Puppet

Neville Tranter, the Amsterdam-based puppeteer who creates puppet shows for adults about subjects ranging from "Macbeth" to psychiatric hospitals, returns to the Theatre Project tomorrow for the fourth appearance of his Stuffed Puppet Theatre.In "The Nightclub," a pair of struggling entertainers try to revive their act at a bizarre post-modern club. Stuffed Puppet's appearance is part of the U.S./Netherlands Touring & Exchange Program.Show times at the Theatre Project, 45 W. Preston St., are 8 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays and 3 p.m. Sundays, through April 13. Tickets are $14. Call 410-752-8558.

Cecil Singleton had settled in to watch an episode of "Parenthood" when he caught a TV news teaser featuring the words "Elmo sex scandal. " A man had accused puppeteer Kevin Clash - the man behind the world's most popular Sesame Street puppet - of having a relationship with him when he was 16. Sitting at his New York apartment, Singleton, 24, had a sick feeling and began researching the claims against Clash. He, too, claims he had an underage but consensual relationship with the Baltimore County native - one he thought was an exception.

Creating a puppet character out of one's imagination is play for children, whether a furry kitten or a scary monster. And when the curtains rise, the puppets can go on stage and laugh and cry or dare to do anything their creator imagines.To make a cereal box puppet, you will need: 1 single-portion cereal box, paper lining removed and open end glued shut; poster paint and brushes; markers; construction paper; glue; scissors; odds and ends (feathers, pipe cleaners, bottle caps, felt scraps, etc.)

A fourth accuser is coming forward to claim he engaged in underage sex with former "Sesame Street" puppeteer Kevin Clash. On Monday, Florida-based attorney Jeff Herman filed his third lawsuit alleging that Clash, now 52, engaged in sex with minors. Herman also has filed suits on behalf of two of the previous three accusers. All three cases allege civil — in other words, noncriminal — violations, and are pending in the Southern District of New York. All three seek unspecified damages.

Kids on the Block founder Barbara Aiello summed up the resolution of the lawsuit filed by her puppet company with the glum comment, "We lost big time."Although she is awaiting the court transcript before deciding whether to pursue the case against the pop singing group New Kids on the Block, Ms. Aiello said for financial reasons, she probably will give up. Instead, she may try to get a news show -- such as "60 Minutes" or "20/20" -- interested in the case of the similar-sounding names.Earlier this year the puppet group sued the pop singers, citing evidence that confusion in the names harmed the business and reputation of the Columbia-based puppet company, founded in 1977, which specializesin plays about children with disabilities or social problems.

SHOULD THE inspiration strike to tune into the Senate's yakathon on judicial nominations, look carefully for strings manipulating lawmakers as they speak. So thoroughly have outside interest groups that fuel political campaigns taken control of the body, few senators still seem to have a will of their own. This puppet show can best be viewed in the debate over prospective judges, where the shots are called by extremist groups on both sides of the ideological spectrum - mostly over the issue of abortion.

A generation of 1950s Baltimore children grew up with Paul's Puppets, 15 minutes of Hansel and Gretel or Jo-Jo the Clown four nights a week on WBAL-TV.In a less complicated era of broadcasting, Bernard and Edith Paul were stars who never actually appeared on camera and were introduced by their theme music, "The Nutcracker Suite."The Pauls, now retired from active puppeteering, still live in their old family home in Linthicum Heights, where every prop and puppet they used in a long career is carefully preserved.

The protagonist of Stuffed Puppet Theatre's "The Nightclub" is a puppeteer named Anthony, whose increasingly avant-garde puppet shows tend to ramble. And one of the most interesting and frustrating aspects of this Dutch production is the way its meandering format resembles the hapless puppeteer's acts.The result is a 90-minute show, currently at the Theatre Project, created with all the exuberance and loose, wandering qualities of a children's game of make-believe.Make no mistake, however.

Who's that guy who likes to hang out with puppets? It's comedian Jeff Dunham, who started performing with puppets while doing a book report in the third grade. Since then, his cast has expanded to include Peanut (in Dunham's words, a "Muppet on heroin"), Jose Jalapeno on a Stick (a jalapeno on a stick) and the nasty Walter.Dunham will bring his critters to Slapstix Comedy Club starting tonight. This is definitely not a puppet show for the kiddies; only those 21 and over are admitted.The shows at Slapstix, 34 Market Place at the Inner Harbor, are tonight and Sunday at 7: 30 p.m. at $12.50 per ticket; and Friday and Saturday at 7: 30 p.m. and 10: 45 p.m. at $17.50 per ticket.

