About Beech Tree Puppets LLC
What Do We Do?
Beech Tree Puppets brings meaningful stories with sensory-friendly and artful performances to all ages. Puppets and sets are lovingly hand-crafted with natural materials like wool, silk and wood. Beautiful singing and playing of simple instruments are interwoven into the performances, which are usually not amplified. Rich storytelling and a high-level artistic experience are guaranteed through our commitment to the story and audience, and by our professional training as singers and actors. We offer a Q and A after the performance.
Who Are We?
Beech Tree Puppets have performed hundreds of shows in schools, libraries and public spaces all over the greater DC region, including The National Theater in DC, the Atlas Performing Arts Center, and at the Durant Arts Center in Alexandria with the National Puppetry Guild. The founders, Ingrid and Ole Hass, both hold Masters Degrees in Opera Performance from the North Carolina School of the Arts. Ole also holds a Doctor of Musical Arts Degree from UMD in College Park and Ingrid earned a BA in Studio Art from Smith College. Since moving to the Washington DC area in 1998, they have sung and acted with many of the great performing institutions in classical music around the area. Ingrid has been teaching art and music classes for children of all ages for 20 years. Beech Tree Puppets LLC was founded in 2012.
Why Puppets?
Puppets bring a story to life, enhancing its meaning and impact for the audience. Language is enlivened, inspiring a love for stories and reading. Our shows often celebrate aspects of the natural world, such as the seasons, weather, or a sunrise, inspiring enthusiasm for nature and its treatment in the curriculum. The combination of story-telling, music and visuals with puppets appeals to all types of learners and deepens their recall of content. Puppets can also break down barriers, cross cultural differences, and open people of all ages to new ideas and possibilities.
Where Can You See Us?
Beech Tree Puppets brings puppet shows and workshops to the wider Baltimore-Washington area. Five larger productions are intended for audiences of 50 to 200 of all ages. Two smaller shows are for audiences ages 2 to 8. All shows are performed in theaters, schools (assemblies and classrooms), libraries and in private venues. Beech Tree Puppets has also designed unique educational workshops that enhance and support the school curriculum.
