The Day It Snowed Tortillas

Crabgrass Puppet Theatre's newest creation has been playing to enthusiastic audiences throughout the Northeast. The Day It Snowed Tortillas is a delightful Mexican-American folktale in which creative problem solving is the key ingredient that helps a poor couple outwit a gang of bullies. A poor woodcutter and his wife have the chance of a lifetime – to become rich! All they have to do is keep a secret. Trouble is, the woodcutter is the biggest blabbermouth south of the border. His clever wife cooks up an ingenious plan, and all she needs is to make it snow – in Mexico – in July!

The recipe for this hilarious folktale? Fantastic puppets, hysterically funny action, marvelous Mexican-inspired music, and one ridiculous chicken!

Celebrating 25 Years of Crabgrass!

August 2007 marked the 25th anniversary of Crabgrass Puppet Theatre's first performance! When we began to create our first show in San Francisco in 1982, we had no idea what the reception would be. What a Clever Idea! used life-sized puppets and masked actors, and toured for over four years throughout California and on the East Coast. Since then we have created many more productions with puppets large and small . . . twenty productions in all!

In the past 25 years, we have performed at more than 20 regional, national and international puppet festivals, toured throughout the US and Eastern Canada, and we have twice been awarded the Citation of Excellence from the American Center of the Union International de la Marionette (UNIMA), the highest award in American Puppetry.

Coming Up Crabgrass!

We have a very busy winter and spring schedule this year, with repeat appearances at many of our favorite venues. At the end of December we will return to the Detroit Institute of Arts. In January, we will be at the Lake Placid Center for the Arts, Open Hand Theater in Syracuse, the Shea in Turners Falls, MA, and at community events in White Plains, NY and Upper Saddle River, NJ. February brings us back to the Hoboken Library, Queens Theater in the Park, the Leventhal-Sidman JCC in Newton, MA, and the East Brunswick, NJ Public Library. In the spring we'll be appearing in Hamden, CT; Newburgh, NY; Cambridge, MA, Peterborough, NH; and in Bloomfield and Newark, NJ. Please check out our complete list of upcoming public performances for more information.

Jamie Keithline and Bonny Hall formed Crabgrass Puppet Theatre in San Francisco in 1982 and have delighted audiences across the nation with their whimsical humor and puppetry. Now residents of Halifax, Vermont, they continue to tour throughout the U.S., performing in schools, museums and theaters. Their performing venues have included the Detroit Institute of Art, the Smithsonian, Paper Mill Playhouse, Tribeca Performing Arts Center, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and many regional and national puppetry festivals. In 2001 Jamie and Bonny were honored by their peers when their production Anansi, Spiderman of Africa! was awarded an UNIMA-USA Citation of Excellence, the highest honor in American puppetry. This honor was repeated in 2005 with the receipt of a second UNI award for The Bremen Town Musicians.

Crabgrass Home Page