Mary Phipps Putnam Churchill (December 29, 1930 – November 16, 1997) was an American

puppeteer A puppeteer is a person who manipulates an inanimate object called a puppet to create the illusion that the puppet is alive. The puppet is often shaped like a human, animal, or legendary creature. The puppeteer may be visible to or hidden from the ...

, educator, and entrepreneur. Her

puppet A puppet is an object, often resembling a human, animal or Legendary creature, mythical figure, that is animated or manipulated by a person called a puppeteer. Puppetry is an ancient form of theatre which dates back to the 5th century BC in anci ...

troupe, The Cranberry Puppets, entertained children for 25 years with witty feminist adaptations of folktales. Churchill was founder and director of Puppet Showplace Theater in

Brookline, Massachusetts Brookline () is an affluent town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States, and part of the Greater Boston, Boston metropolitan area. An exclave of Norfolk County, Brookline borders six of Boston's neighborhoods: Brighton, Boston, Brighton ...

Early life and education

Churchill was born in

Boston, Massachusetts Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

. Churchill attended

Radcliffe College Radcliffe College was a Women's colleges in the United States, women's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Cambridge, Massachusetts, that was founded in 1879. In 1999, it was fully incorporated into Harvard Colle ...

and

Barnard College Barnard College is a Private college, private Women's colleges in the United States, women's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college affiliated with Columbia University in New York City. It was founded in 1889 by a grou ...

(Class of 1952). She studied economics and government. In 1968, she earned a Master of Arts degree from

Simmons College Institutions of learning called Simmons College or Simmons University include: * Simmons University Simmons University (previously Simmons College) is a private university in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It was established in 1899 by ...

Career

Churchill taught elementary grades in the Boston school system. She taught third grade in Roxbury and was a reading specialist in Newton. There, she began using puppets to teach students who had trouble learning to read. Churchill started reading books about puppets and making them. In 1972, she joined her local puppetry guild and took workshops. Then she attended an international puppetry festival in France. She returned determined to be a puppeteer and to have her own theater.

Cranberry Puppets

Churchill began to

crochet Crochet (; ) is a process of creating textiles by using a crochet hook to interlock loops of yarn, thread (yarn), thread, or strands of other materials. The name is derived from the French term ''crochet'', which means 'hook'. Hooks can be made ...

hand puppet A hand puppet is a type of puppet that is controlled by the hands that occupies the interior of the puppet.Sinclair, A, ''The Puppetry Handbook'', p.15 A glove puppet is a variation of hand puppets. Rod puppets require one of the puppeteer's han ...

s and create her own puppet shows. In 1973, she founded The Cranberry Puppets and performed plays for children. She named her signature puppet "Betsy." Churchill performed witty adaptations of

fairy tale A fairy tale (alternative names include fairytale, fairy story, household tale, magic tale, or wonder tale) is a short story that belongs to the folklore genre. Such stories typically feature magic, enchantments, and mythical or fanciful bei ...

s and

fable Fable is a literary genre defined as a succinct fictional story, in prose or verse, that features animals, legendary creatures, plants, inanimate objects, or forces of nature that are anthropomorphized, and that illustrates or leads to a parti ...

s. These included "

Little Red Riding Hood "Little Red Riding Hood" () is a fairy tale by Charles Perrault about a young girl and a Big Bad Wolf. Its origins can be traced back to several pre-17th-century European Fable, folk tales. It was later retold in the 19th-century by the Broth ...

," "

Three Billy Goats Gruff "The Three Billy Goats Gruff" () is a Norwegian fairy tale collected by Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe in their '' Norske Folkeeventyr'', first published between 1841 and 1844. It has an Aarne-Thompson type of 122E. The first versi ...

," "

The Lion and the Mouse The Lion and the Mouse is one of Aesop's Fables, numbered 150 in the Perry Index. There are also Eastern variants of the story, all of which demonstrate mutual dependence regardless of size or status. In the Renaissance the fable was provided wi ...

," and " The Three Bears." She also performed "Devil in the Pumpkin Patch" and "The Witch Who Hates Birthdays." Her adaptations featured strong female protagonists. In Churchill's versions, female characters were the heroes. Her version of "

The Three Little Pigs "The Three Little Pigs" is a fable about three pigs who build their houses of different materials. A Big Bad Wolf blows down the first two pigs' houses which are made of straw and sticks respectively, but is unable to destroy the third pig's ho ...

" included a smart female

pig The pig (''Sus domesticus''), also called swine (: swine) or hog, is an omnivorous, domesticated, even-toed, hoofed mammal. It is named the domestic pig when distinguishing it from other members of the genus '' Sus''. Some authorities cons ...

named Mary. Mary was a

dentist A dentist, also known as a dental doctor, dental physician, dental surgeon, is a health care professional who specializes in dentistry, the branch of medicine focused on the teeth, gums, and mouth. The dentist's supporting team aids in provi ...

who avoided being eaten by pulling out the teeth of the

Big Bad Wolf The Big Bad Wolf is a fictional wolf appearing in several cautionary tales, including some of ''Grimms' Fairy Tales''. Versions of this character have appeared in numerous works, and it has become a generic archetype of a menacing predatory ant ...

Puppet Showplace Theater

In 1974, Churchill founded Puppet Showplace Theater. She located the theater in her neighborhood of Brookline Village. Churchill became a regular performer with The Cranberry Puppets. She also served as the theater's principal administrator and benefactor. Over the next two decades, Puppet Showplace grew. It went "from a few weekend shows to an internationally recognized puppetry center." Churchill showcased performers from across the United States and around the world. She also offered meeting space for the Boston Area Guild of Puppetry. ''The Puppetry Journal'' called Churchill the "driving force" behind Puppet Showplace Theater. In ''

The Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe,'' also known locally as ''the Globe'', is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes. ''The Boston Globe'' is the oldest and largest daily new ...

'', Lynda Morgenroth wrote, "The Puppet Showplace is the house Mary Churchill built."

Personal life

Churchill was the mother of four children: Jean, John, Bill, and Charles. In 1976, Churchill attended an international puppetry conference in Moscow, Russia. There, she met puppeteer Paul Vincent Davis. He became her lifelong companion and partner. Davis served as

Artist in Residence Artist-in-residence (also Writer-in-residence), or artist residencies, encompass a wide spectrum of artistic programs that involve a collaboration between artists and hosting organisations, institutions, or communities. They are programs that pr ...

at Puppet Showplace for over 30 years. Churchill died of

lung cancer Lung cancer, also known as lung carcinoma, is a malignant tumor that begins in the lung. Lung cancer is caused by genetic damage to the DNA of cells in the airways, often caused by cigarette smoking or inhaling damaging chemicals. Damaged ...

on Sunday, November 16, 1997 at her home in Brookline. She was 66.

Legacy

Churchill saw puppetry as a powerful medium. It could teach children, stimulate their creativity, and introduce them to live theater. In 2007, Puppet Showplace created the Mary Churchill Memorial Fund. It honors "her legacy of generosity and her commitment to making arts accessible to all." The fund brings schoolchildren from low-income neighborhoods to see puppetry at Showplace.

References

External links

Puppet Showplace Theater
{{DEFAULTSORT:Churchill, Mary 1930 births 1997 deaths American puppeteers Radcliffe College alumni Artists from Boston Female puppeteers