Show Information Show Length  |  Show Set Up  |  Prices  |  Insurance  | Sam.Gov|  Terms  |  Booking a Show  |  Bios  |  Design arionette puppetry is a rare and dying art, yet Franklin Haynes Marionettes celebrates thirty years of pulling heartstrings.   We have over two-hundred professional handcrafted marionettes-- a lifetime of dedicated work. We have thirteen different shows, so you will get a new and different experience each time we come out to you.  Please see "Our Shows" link to see both our year-round and seasonal shows. We are a self contained "one man" traveling show that come to your location.  Our colorful, interactive, and child friendly marionette puppets stand about 18-20 inches tall and perform right out in front of the audience.  The children delight at the puppets' animated moving eyes, mouths and eyebrows. The shows are well maintained.  There are no beat up or worn looking puppets in our shows.   We are well known for our fresh and colorful characters and beautiful stage curtains. All costumes are bright, clean, and professionally designed and constructed by a former designer.    Show Lengths Half Hour All of our exciting shows run a standard half hour and contain between eight and ten large marionettes. We do not have shows longer than half an hour.  However, we do offer special extensions that last longer!   Forty-Five Minute Educational Workshop PUPPETS AROUND THE WORLD!  We have a 15-20 minute educational puppet workshop extension that follows the puppet show.  This educational workshop is great for school and library shows.   Kids and families will be engaged in a fun learning experience.  The show plus the workshop extension will last forty-five to 50 minutes! During the workshop the children will explore, on their age appropriate level, the wondrous art of puppetry.  They will learn about the word marionette, and that it is a French word meaning "little Mary."    A collection of puppets from AROUND THE WORLD will be shared and touched.  Kids will see the five main genres of puppet types: hand, rod, shadow, sock, finger, and of course marionettes!  They will learn how to make a shadow puppet show from a cereal box! For school and library shows, reading, language arts, literacy, and writing, are put in play when at the conclusion of the educational workshop, the children are read a classic story book.  After the story, all audience members will receive materials to take home to make their own hand puppets from the characters in the story!     For school shows, teachers are encouraged to make the puppets with the kids in the classroom.  The children are encouraged to perform their own show, and write their own scripts with their puppets. Recycle and Reuse! Make Your Own Puppets                  Cereal Boxes -- Socks -- Toilet Paper Tubes                             Forty-Five Minute Photo Shoot Time After the show have some relaxed time to take poses of the kids with puppets!  This is a great opportunity the birthday child or individual classrooms to have their photo taken with puppets with your smart phone!  Post your party pictures on Face Book or Instagram!             One Hour Again, all shows run one half hour.  However, we also have a half hour puppet making workshop extension available!  You get a half hour show followed by a fun and engaging  half hour puppet making activity. The show with puppet making total one hour. The children will make their own paper bag hand puppets with the puppeteer right after the show!  This is a fun activity, especially for children’s birthday parties where we will keep the kids busy for you and quietly engaged!  See photos for 100 kids making puppets!   Setting up for puppet making is easy!  All we need is a table for the kids to work on!  We provide all other puppet making materials: scissors, glue stick, crayons, and paper bags.   There is no limit on the number of kids for this fun activity! It will keep the kids busy and engaged,  and open the world of puppetry to them as they perform with their own puppets at the conclusion! Keep in mind that the puppet making workshop involves coloring, cutting, and pasting, and is geared for ages 3 and a half to seven years old.  Show Set Up  Your puppeteer will arrive fifteen to twenty minutes before your show.  Our puppet stage sets up in minutes and takes up a 12’ X 12’ area, but we are flexible with smaller areas.   Other than stage shows, children are seated down on ground level, in the round, in front of the puppet stage.  Every one will be able to see the puppets!  The performer will mask (with tape) the area for larger groups in a horseshoe shape.  Click here to see a real audience show set up photo .   Again, the puppeteer performs in front of the audience!  The puppets move around and interact with the kids. This type of presentation is called "Open Face" or "Theater in the round."  