Theater

LUNENBURG — The magic of puppetry has been delighting children of all ages for decades at the Drawbridge Puppet Theater. But will it be able to stay local?

Jeff Koslik, the owner and director, said it’s a misnomer to say Drawbridge Puppet Theater is closing or ending. Only the location will change, and where it goes entirely depends on where a new space can be found. The theater itself will continue well into the future with its public shows, birthday parties, traveling shows, and field trips (as well as expansion into video.)

From now through August, the theater’s Saturday and Sunday shows will continue. After a special celebration on the first Saturday in September, the puppet theater will vacate its current location.

“I’m currently in the process of searching for alternate sites. If I can find something suitable and affordable in this area, I’ll remain here. If not, I’ll be relocating myself and the business elsewhere,” Koslik said.

He would optimally like to stay in North Central Massachusetts. But if he can’t find a new home in Lunenburg, he will consider other options. Koslik welcomes suggestions and offers.

“The benefits of having a puppet theater are that you have a stable location … You can design and arrange the interior (and exterior to some extent) to suit the needs of your performances — to create an atmosphere that is both suitable for the productions, and makes a more whimsical experience for the children and visitors,” he said, among other factors.

But all of that costs money, with maintenance and monthly bills a challenge.

It’s those economics, as well as personal reasons, for leaving the existing theater.

“Sad as many aspects of it might be, I think it needed to happen for Drawbridge to continue growing. Life is change and that goes for businesses (and business owners) too,” Koslik said.

Since making the announcement, business has picked up.

After 18 years, Koslik said he will miss it — the “quiet and peaceful quality here that suits a small theater” — the parking and the enchanted garden area, which “has allowed for fun extras such as scavenger hunts and Flower of the Month promotions, where items are hid around the garden and kids search for them and win a prize.”

The garden has always been maintained by the property owners and will continue to be.

Wherever they land, Koslik said they’ll continue doing traveling shows and birthday parties within about a 50 mile radius. Drawbridge does shows at venues such as schools, libraries, and even homes, educating families about puppetry and making DIY puppets.

“Entertaining people is a privilege and a joy. Children are both the most sincere audience and the most honest. They get the messages without having to be hit over the head with it. Using puppets to tell the stories just increases the fun factor,” Koslik said.

Drawbridge Puppet Theater was founded by the late Paul L’Ecuyer, a Lunenburg native, in the 1980s when he worked as entertainment director at Whalom Park, and has been in its current location since September 2005. Koslik joined in summer 1991.

“Puppetry allows a unique way of telling a story. By using inanimate objects as moving, speaking characters it brings a fantasy element into the performance and gives the audience an opportunity to enter a different world. It’s also part of a long tradition that so many cultures around the world have discovered and developed on their own — and even predates the written language”, Koslik said.

Drawbridge Puppet Theater uses hand puppets, string puppets (marionettes), shadow puppets, rod puppets, finger puppets, and more in their shows.

Koslik said, “I personally don’t mind [spending so much time with puppets] — though I can’t speak for the puppets. If I could teach them to cook I’d be all set.”

For a new space, Koslik is looking for a quiet area that can also be darkened (at least partially) during performances; have room to fit a stage that measures 10 feet in height, 18 feet in width, and 11 feet in depth; space for an audience of least 50; handicapped-accessible restrooms; and parking for 25 vehicles minimum.

He’d prefer to rent for specific days and times rather than by the month, but would consider either. It could be extra or unutilized space “in a restaurant, club, church, function hall, auditorium, or banquet room … as long as it meets the above requirements, it could be considered.”

Koslik doesn’t expect storage space there, so materials will “either be in a separate storage unit or crammed with me in a future living space. Probably the latter to begin with. On the positive side, puppets make for very quiet roommates,“ he said.

He’d like to continue the free Sunday magic shows with regular local guest entertainer Stephanie Beach, but it’s “unknown at this point” if that can happen.

It’s also up in the air what will happen to the “special group of people” who make up the crew at Drawbridge Puppet Theater.  He said he hopes the high school students, college students, and people who did puppeteering as a second job will “always remember their experience with Drawbridge fondly, and realize how many lives they’ve touched, and how much joy and laughter they’ve helped bring to the world” as they “persue their own future adventures.”

Koslik said people who want to get into puppetry can now do it at college, with Fitchburg State University and University of Connecticut offering programs, but there are “plenty of online videos where you can learn much of the craft, especially how to construct your own puppets.

What is essential though, if you plan to earn an income from it, are talent, vision and perseverance … and the ability to evaluate and act on an opportunity when it makes itself available.”

Additionally, Drawbridge Puppet Theater has continued expanding into video, with all puppet shows available digitally for purchase on their website. Koslik plans to develop their YouTube channel further, featuring “video productions using puppets, live action, and eventually animation” including a “multi-part serial starring a huge cast of puppets which will be aimed more for adults” which he hopes to have the first episodes of online by mid-summer.

Even if no location is found in Massachusetts, Koslik is seriously considering moving south — and to start entertaining people in Florida instead.

“The warmer weather is appealing, and as it’s a major tourist destination for families it seems to make sense for a business such as Drawbridge,” he said.

Koslik said he hopes to be able to make a decision by sometime in June and be back up and running in the fall.

“The puppets of Drawbridge Theater will be continuing to entertain children and their families for many years to come. After all, you can’t keep a good puppet down,” he said on drawbridgepuppets.com.