Cashore Marionettes come to life at 3 Elmira shows

Historians believe that the human fascination with puppets stretches back 3,000 years — in fact, the use of puppets may even pre-date live actors in theater productions. Ancient Egyptians, Greeks and Asians used puppets large and small to portray stories and important concepts from their societies.

Fast-forward to today, the age of CGI and huge Broadway productions, and you might think that the art of puppetry is on the wane. That’s not exactly true, though — and one man helping to keep the flame burning is Joseph Cashore, who has toured with his Cashore Marionettes around North America, Europe and the Far East for the past three decades.

Locals will get the chance to see Cashore’s creations up close when he performs three shows at the Clemens Center’s intimate Mandeville Hall this weekend.

On Saturday and Sunday afternoon, the family-friendly “Simple Gifts” (for ages 8 and up) features scenes from everyday life set to music by composers such as Vivaldi, Strauss, Beethoven and Copland. On Saturday night, “Life in Motion” (for ages 12 and up) includes many of the same scenes but adds other, weightier scenes geared to an older audience.

After so many years as a puppeteer, Cashore — who lives in the Philadelphia area — understands the appeal that the performances have.

“With the marionettes, there’s a poetic quality to it,” he said in an interview. “Everyone knows that it’s not really alive and it’s not really doing things on its own, but there’s something that draws people’s attention. There’s a fascination with it, and there’s an innocence about it. People are more open to feeling the apparent emotion that’s in that character in a different way than if it were a human actor.”

Cashore built his first marionette from clothespins, wood, string and a tin can when he was 11 years old, then didn’t build another one until he after he graduated from college. For 19 years, he balanced his career as in oil painting with building marionettes — many of which he sold to other puppeteers because of his reluctance to perform in public. He started to perform full time in 1990.

“I was making these marionettes, and every thing I’d make a new one, I would see other possibilities in it and how to improve it,” he said. “I’d make another one, and as I was playing with that, I would see ways of improving it, so I’d make another one. Pretty soon, I had a good collection of marionettes and thought I should put a show together. …

“I was a little intimidated about getting up in front of people, but I got used to it so it’s not a problem anymore. I was a little shy when we got started.”

Over the years, Cashore has built about 150 marionettes, from babies to old ladies and a menagerie of animals. Part of the challenge is to figure out how to give the puppets life-like movement, a process that often involves storyboarding what he wants the marionette to do and then working from those drawings to put it together piece by piece.

“None of these puppets work out on the first try,” he said. “You build the puppet, you string it up and try to get it working — then you have to figure out why it’s not working. Very often that involves changing the controls or something about the joints in the puppet so you can get a coordinated system.”

One great thing about working for himself is that Cashore can take his time and not be hampered by deadlines imposed from others: “Some of the marionettes took years. I’ll have it hanging in my studio — I don’t work on it every day, but I pick it up from time to time. Sometimes you’ll wake up in the middle of the night a week later with an idea.”

The scenes that he portrays in his shows feature a range of themes that can appeal across all ages and cultures.

“Some of the puppets are quite sensitive and some of them are funny and some of them are a little sad,” he said. “I try to arrange the evening so that it’s a roller-coaster ride of emotion — you’re up and you’re down — and I always try to have a surprise in there.”

One thing that Cashore wants to make clear: Although his performances use puppets to tell their stories, they are not just for children.

“We’re constantly fighting that presumption that if it’s a marionette show, it must be a kiddie show,” he said. “Some of the themes in the ‘Life in Motion’ show are just aimed at adults. People will recognize themselves in here, because the themes are universal and they touch on everyone’s experience.”

Follow Chris Kocher on Twitter: @RealChrisKocher

IF YOU GO

•What: The Cashore Marionettes

•When: “Simple Gifts” at 2 p.m. Sarturday and 3 p.m. Sunday; “Life in Motion” at 7:30 p.m. Saturday

•Where: The Clemens Center, 207 Clemens Center Parkway, Elmira

•Tickets: $18 for adults and $12 for ages 17 and under for “Simple Gifts”; $23 for adults and $17 for ages 17 and under for “Life in Motion. Available at the Clemens Center box office; by phone at (607)734-8191 or (800) 724-0159; or online at www.clemenscenter.org.

•More information:www.cashoremarionettes.com