Also it is known as "California Style" and  is very exciting for the kids.   Again, there is a lot of child-puppet interaction. Equipment Our shows are self-contained.  We provide our own microphone, music, lighting, staging and amplification, and own power supply. Since we have our own power supply, shows can even be done outside, i.e. backyards, parks, parking lots, etc., where electricity may not be available!  Outside shows are wonderful, but keep in mind that we have no cancellation policy due to poor weather.  Please have a back up plan for weather conditions. As in theater, “The show must go on!”  Prices We have Dynamic Pricing. Prices adjust for venue size (public Vs. private),  high season demand, and length of show (30 minutes, 45 minutes, or 1 hour)  Generally prices range between $400.00 and up to $600.00.  We arrive 30 to 45 min before showtime, however, there is a $75.00 per hour early set up fee if you want our stage set up prior to the start of your event.   There is significant discounted pricing for same day multiple show bookings.  We also have a season package specials if you book any four shows throughout the year i.e. Christmas, Spring, Summer, 4th of July, Cinco de mayo, and Halloween, shows.  We serve most all of southern California, however travel fees between $50.00 and $100.00 apply to some areas. Travel fees may apply due to the increase of fuel costs. The Value Behind Marionette Puppet Shows Marionette puppetry is in a class by itself, and  a true lifelong art.  It takes two months to make one marionette puppet. Making a marionette involves sculpting the heads, hands, feet out of clay.  Then creating plaster molds out of those objects.  Once the molds are created, neoprene casting material is poured into the molds.  Once cured, the cast is carefully removed from the mold, and left to dry.  Once dried,  the head is cut open and a system of levers is created to enable the eyes, eyebrows, and mouth to open, shut, and move up and down.  See attached photo of inside a puppet head, and a dog tail wagging mechanism.  Once the these objects are created, they are sanded, and painted.    Next is making the body, assembling all the pieces, then costuming.  Each step, especially the costuming takes a lot of time.  Each marionette has a  unique body style and size,  so patterns are not feasible to hang onto for other puppets. Then a control has to be custom made for its specific marionette.  For example, a trapeze marionette will have a completely different control and stringing compared to a dog puppet, or a bubble blowing puppet.  Marionette building requires hundreds of hours and requires of life time of experience to be able to engineer different types of marionettes.  We have puppets that roller skate, trapeze, blow bubbles, hoola hoop, break away (like the pirate skeleton that dances his bones off!) So, having nice looking and well built marionette puppets is one gigantic task!  But there are also hours of rehearsal , building puppet stages that are customized to each specific show.  There is hours of finding the right music, and recording a sound track.  There transport boxes,  sound systems, and lighting that all has to be mobile and engineered to quickly set up.  Booking Shows Book shows by telephone, or better, here on our website.  Just click on "Book A Show" link!  Internet booking is always suggested for convenience in making show selections,  and answering frequently asked questions.  Usually shows should be booked a month or more in advance to guarantee openings and show selections.  If you are booking for a birthday party, it is highly suggested you book your show a half our to an hour into your party, so nobody will miss out.  So, if your party starts at 1:00 P.M.  have the marionette show start at 1:30 or 2:00 P.M. We accept checks and all major credit cards    Insurance We carry a $2,000,000.00 general liability insurance policy through Specialty Insurance Agency (S.I.A.)   See Certificate With S.I.A., there is a $50.00 if you need your own additional insured certificate!  We will fill out all additional insurance forms for you!  We just need the exact legal name, any special language to be included, address you want listed on the endorsement, and an email address.   S.I.A. will directly send you four pages:  certificate with your name and special language, endorsement, waiver of subrogation,   and a primary non-contributory endorsement.  What a deal!  Once we apply for your certificate, you will receive it in about one business day.    Terms Once a show is booked, a Show Contract and a deposit of $200.00 is needed to secure your date and show time.  In some cases a full payment is requested in advance.  Schools or libraries paying with purchase order or other outside resources are exempted, but a show contract is mandatory. We do have a cancellation or refund policy.  