Word Play
Available for touring after November 18, 2023
Performed by Sarah Nolen
Created by Good Hearted Entertainment
"Word Play" uses clowning and puppetry to take audiences on an adventure through the alphabet. Words come to life in the hands of two skilled performers, who clown around with sounds and letters to create dozens of interactive characters and imaginative scenes. Audiences can make friends with vowels, teach tricks to a “C-A-T” and “D-O-G,” and visit a whole ZOO full of surprises. It’s the perfect blend of education and entertainment—a play on words, literally!
Recommended for ages 3 and up. Length: 45 minutes. Also available in shorter versions and with live music.
Honey Goodenough of Good Hearted Entertainment has moved to Texas. You can contact her at goodheartedshows@gmail.com.
About the Artists
Good Hearted Entertainment creates performances that combine puppetry and clowning to educate and delight young audiences and the young at heart. "Word Play" was inspired by founder Honey Goodenough's experience learning to manage her own dyslexia and literacy challenges. The show was developed in 2016 as part of Puppet Showplace Theater's "Incubator" program for new works. Originally created with fellow clown and educator Harry LaCoste and musician Paul Watkins, "Word Play" combines puppetry with many other art forms to bring words to life in new and exciting ways!
Honey Goodenough (Clown/Puppeteer) is a puppeteer, educator, and children’s party entertainer. From 2017 to 2022, she was Puppet Showplace Theater's first resident teaching artist following years of experience working with diverse student populations in greater Boston, New York City, Vermont, and Texas. She has taught a wide variety of professional development courses for educators and aspiring puppeteers at Brooklyn College, the University of Utah, and City College CUNY. Honey is also a trained marionette performer and has toured nationally with The National Marionette Theatre, Frisch Marionettes, and she has produced and performed in Puppet Slams across the country. She holds an MA in Educational Theater from New York University, and a BA in Theater Crafts and Technology from the University of Texas, Austin.
Harry LaCoste (Clown/Puppeteer) is a performer, teacher, dad, ukulele rockstar. After working behind the scenes on Sesame Street, he was inspired to try his hand at puppeteering. Since then, Harry has performed all over the country with puppets including with NYC-based puppet improv team, Team Lopez. Harry uses puppets, songs, and magic to tell stories and inspire creativity with children of all ages.
Sarah Nolen (Clown/Puppeteer) became Puppet Showplace Theater's resident artist in September 2017. She is an experienced puppeteer and filmmaker from Austin, Texas. She earned her BFA in film from Southern Methodist University in 2009, and finished her Master's in Puppet Arts at the University of Connecticut in 2016. Prior to moving to Boston, she worked in New York as a puppeteer and puppet builder. Sarah has performed as a puppeteer for the Boston Pops Orchestra, EnvisionFEST Hartford, and The Out of Bounds Festival in Austin.
Paul Watkins (Musician) Paul Watkins is a composer and trombonist from San Jose, CA. He holds a Master of Music degree in composition from the Longy School of Music in Cambridge, MA, and Bachelor of Arts degrees in music and psychology from the University of CA, Davis. Paul has created incidental music for several New England puppeteers, including "Robin Hood" by Brad Shur, and several short pieces developed at the National Puppetry Conference at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center in Waterford, CT.
