Q & A with Frogtown Mountain Puppeteers of Bar Harbor, ME

Join the Frogtown Mountain Puppeteers for a fun and informal Q & A session. Frogtown is at the Center for Puppetry Arts from Oct. 24th- Nov. 4th performing "The Headless Horseman of Silly Hollow."

Frogtown Mountain Puppeteers is a small puppetry troupe based in Bar Harbor, Maine, and comprised of three siblings - Erik, Brian, and Robin Torbeck.

Founded in 2000, Frogtown Mountain has performed at fairs, festivals, theatres, parades, schools, libraries, and some of the finest petting zoos on the East Coast.

About the Company
Frogtown Mountain Puppeteers, founded in 2000, is a puppetry troupe based in Bar Harbor, Maine, and comprised of three siblings: Erik and Brian Torbeck and Robin Erlandsen. The traveling trio has performed their original productions at fairs, festivals, theatres, schools, libraries, and some of the finest petting zoos on the East Coast.

The troupe originally got its start in the Torbecks’ childhood home in Pennsylvania where the young threesome would put on shows with their stuffed animals and hand puppets. They soon went their separate ways for college and various job and life opportunities, but when Erik took a puppetry course in college, he was hooked...and the others were recruited!

Behind the Scenes of
The Headless Horseman of Sleepy Silly Hollow

About the Show
The Headless Horseman of Sleepy Silly Hollow is a comedic version of the classic Washington Irving tale, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. Based loosely on the original story, schoolteacher Ichabod Crane helps the Headless Horseman find a new head and a spookier image. Meanwhile, a jealous Brom Bones tries to run Ichabod out of town as they both vie for the affection of Katrina Van Tassel.

About the Puppetry Style
The Headless Horseman of Sleepy Silly Hollow features a cast of hand-made mouth-and-rod puppets, also known as hand-and-rod puppets. A puppeteer operates a mouth-and-rod puppet by placing one hand inside the head of the puppet to turn the puppet’s head and operate its mouth. A puppeteer opens and closes that hand to make the puppet’s mouth move as she/he provides the character’s voice. This is known as lip-synching. The puppeteer’s other hand operates the control rods attached to the puppet’s hands. The puppeteers stand behind the stage, stretching their arms above their heads to perform the mouth-and-rod puppets in the lighted playing area.