What: Rhynceron
Where: Puppetopia
HERE Arts Center
145 6th Ave.
New York, NY
Who: Recommended for Ages 8 and Up
When: This event took place from May 21 - 25, 2025
Clara the rhinoceros was an Indian rhinoceros famous for being toured around Europe in the mid-18th century. Rhynceron is a puppet show about Clara, although her name is never mentioned in the show. Although this may sound like a fun and interesting subject for a story, don't be fooled. The show's overall tone is much darker than you might think. The show is more about highlighting man's exploitation of nature through the story of this rhinoceros than a light and breezy entertainment. This is not to say that the entire show is heavy and dark; there are some very humorous moments, but overall, the focus is on relaying a serious message about the need to respect the natural world and its creatures.
Despite its heavy-handed messaging, the show is extremely creative. It is put together quite uniquely and incorporates several different types of puppetry. They include paper puppets, shadow puppets, rod puppets, and more. Most impressive of all is the final life-size rhinoceros puppet.
And that's our view. For more about Rhynceron, visit www.ktshivak.com/rhynoceron. For a novelization of Clara's story, read Jillian Forsberg's captivating book, The Rhino Keeper. For more about that, see our previous post Tips for Tuesday - The Rhino Keeper
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We received complimentary tickets to The Harlem Doll Palace for review purposes. Any and all opinions expressed here are our own.
What: The Harlem Doll Palace
Where: Puppetopia
HERE Arts Center
145 6th Ave.
New York, NY
Who: Recommended for Ages 8 and Up
When: Through June 1, 2025
Lenon Holder Hoyte, affectionately known to all as Aunt Len, was a beloved educator, collector, and proprietor of a Harlem doll museum. The Harlem Doll Palace is based on her story. It is a little bit dark; it starts with her death and goes off on several tangents, but overall, it is a fascinating story.
Aunt Len is played by a human being, Alva Rogers, who also wrote the show. The rest of the cast, made up of dolls, is portrayed by puppets. The story revolves around the dolls not wanting to let their beloved owner go and reliving some of their times with her upon her death. Not all of their memories are happy, however, and they include times when some of the dolls were stolen and when a major flood destroyed many of them. Both of these events were based on true incidents. They also go off onto several tangents, which raise issues like the subjection of women by their husbands and the legacy of slavery. While these are important issues, they are beyond the scope of this show, and there isn't really time to significantly address them. Thus, they just convolute the plot and make it harder to follow.
There are also several songs in the show. They would not be that fun to listen to out of context. However, in terms of the show, they further the plot by explaining things or telling the story of one of the dolls, except for the final song, which does neither.
The puppeteers all cover a variety of roles, including a rare black skinned Thomas Edison talking doll, a French doll, a Grace Kelly doll, and some slave dolls. They are are all quite talented. The actor who plays the French doll puppet sings one of the songs, and her singing is quite beautiful.
In addition to the puppets, many dolls are part of the set dressing. They are not from Aunt Len's collection; the remainder was auctioned off for charity after her death. However, if you are a doll lover, it's still fun to look at all the dolls on the set, including the puppet dolls.
And that's our view. For more about The Harlem Doll Palace or to purchase tickets to one of the remaining performances, go to here.org/shows/puppetopia-2025.
Photo credits:
All Rhynceron production photos by Richard Termine
All The Harlem Doll Palace photos by Richard Termine
Images used in this post have been sent to us from publicists, artists, and/or PR firms and are used by permission. If there is a problem with the rights to any image, contact us here, and we will look into the matter.
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