Puppets are coming to the Utah Arts Festival - Library Square - June 21-24

For Immediate Release

Contact: Eugenie Hero Jaffe             801.599.2040       Eugenie@getbombshell.com www.uaf.org Puppets are coming to the Utah Arts Festival Dragon Knight Stilt Puppets Loren Kahn Puppet & Object Theater & Utah Puppetry Guild June 21–24 on Library Square Salt Lake City, UT:  For the four days of the Utah Arts Festival June 21–24 puppets will be roaming the grounds of Library Square, but be sure to look up. Dragon Knight Stilt Puppets (pictured above) will wander throughout the Festival bringing culturally blended street performances with stilt walkers and puppeteers creating fairies, dragons, buffoons and beasts. Trained in the arts of circus, masked theater, make-up and puppetry in Europe, Asia and the U.S.A., the company offers visual and interactive experiences based on multi-cultural roots. Also on hand will be Loren Kahn Puppet & Object Theater performing in the Children’s Art Yard, Thur & Sat, June 21 and 23 at 7pm; Sun, June 24 at 2 & 4pm. Using object theatre as a bridge between theatre, visual art and puppetry, Loren Kahn Puppet & Object Theatre brings to life a hilarious and magical world, delighting tiny children and provoking reflection in teenagers and grownups. The Object Theatre movement began in the 80s in Europe and uses objects as symbols and metaphors to explore association of ideas. Loren Kahn, puppeteer, and Isabelle Kessler, object theatre creator, first saw it at European puppetry festivals in the 90s. And for a hands-on experience, the Utah Puppetry Guild will teach children and adults how to create their own puppets in the Art Yard, as well as lead teacher training workshops through the Utah Department of Education. The 2012 Utah Arts Festival runs Thursday, June 21 through Sunday, June 24 from noon to 11 pm on Library Square, 400 South and 200 East in downtown Salt Lake City. Adult admission is $10 at the gate, $7 in advance. Children 12 and under are free. Seniors 65 and above are $5. Reduced adult admission is $5 and available from noon to 3 p.m. on Thursday and Friday. For details and more information visit www.uaf.org. Follow the Utah Arts Festival on Facebook and Twitter @utahartsfest.