graduating with a theatre arts degree and visual art minor, Seth went on a whirlwind tour of the United States from coast to coast touring a poetic puppet show out of a suitcase and eventually landing in Minneapolis.
Seth’s work has been seen locally at In the Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theatre, the American Swedish Institute, the Czech and Slovak Sokol Minnesota, Open Eye Figure Theatre, Dreamland Arts, The Off-Leash Area Art Box, Silverwood Park, and the Minnesota Zoo. He has created, toured, and performed various one-person puppet shows focused on nature and the environment in community centers, libraries, daycares, preschools and festivals around Minnesota. Nationally, Seth has toured to the Detroit Institute of Arts, Eulenspiegal Puppet Theatre Company, and the Puppeteers of America Great Plains Regional Puppetry Festival.
Seth has studied puppetry by taking a With Joy! Puppet Intensive from Sandy Spieler. At Puppets in Prague’s month long marionette carving and performance workshop with Mirek Trejtnar he learned to carve marionettes in a traditional style using wood and central head rods. He has been mentored in marionette performance and construction by Kurt Hunter, learning a more lyrical style of marionettes using only strings, and has completed Bernd Ogrodnik’s Academy of the Wooden Puppet learning more in depth techniques and methods to create wooden puppets.
Teaching Artist Statement
I am a Minneapolis based puppet artist who focuses on using various forms of puppetry to tell stories for family audience. I use the simplicity of puppetry performance to convey complex ideas. I seek to honor the intelligence, wonder, and creativity of children while using the simplicity needed to create quality puppetry to communicate complicated ideas to an audience that may not always be thought able to handle complexity. Complicated messages are just as important for adults to remember and reflect on, which is why I say that I serve family audiences and not simply children. My performances are meant to speak to children and adults equally. I structures metaphor into performance that is meant to be interpreted by adults and find moments of joy and creativity that speak to children. Through puppetry, children are able to gain language and metaphor to talk about complex issues with their important adults. Wood, paper, cardboard, and cloth is the choice for materials to communicate to the audience the importance of the handmade and simple in our lives, rather than the plastic and mass-produced.
Program Offerings
Workshop
Wooden Marionette Puppets
Each participant will use wooden pieces, fabric, glue, string, crayons, and paint to create their own wooden marionette puppet. They will learn the basics of how to manipulate a marionette and play with other participants to create short marionette scenes. (Best for 3-5th grade level)
Performance
The duration for performances is generally 30 minutes plus 15 minutes of showing the puppets.
The Ants Who Wanted to Fly
Two ants want to fly very badly, so they wait for an egg to hatch, thinking it will be a bird they can hitch a ride on. They are disappointed when they find a caterpillar has hatched out of the egg, but they keep waiting and watching to figure out how to fly. Explore how caterpillars change into butterflies and follow the ants as they discover the joy of the natural world!
There is audience interaction at three points in this performance, and there is always a question and answer period after the show where different puppet types will be shown and talked about. Optional make-and-take caterpillar activity available to book with the show. (Best for Pre-K, K-3)
Grandmas Greta’s Garden
In this production, Grandma Greta has saved some of her seeds from last year in order to plant her garden. While waiting for the plants to grow, a sneaky rabbit tries to avoid detection and a bee looks for something to eat. Will Greta stop the rabbit from getting into her garden? Will the bee find a flower to make food? Optional make-and-take flower puppet activity available to book with the show. (Best for Pre-K, K-3)
Dream of Owls
Little Theo is drifting off to sleep when he is frightened by a hooting sound. His father shows him how to overcome his fear by naming it. As Theo drifts off to sleep, he learns more and more about owls, the source of the sound, from a strangely familiar dream dragon. Will it be enough to banish his nightmare away? Dream of Owls is a show focused on owls and how to overcome your fear by learning about them. Optional make-and-take owl activity available to book with the show. (Best for Pre-K, K-3, 4-6)
Pop Up Puppet Show
Through a series of pop-up book pages and wooden puppets, experience classic rhymes and stories. Where, oh where, did my little dog go? Can an elephant go up a clock after a mouse? Where did Old Mother Hubbard’s dog’s food go? Find out this and more in a show fun for all ages! Optional make-and-take peek-a-boo puppet is available to book with the show. (Best for Pre-K, K-3)
