ed note: While the Back to the Umbrella Tree and Around the World of Puppetry panels are pretty self explanatory, we know a few of you had some questions about Below Board, the special adults-only evening panel. We asked our very own Risqué Reporter to find out more and… well… read for yourself…
But put the kids to bed first.
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This just in from a naughty puppet friend of ours:
To those who may be wondering what exactly Below Board might be, I would say the same thing that I say to my puppeteer: “It’s not a phase, those strings aren’t mine and for the last time I said I wanted him to WRANGLE me”.
Below Board is a raucous, racy, rambunctious romp through the ribald ramp-up to the rockin’ rager that is PuppetCon; and only the Ruler of Rods, NoReen Young, could rightfully ratify the rumours of rehearsal with no recourse.
What do you mean I’m not getting paid per word starting with R?
(What do you mean I’m not getting paid…?)
Right… then let’s make this brief! The first annual PuppetCon is coming up fast and this year we’re trying something new. On Saturday Night, the Almonte Old Town Hall will transform into the Caron Studio, home of the late-night television talk show, Below Board. For one night only, we throw away the family-friendly in favour of a show that’s funny, unique, crazy and kinky (get your mind out of the gutter, we’re talking about strings).
But what would late-night be without our extremely special guests! We’ve got Adam Francis Proulx, creator of The Family Crow, who continues to sell out shows across the country with his incredible wit. Nick DiGaetano is our astronaut from an advanced parallel Earth and the only known human to travel at the speed of light (Also he’s an idiot. Check his website. It says so right there). And rounding out our panel of puppeteers is Jamie Shannon, multi-Gemini award-winning creator of Nanalan and Mr. Meaty. He also wanted me to let you all know he bought a boat… so that’s cool I guess.
We’ll be dishing the dirt on what happens behind the scenes when the puppeteers have been let loose and are playing all the games they can get past the censors. Special guests, surprises, prizes and more are in store for this uncensored, unscripted and unhinged night of entertainment.
This fundraiser supports Puppets Up! for years to come, funding artists and organizers journeying to Almonte from all over the globe. It’s also a great excuse to grab a drink with that incredibly sexy puppeteer you’ve been eyeing up since last festival who you need to impress with your knowledge of grades of felt…
In short, there are only two things to say:
Love puppets? This show’s for you.
Hate puppets? This show’s for you.
