Tiny Tots
Tiny Tots Shows
Designed for children 18 months to 4 years old, Tiny Tots offers a viewing atmosphere especially suited for young theatre patrons.
All Tiny Tots shows feature:
30 min. runtime
no dark room
no surprising loud noises
open theatre doors
TPC’s Favorite Faces
Come see some familiar Puppet Co. faces in brand new shows for the little ones. Shows are written by the performers and are made to be fun, interactive, and engaging shows for our youngest audience members.
Our main Favorite Faces series is Bixby the Cat! Bixby the Cat is a “My First Theater Experience,” geared toward toddlers. Bixby goes on a series of adventures in which he learns lessons developmentally appropriate for our young audiences. He learns to ask for help, express his feelings safely, share with his friends, and ‘try try again!’ Bixby sings a handful of songs in each show, so you may start to learn them if you visit him for each new adventure. The show’s current performers and developers have a background in early childhood arts education and love bringing Bixby to the stage!
Bixby shows include:
Bixby Bakes a Pie
Bixby Celebrates Winter
Bixby Plants a Garden
Bixby Goes to the Museum
Bixby Goes to the Beach
…and more!
Want Bixby to go somewhere special or learn a specific skill? Contact us about a Bixby the Cat Commission!
Guest Artist: Beech Tree Puppets
Beech Tree Puppets features meaningful stories, artfully told with hand-crafted puppets and sets and the use of simple instruments and beautiful singing. Beech Tree Puppets has performed hundreds of shows in schools, libraries and public spaces all over the greater DC region, including The National Theater in DC, the Atlas Performing Arts Center, and at the Durant Arts Center in Alexandria with the National Puppetry Guild.
Ingrid and Ole Hass infuse Beech Tree Puppets with their professional experience in the performing and visual arts. Both hold Masters Degrees in Opera Performance from the North Carolina School of the Arts. Ole also holds a Doctor of Musical Arts Degree from UMD in College Park and Ingrid earned a BA in Studio Art from Smith College. Since moving to the Washington DC area in 1998, they have sung and acted with many of the great performing institutions in classical music around the area. Ingrid has been teaching art and music classes for children of all ages for 20 years.
Shows include:
Anansi and the Talking Melon
Butterfly Garden
The Apple Tree
The Hollow Stump
Guest Artist: Penny’s Puppets
Penny Russell is one of the Puppet Co.'s favorite Teaching Artists and we're so glad to have her share some great stories with our Tiny Tots audiences!
Penny Russell (she/hers) is a Puppeteer, Musician, and Teaching Artist based in Prince George’s County, MD. She is a Master Teaching Artist with Wolf Trap Institute for Early Learning Through the Arts; and teaches Music, Drama, Puppetry, and Self-Advocacy through the Arts to children and adults on the autism spectrum for ArtStream. Penny studied Folklore and Mythology at the University of Maryland, College Park where she received degrees in Sociology and English. She has performed for Wolf Trap, The Kennedy Center, Adventure Theater, The Puppet Company, and the National Theater among others; and has presented workshops for the National Science Teachers Convention, Virginia STEM and Library Conference, Wolf Trap, The Kennedy Center, The Actor’s Center, and schools across the country. Penny volunteers in her community [Warm Nights, Community Café, Yard Dramas] and beyond [International Guest House, The Iona Community, Mt Harmony Drama]; and was an original cast member of “Am I Welcome?”, an LGBT+ puppet show about inclusion. She loves connecting and communicating through the arts; and believes that the arts are for everyone.
Shows include:
Stone Soup
The Mitten
The Three Billy Goats Gruff
Tree Songs
