The Billy-Club Puppets HPT 1979

My first production for the HIP POCKET THEATRE was FEDERICO GARCIA LORCA'S farce, THE BILLY-CLUB PUPPETS, produced in the then new space at OAK ACRES AMPHITHEATRE in September / October of 1979...34 years ago this month.

This play unlike LORCA'S dramas, was an all out farce in the style of a Punch & Judy Show, but with a decidedly Spanish flair and characters. The gimmick was the use of hand puppets to portray some of the shows many characters and the different personality sides of the two main ones.

I had made a name for myself as a puppeteer in Fort Worth prior to my travels around the country in the 1970's and my "Return" was played up as a big deal for the sake of publicity, even to my being featured in newspaper articles, like the one above,  just prior to the show's opening night.