WORKSHOP: Pop-Up Puppet Theater with Sarah Frechette
Pop-Up Puppet Theater—Fold, Pull, Pop & Perform with Sarah Frechette
Date: Saturday, March 28, 2026
Time: 9 AM – 4 PM (with an hour lunch break; please bring your own lunch or available to purchase at the USM Cafeteria)
Location: KCC’83CBA Book Arts Studio, Studio160, Crewe Center for the Arts, 111 Bedford St. Portland, ME 04103
Workshop Fee: $80 (price includes materials and one ticket to Sarah Frechette’s performance at Mayo Street Arts on Friday, 3/27)
Maximum Enrollment: 15 (middle school ages and Above)
ABOUT THE WORKSHOP:
In this full-day workshop, participants will learn how to incorporate various mechanisms and rigging points into paper pop-ups to turn them into animatable or puppeteer-able, hand-held (also known as: direct contact), and/or table-top puppets.
Instructor, Sarah Frechette, will also demonstrate how to direct intention, concentration, and energy from within oneself, down the arms, into the hands, and through a paper puppet to give it its own independent focus and breath – the two elements that give any object life.
Participants will experiment with one of the following: immersive experience, forced perspective, or symbolism—to recreate a moment in the form of a short story, knowing that each of these provides different information that shapes and directly influences how their story or memory unfolds.
Finally, participants will present their projects to each other. For some, this will be a new challenge and like stepping outside their comfort zone; however, everyone should feel supported during this brave step so it feels both personally and creatively fulfilling, as well as productive. Each artist needs to gather information individually to continue developing their puppet pieces and to feel empowered outside the classroom.
ABOUT THE INSTRUCTOR:
Sarah Frechette is an award winning puppetry artist, teaching artist and stop-motion animation fabricator. As art director for PuppetKabob, she produces original programs, tours internationally and received the prestigious UNIMA-USA citation of excellence for her Vermont based solo show “The Snowflake Man”. Sarah is also a Vermont Arts Council Teaching Artist creating unique theater experiences for all ages.
Studied from 2002 to 2009 with Legendary German Puppeteer Albrecht Roser absorbing his theories on zen and the art of puppetry. Sarah has exhibited at the Shelburne Museum and is currently on exhibit at the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry. Co-producer and host of Vermont’s first and phinest Creemee Dreemee Puppet Slam which swirls forth the underground to the avant-garde. In addition to her personal puppet practice Sarah has worked in stop-motion animation building miniature costumes and large-scale puppets for such films as LAIKA’s “ParaNorman”, and Netflix’s “Wendell & Wild”.
Sarah has been Guest Artist at the University of Connecticut, MECCA+D, Willamette University; and has led the Marionette Performance strand at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center National Puppetry Conference.
PARKING DETAILS:
Parking is available in our University of Southern Maine Portland Garages 1 and 2, or in Parking Lot P6, at a rate of $4.15 per hour. You may reserve your parking ahead of time via the USM Parking Interface. Additionally, the Portland METRO Husky Bus and the METRO #4 pickup/drop-off about a three-minute walk from the Crewe Center for the Arts. An updated bus schedule can be found on the METRO website and bus fair is $2 each way.