You may  reschedule and apply your deposit to a future show.   You can not cancel due to low turnout, poor weather, changes in ownership, or any other reason.  Just make sure that you are certain of dates and times when booking.  As in theater,  "The Show Must Go On!"   Please be aware that you are reserving a date and time slot making it unavailable for others.  In the rare occurrence that one of our contracted puppeteers is not able to make it to your show, we will substitute another one of our puppeteers with a different show.   In the VERY UNLIKELY event that we can not make it to your show due to traffic emergencies or any other matter on our part, you will receive a full refund and a FREE show anytime you like.   Marionette Puppeteer Bios Franklin Haynes    Born in Newport Beach California,  Franklin Haynes has logged almost 40 years of experience entertaining families with marionette puppetry. Although he is retired from performing, he is the artistic creative power house behind the company.  A family man, he resides Riverside California with his wife and his three children.   He is a master marionette puppet builder.  He is a graduate of UC Riverside with a degree in theater and education.  Terrry Conci T.C. Performing for 25 Years With The Company Born in Italy and now residing in Diamond Bar with his wife and two children, Terry Conci (Cone-chi) has a great rapport with children and has extensive experience as a children's entertainer. He has owned and operated a clowns and characters business since 1992.  He studied theater and communication at Pasadena City College where he has been involved with children's theater since 1987. T.C. has been involved as an actor in front of the camera and on the stage. Credits include starring in the Pulitzer Prize winning play SHADOW BOX  on a television cable production of "Oh What a Night." His warm and genuine personality coupled with his 15 years of experience as a puppeteer with Franklin Haynes Marionettes, make him a wonderful performer both children and adults will enjoy. James Conci Performing for 10 Years With The Company James Conci, son of Terry Conci, has continued the tradition of children’s entertainment. For the past decade, James has been involved in a variety of different entertainment acts, from theater productions, professional magic shows, to impersonating a plethora of childhood cartoon characters. James is also a musician, and only wishes to continue the bloodline of the performing and musical arts of his past generations. John Morgenstern Performing for 2 Year With The Company John Morgenstern is an actor, puppeteer, and puppet builder from Olympia, Washington. Currently John is one of the "Directors-at-Large" for the Los Angeles Guild of Puppetry.  After receiving a BFA in Theatre from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, John moved to Los Angeles and discovered his love for puppetry. He has had the pleasure of working at Disneyland and Universal Studios Hollywood where his passion for entertaining all ages flourishes.  Costume Designer Patricia Lockhart Patricia Lockhart has a wealth of costuming experience. She has been designing and sewing costumes for thirty years and has worked as a seamstress for both Walt Disney and Knott’s Berry Farm. In addition, Patricia has long history of sewing for the bridal industry. She has a passion to work with a variety of fabrics and loves restyling vintage garments. Her expertise, eye for fabric and use of color always enhance our beautifully hand crafted marionettes.  As a California State University Long Beach graduate, Patricia currently shares her passion for the arts with her junior high school Home Economics students.  Master Sculptor Nadia Souetre     Nadia Souetre was born in France and raised in Paris.  One of her earliest memories as a child was going with her mother, on a Saturday afternoon, to see the marionettes' outdoor performances at the Rond Point des Champs-Elysees.  The interaction between the children who cheer loudly for the marionette heroes and boo at the villains, always brought much excitement and laughter.  Nadia studied History of Art and Painting at the Ruskin School of Art in Oxford, England, where she received a classical art formation.  She went on to study at the Kunsthochschule in Berlin, Germany, a radically different art school, where modern art was taught with passion.  She later perfected her drawing at La Grande Chaumiere in Paris and was involved in the Parisian art scene.  Nadia holds a B.A. degree from the University of South Africa, where she lived for six years. Drawing, painting and creating have always been part of her life, and she has shown and sold her work, be it paintings, painting on silk, ceramics or sculptures, in Europe and the United States. Nadia now resides in Huntington Beach, California.