"Room 5" is one puppet show that certainly is not for children -- or for all adults, either. It's a campy psycho-drama set in a mental hospital in which the puppet characters are really disturbed and the human puppeteer embodying their female nurse is really a man.So this production by Amsterdam's Stuffed Puppet Theatre feels right at home at the insanity-friendly Theatre Project, where it's part of the U.S./Netherlands Touring & Exchange Project that brings Dutch companies to several U.S. theaters.

Kevin Clash, the Baltimore-born puppeteer who was the voice behind the beloved "Sesame Street" character Elmo, resigned Tuesday in the wake of allegations that he had sex with minors. Though a man who'd accused Clash last week of having underage sex recanted, Clash released a short statement saying he was leaving the show with sadness after another accuser emerged. "I am resigning from Sesame Workshop with a very heavy heart," he said. "I have loved every day of my 28 years working for this exceptional organization.

A claim that "Sesame Street" puppeteer Kevin Clash had sex with a minor has been withdrawn. The 23-year-old man who had said he was 16 when he began a romantic relationship with Clash - the voice of Elmo - recanted Tuesday through his attorney. The brief statement from the Harrisburg, Pa., law firm of Andreozzi & Associates reads in its entirety: "This office represented the 23-year-old man who was the subject of many media reports regarding Kevin Clash. He wants it to be known that his sexual relationship with Mr. Clash was an adult consensual relationship.

The Tabernacle Church, 11601 South Laurel Drive, is holding Family Fun Fest, a Halloween alternative, Wednesday, Oct. 31, 6 to 9 p.m. Enjoy games, the Great Maze, face painting, free food and a puppet and entertainment show. No costumes allowed. Kids will receive candy bags. Adults must remain on site with children they bring. Call 301-490-3838.

"Avenue Q" is not a puppet show for kids. Not only do its relationship-challenged young-adult puppet characters swear and drink, but they live in a grungy New York neighborhood that could use a good cleaning. These puppets may look like they belong on the set of a certain famous children's TV show, but their very adult behavior makes this clever musical appropriate for, well, the adults who are its intended audience at Columbia's Red Branch Theatre Company. If the rudely funny characters only spouted naughty words, they eventually would become tiresome.

In one video , a chubby guy in a Tony the Tiger costume holds a couple of puppets hostage. In another , sock puppets drive a human to madness. And in yet another video, a puppet's snoring is so powerful that people, puppets, anything in its vicinity, are sucked into his nose and transported to an alternative universe set in a dystopian, frigid landscape. That is the demented world of "Showbeast," a Baltimore Web series that marries puppetry, absurdist theater, stand-up, children's humor and experimental music, and has slowly acquired a cult following - fans include Dan Deacon and the band Beach House - one short YouTube video at a time.

Here's a round up of our week at Midnight Sun: Miranda Lambert talked about her show at 1st Mariner Arena and coming up with awesome puns, like the title of her new album "Four the Record. " Here are pictures of her show Thursday night. Dru Hill also performed this week - the pictures are here . Speaking of concerts: Pittsburgh rapper Mac Miller will be Pier Six Pavilion 's first show of the season. Other concerts were announced: Bruce Springsteen is coming to the Verizon Center, as is Red Hot Chili Peppers . And Rick Ross will be at DAR Constitution Hall.

The world of make-believe came alive yesterday for a group of Old Mill Middle South students who used puppets they made themselves with the help of an internationally known puppeteer to tell the story of a peddler trying to sell caps no one could afford.In "Caps for Sale," a tale by Esphyr Slobodkina, the children's puppets, made of wooden spoons and tennis balls, became townspeople while Shirley Johannesen Levine's puppet was the peddler, who wandered from door-to-door, caps stacked high on his head, trying to make a sale.

SANTA FE, N.M.-- Picture a moaning victim tied to a stake, while torch-bearing dancers taunt him with flames and a huge mob calls out, "Burn him, burn him."Sounds like a primitive rite from a far distant land, doesn't it? But it happens in Santa Fe every year in September, when the city fiesta opens with the ritual burning of a 40-foot-tall puppet known as Zozobra.Despite the multicultural setting, with Spanish, Native American and cowboy influences, this bizarre, seemingly pagan tradition has distinctly unglamorous roots: It was launched in the 1920s by a member of the local Kiwanis club.

Here's a tip to everyone making music videos: involve puppets*. Somehow. Sock puppets even. If the new Muppets movie taught us anything - and it taught us a lot -  is that puppets can improve even Jason Segel vehicles. Puppets could make Skrillex music videos passable. So it was a pleasure to see the new video from Baltimore proto-punks Dope Body. It features all the big P's: punks, puppets and paranoia. The video is for Dope Body's "Bangers & Yos," off their first proper album "Nupping," which was released last year.