jabberboxpuppets@gmail.com
OR
jabberboxpuppetsinfo2023@gmail.com
Plan to arrive 20 minutes before the show!
Families with children are encouraged to attend matinees. Show contains material that may be upsetting to children under 6. We are not the Muppets.
All shows in Greensboro, NC in the Fisher Park neighborhood. Address will be provided when you reserve a ticket.
Friday, October 13 - 8:00 PM
Saturday, October 14 - 8:00 PM
Sunday, October 15 - 2:00 PM
Friday, October 20 - 8:00 PM
Saturday, October 21 - 8:00 PM
Sunday, October 22 - 2:00 PM
Friday, October 27 - 8:00 PM
Saturday, October 28 - 8:00 PM
Sunday, October 29 - 2:00 PM
The Curse of Boneface
A rusty magician, a poor farmer and his chickens, a lost head of cabbage, an accordion, a Roving Eye…these are some of the characters encountered in this charming and alarming tale about greed and destruction vs. goodwill and love.
Once upon a time, when people still believed in magic, a farmer fell in love with a cabbage, married her, and together they lived peacefully beside an enchanted forest. Deep in the forest wandered mostly harmless magical creatures, one mildly talented magician, and a whippoorwill. But also, in a dark hidey-hole, lived greedy Mr. Boneface and his monstrous wife. Mr. Boneface seeks to destroy not only the green growing world the farmer loves, but love itself, and he sets out to do so by laying a curse on the farmer. How does the curse get undone (or not)?
A one-act play for the young-at-heart. Ages 6 and up, when accompanied by an adult, for Sunday matinee shows, 2 PM; Adult audiences Fri. and Sat. evenings, 8 PM. All shows $10 a ticket.
Adults attending evening performances are welcome to BYOB.
Founded in 2009 by Debby Seabrooke and Marianne Gingher, Jabberbox Puppet Theater has performed salon-style puppet shows for adults in Greensboro, NC and elsewhere for more than a decade. All plays are original comedic dramas, written, designed, performed, and produced by the Jabberbox team which, since 2018, includes musician and songwriter, Jim Ritchey. Welcome to our web page, old fans and new!
In 2007, Marianne Gingher and Deborah Seabrooke travelled to Zambia in Sub-Saharan Africa to visit Marianne’s son Rod, who was serving in the Peace Corps. The trip proved to be a feast for their imaginations. The colors, sounds, grit, and beauty of the people they met, the places they visited, affected them deeply. They wanted to express the sense of adventure they’d shared, but it was as if the method of that expression had to be bigger than any individual endeavor. A friend of Debby’s suggested they write a puppet play, and they were off! Their collaborative effort led them to attend puppet festivals and learn as much about the art form as they could. They built 17 puppets for their first show “African Queens” and performed the shows salon-style in their living rooms for small audiences of 22. Every show was a sell-out. They served wine, home-made dessert, and popcorn. Audience response couldn’t have been better. Other plays followed, with new puppets and political themes. They’d found a niche in producing puppetry for adults who were young at heart. For extra fun, every show featured “brief puppet nudity.”
One play led to another:“Little Town, Big Stars”(2011), “Rumpus in Rome,” (2012), “Unleashed,”(2013), “Solid Gold,” 2014 (commissioned by the Greensboro Symphony Guild to celebrate 50 years of promoting musical arts in the community); “Linnaeus Forgets” (2015) performed as part of an arts festival in Carrboro, NC; “Beauty and the Botanist” (2017), and “The Poet’s Menagerie,” (2018). Then the pandemic darkened the theater. A sad day, indeed!
But in October, 2023, Jabberbox Puppet Theater rises from the dead with a NEW SHOW— “The Curse of Boneface." There will be NINE performances with three Sunday matinees for children, ages 6 and up, when accompanied by an adult. Check this website or facebook (jabberboxpuppettheater) for show schedule and how to acquire tickets. Very limited seating! Don't delay getting your seat(s) reserved!
“What a romp! And so saucy! [It] made me blush!”
---Randall Kenan, CHAPEL HILL
“Amazing play! Forget the Kindle. Stories told by puppets are what will take the place of Books. It’s a brave, hilarious new world!”
---Daniel Wallace, CHAPEL HILL
“The creativity, the wit… knocked our socks off!”
---Susan Irons, CHAPEL HILL
“A hoot and a half! Loved every minute!”
---Ruth Moose, PITTSBORO
“The puppets are truly works of art—their faces are extraordinary. I could feel the love that went into the performance.”
---Karen Evans, GREENSBORO
“I can honestly say that I have never seen anything like it…a puppet show plus! What makes it so exceptional are all the wonderful little extras: shooting stars, bugs, masks, dancing. Wonderful puppet show!”
---Suzanne and John Martin, GREENSBORO
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---Bland Simpson, CHAPEL HILL
“A great evening. Very fizzy. A living thing to me, always the best of signs…top drawer.” ---Richard Gandtt, GREENSBORO
“The grace of Snow White, the political punch of Jon Stewart, and the recklessness of Bugs Bunny merges with the flipping-the-pancake raunchiness of Julia Child and the breaking knocks of Punch and Judy to reincarnate our living rooms as Comedia delle Arte designed for the 21st Century. The puppets charm and disarm like true people. Through them we know and suddenly recognize the world of pathos, hilarity, tenderness, absurdity, and magic.” ---Daphne Athas, CHAPEL HILL
Copyright JabberBox Puppets