In honor of the 60th anniversary, the Bob Baker Marionette Theater will host a party Nov. 18 and a series of puppet shows Nov. 18-19. According to Mary Thompson, director of communications for the theater, the 60th anniversary is a time to celebrate the magic of puppetry and plan for the theater’s future.
Thompson said that the theater was founded in Echo Park by Bob Baker and Alton Wood, who produced marionette shows at the location for over 50 years. According to Thompson, many people who went to the theater when they were a child end up bringing their own children to the theater’s shows. Thompson said that after losing the theater’s longtime home in Echo Park, the theater moved into what was the York Theater on York Boulevard.
“We love that we’ve been able to find this new home and our community here,” Thompson said.
According to Thompson, the theater hosts Bob Baker Day every year in February to celebrate the late founder’s birthday, but the theater’s 60th birthday is the first major anniversary that they are celebrating.
“It really isn’t just this one day, it’s a kickoff to a year of festivities, exciting new partnerships, projects and events,” Thompson said.
Thompson said the priorities for the theater going into the future is to preserve the history and the collection of over 2,000 puppets that the theater has, as well as pushing forward with innovation in puppetry, including the creation of a new puppet show.
“We are always updating our shows, but this will be the first completely new show in over 40 years at the Bob Baker Marionette Theater,” Thompson said.
Alex Evans, the co-executive director and head puppeteer for the theater, said that the new show will begin its run in 2024, as the theater plans to host a series of workshops coordinating different departments together to create the show.
Evans said the shows at the 60th anniversary will primarily consist of popular variety show segments from the theater’s past, as well as those hinting at the future. When planning the programming for the 60th anniversary, Evans said the theater asked itself why people would come to celebrate.
“It’s like the way people ask themselves at their birthday party ‘Why would anyone come to my birthday party?’” Evans said.
In addition to looking back at the past and understanding why people come to the theater’s shows, Evans said that the 60th anniversary serves to help set the tone for the next 60 years.
“We want people to come and leave the show being like ‘That’s great, love Bob Baker, love the last 60 years, but I’m thrilled for the next 60 years,’” Evans said.
According to Evans, the last 60 years of the theater’s shows were defined by the ways that imagination and creativity could speak to people in different ways. Evans said that, in the future, the theater is looking to invite more voices in.
“The last 10 years have been like ‘Who are we?’” Evans said. “Really, the end result of that question was that the theater is so many different things to different people.”
According to Daisy Hernandez, the theater’s stage manager, an important part of the process of planning the new show is trying to maintain the same feeling that Baker would put into original shows. Hernandez said that her aunt and sister worked at the theater before she started.
“I used to live across the old space in Echo Park, and so I would go watch shows as a little girl,” Hernandez said.
Hernandez said she hopes members of the community will be able to create their own legacy just as the theater helped cement the legacy of Baker.
“Don’t be afraid to celebrate your creativity,” Hernandez said.
Contact Avinash Iyer at iyera@oxy.edu
