| March 8, 2002 |
| By Rachel Mansour |
| The Daily Record |
The roofs were leaking and about to cave in, the floors were unstable and the walls were practically peeling away from their supports. Structural engineers had said the buildings were at risk of collapsing.
But for almost a decade, in a small back room inside these two aging Southwest Baltimore rowhouses, the artists of the Black Cherry Puppet Theater found a place to chisel, carve, sew and paste their handcrafted puppets and prepare tours for children and adults throughout the Baltimore-Washington region.
Though the puppeteers never allowed the decrepit structures to interfere with their artistic passion, the 22-year-old theater’s co-director and founder, Michael T. Lamason, admits, “the building was literally falling down.” He and the other puppeteers used a wood stove in the winter, and tried to avoid walking through the front of the buildings.
But after five years of fundraising and renovation work, the marionettes and their makers are close to having a comfortable and safe facility, where the artists will have more space and resources to not only create their puppets and stages but also to perform in-house shows. Indeed, it will be Baltimore’s first permanent puppet theater.
The $500,000 renovation — which is only half-complete — of the rowhouses at 1115 and 1117 Hollins St. will provide space for a 50-seat black-box theater, puppet construction studio, offices and storage space. The theater area will be used for education, rehearsal and studio space when not in use for performances.
The project will also make way for an outdoor performance area on the two adjacent vacant lots, and a Puppet Resource Center to include a library of Black Cherry’s collection of literature and historic puppets from around the world.
Founded by Lamason and William B. Haas, both then students at the Maryland Institute, College of Art, the Black Cherry Puppet Theater got its start as a touring production. During its first summer in operation, it performed such acts as “Hansel and Gretel” and “Billy Goats Gruff’kin” for children at 107 summer camps throughout Baltimore.
But the refurbished
space will allow the group to become more established in the community, enhance and
increase its performances and focus more on developing education programs. Further, the
renovation is a major boost to the Southwest Baltimore neighborhood — once a booming
artist community but now plagued by drugs and crime.
In 1997, the Black Cherry Puppet Theater approached the community with its proposal to
renovate the two rowhouses. The first structural engineer said it couldn’t be done
and the rowhouses, which are located in a historic district, would have to be demolished.
However, Baltimore-based Southway Builders Inc. and its subcontractors were able to get
the job done despite its challenges.
“It was in pretty bad shape,” said Tim Duke, project manager for Southway Builders, adding that the bearing walls were ready to collapse. “It was a little scary at the time we were doing it.”
Klaus Philipsen, president of ArchPlan Inc., Philipsen Architects, the project architect, agreed. “It looked very scary in between,” he said, adding that at some points the team wondered if a strong wind would blow down the structures. However, an intricate network of shoring was set up to hold the structures in place. Today the brick façade has been repointed, the cornices replaced and the front windows adjusted to create a unified storefront.
“That all went flawlessly. Nothing fell down,” Philipsen said.
“Aside from the stressful nature of tearing down a major party wall between two buildings, it was pretty standard,” Duke said.
Given the project’s tight budget the interior design — the second phase of the project — will be a “raw as possible,” Philipsen said. Panels will cover the lower portions of the walls to dampen acoustics, while the upper sections of the walls will feature exposed brick.
“It’s a bit of a labor of love. There are no huge profit margins for anybody. It had to be designed frugally,” he said.
The first phase of the project cost about $300,000, which was contributed by such donors as the William G. Baker Memorial Fund, Abell Foundation, St. Paul Cos. Foundation, T. Rowe Price Foundation, France-Merrick Foundation, Baltimore Neighborhood Incentive Program and Maryland Business Development Program.
Today Lamason, who works for the theater full time, and Haas, who also works for the Maryland Science Center, can focus on their art, rather than worrying about the roof caving in.
“It’s a bit of a labor of love. There are no huge profit margins for anybody.” - Klaus Philipsen, project architect
Although the interior is still unfinished, the theater is already making use of it.
Life-size puppets, or macajumbies (a name they borrowed from Pee-wee’s Playhouse, in
the shape of colorful birds, skeletons and other imaginary forms) hang on the walls. A
stage set up for a showing of Hansel and Gretel sits in the middle of the room. An
assortment of paints and several different saws for creating puppets fill the back room.
Furthermore, the artists can explore their creative energies now that they are able to perform in-house acts. The touring performances limited the artists in the scale and number of props they could use because of the time- consuming and exhausting travel. “We can become a little more daring in our ability to do certain things,” Haas said.
Instead of creating and repairing the puppets in the small room at the rear of the facility, the artists will have almost the entire third floor to repair the puppets and make the puppets’ clothing and props. The second-floor balcony will hold stage lighting. The first floor will be flexible, serving as space for education, rehearsal and studio space when it’s not being used for performances.
“Who knows what’s going to happen in here,” Lamason said, as he pulled the strings of a Hansel and Gretel puppet from atop the stage.
To add a creative touch to the space’s design, the Black Cherry Puppet Theater will place puppets in the display window and a silhouette of Punch and Judy on the exterior facades.
The theater’s directors anticipate that a permanent home will strengthen the Black Cherry Puppet Theater’s ties to the community. They expect educators, students, children and the public to attend indoor and outdoor performances and peruse the resource center.
“We can develop a certain amount of predictability,” Haas said, adding that as a tour-only troupe, it had been harder to inform the community about the theater and its resources.
Lamason has been leading efforts to develop education workshops in which puppetry is integrated into school curricula. He expects that program to grow as the community becomes more aware of the theater.
“One of our goals is to develop the art and get more people involved,” he said, adding that the theater has begun to conduct workshops for adult groups as well. The group recently was awarded the Cherry Adler Award from the Maryland State Arts Council for their education programs and dedication to the art of the puppet.
Community members eagerly await the completion of the theater. The Hollins Market area was once teeming with artists and hip cafes. However, the popular Gypsy’s Café on Hollins Street collapsed recently. Crime and drugs have pushed many artists out of the neighborhood.
But with Hollins Market set for a renovation and the Black Cherry Puppet Theater project renovating four lots on the block, things could start to turn around. A group of local artists has formed SoWeBo Artists and is working to develop the arts in the neighborhood.
“It’s the kind of entertainment and artistic endeavors that would bring the best type of people to our neighborhood,” said Michael Dannenberg, president of the Hollins Market Neighborhood Association. “In our vision [of improving the community] we have a strong arts community, so this does fit inside the vision. It’s a real positive for that block.”
“We’re very neighborhood oriented. This is first and foremost space for our neighborhood,” Lamason said, adding that the theater would welcome children and adults to casually stop in.
Added Haas:
“This has been itching to happen.”