PLOP! is the new puppetry center in Olympia devoted to experimentation & innovation with objects in performance.  We have a great new lineup for our 2010 season!  To check out what performances and workshops are happening, please  click on the  tabs above. What we are offering is ambitious, fun and innovative.

SHOWS • We host PLOP! Nights at Northern, on the third weekend of every month. PLOP! Nights is a puppet series for adults showcasing adventurous and hip new works. We feature PLOPster Matinees, a weekend series created especially for children, without the risqué factor of the grown-up fare. Just what Olympia needs!

CLASSES •  We have great puppet making classes for all ages which you can check out in the Workshops and Classes tab above! 

LABORATORIES • We host laboratory workshops for experimentation with different kinds of performances. We are also working on a few puppet and object festivals. 

THE STORY •  A while ago, I realized that Olympia and the Northwest did not have a space where you could see, and learn about, new trends in puppet theater, object theatre (and all those things people do with puppets and objects these days on stage). I thought about it for a while, and had conversations with Dan Luce and Diane Ferrer, two of my local puppeteer friends, about creating a puppet center. They thought it was a great idea and offered to help. Everybody else I spoke with was super positive too!

Then it all came together. After the 2009 Olympia Spring ArtsWalk, I asked Mariella Luz if she would consider hosting PLOP! at the new ALl Ages Project space she was organizing at Northern.  She was very receptive because we had the same goals: to make Oly a better art town and offer imaginative and high quality art experiences for people of all ages. They are into music and visual arts, and we at PLOP! are into performance and object and puppet theater. It is a great beginning!

Please contact us if you have ideas or questions, want to write about us, you have an imaginative show, or if you want to be an intern!

      Ariel Goldberger

Photo: The puppet illustrated above is by Paul Klee.