Program
People
Adam Francis Proulx (creator/performer) is a theatre artist and puppeteer whose award-winning solo shows have toured across the globe. As Artistic Director of The Pucking Fuppet Co., his works include THE FAMILY CROW: A Murder Mystery, FERRY TALE! (A Fairy Tale), and Emilio’s A Million Chameleons, which recently celebrated an Off-Broadway run and earned him a Dora Award nomination for Outstanding Performance.
Adam is also a sought-after puppetry director and designer having collaborated with the likes of CBC, YPT, Nickelodeon, and Neptune Theatre.
In addition to creating original work, Adam has starred in the first Canadian productions of Avenue Q (as Princeton/Rod) and Disney’s Frozen (as Olaf). He can currently be seen as Fuzz the Hamster on the Canadian Screen Award-winning The Fabulous Show with Fay & Fluffy on Family Jr. He also writes for the series.
In 2025, he was named a Protégé Winner of the Johanna Metcalf Award for the Performing Arts.
AdamFrancisProulx.com
Adam is also a sought-after puppetry director and designer having collaborated with the likes of CBC, YPT, Nickelodeon, and Neptune Theatre.
In addition to creating original work, Adam has starred in the first Canadian productions of Avenue Q (as Princeton/Rod) and Disney’s Frozen (as Olaf). He can currently be seen as Fuzz the Hamster on the Canadian Screen Award-winning The Fabulous Show with Fay & Fluffy on Family Jr. He also writes for the series.
In 2025, he was named a Protégé Winner of the Johanna Metcalf Award for the Performing Arts.
AdamFrancisProulx.com
Byron Laviolette (director) Byron Laviolette is a director with over twenty years experience working in the arts, the agency, the academy and the arcade. He is the resident director with Adam Francis Proulx’s Pucking Fuppet Co, having directed The Family Crow, Ferry Tale, Emilio’s A Million Chameleons as well as the short film How to Hug a Porcupine. He also works with the Dora and Canadian Comedy award-winning female clown duo Morro and Jasp and with Summerworks Festival’s Audience Choice Winner and Drag Tragicomedienne Pearle Harbour.
He was also the Creative Director of The Mission Business, the Digi award-winning experience design agency whose clients included Autodesk, Starbucks, CBC, MetroLinx and NASA. He has designed courseware and on- and off-screen games for a selection of organizations including OntarioLearn, Microsoft and Ubisoft.
Byron holds a PhD in Interactive Theatre and Pervasive Transmedia Fiction from the Theatre and Performance Studies Department at York University and his criticism/art journalism has appeared in Scene Changes, EYE Weekly, AdBusters and IN Toronto magazine. He also directs audio books, including the Headphone Award winning Empire of Wild by Cherie Dimaline and the Audie Nominated The Butcher and the Wren by Alaina Urquhart, host of the hit podcast Morbid.
Most recently, he has taken on the role of Artistic Director of Toronto’s newest live entertainment festival - What The Festival. With WTF, he seeks to present and promote puppetry, bouffon, clown and drag artists to new audiences looking to discover the very best in weird, wild and wonderful theatre. You can learn more about the work WTF is doing at www.wtfestival.ca
He was also the Creative Director of The Mission Business, the Digi award-winning experience design agency whose clients included Autodesk, Starbucks, CBC, MetroLinx and NASA. He has designed courseware and on- and off-screen games for a selection of organizations including OntarioLearn, Microsoft and Ubisoft.
Byron holds a PhD in Interactive Theatre and Pervasive Transmedia Fiction from the Theatre and Performance Studies Department at York University and his criticism/art journalism has appeared in Scene Changes, EYE Weekly, AdBusters and IN Toronto magazine. He also directs audio books, including the Headphone Award winning Empire of Wild by Cherie Dimaline and the Audie Nominated The Butcher and the Wren by Alaina Urquhart, host of the hit podcast Morbid.
Most recently, he has taken on the role of Artistic Director of Toronto’s newest live entertainment festival - What The Festival. With WTF, he seeks to present and promote puppetry, bouffon, clown and drag artists to new audiences looking to discover the very best in weird, wild and wonderful theatre. You can learn more about the work WTF is doing at www.wtfestival.ca
Writer/Performer/Puppet Builder • Adam Francis Proulx
Director • Byron Laviolette
Original Music • Rob Denton
Set • Karen Nisbet
Additional Prop Construction • Jess Westlake
Poster Photography • Tanja Tiziana
Poster Graphic Design • Kurt Firla
Production Photography • Dahlia Katz
Director • Byron Laviolette
Original Music • Rob Denton
Set • Karen Nisbet
Additional Prop Construction • Jess Westlake
Poster Photography • Tanja Tiziana
Poster Graphic Design • Kurt Firla
Production Photography • Dahlia Katz
Special thanks:
Susan Barber,
friends and family for the inspiration and the patience as Adam put you onstage,
Lauren Kinney,
Jessica Smith,
Liana Bdéwi,
Celeste Percy-Beauregard
Show Notes
Byron's Notes: It's always an interesting experience to go back to something you worked on years ago. The world has changed. You have changed.
12 Angry Puppets was the first project that Adam and I ever worked on together - I was brought in to, amongst other things, help ‘punch up’ one of the sequences near the end. (A term borrowed from the world of comedy, where someone provides fresh ideas to another’s stand up, sketch or show.) At the time, though, I was a clown guy, having worked almost exclusively with Canada’s favourite clown sisters Morro and Jasp.
Back then, I had an appreciation for puppetry, but no real feel for it, so I leaned on what I knew: blocking that reinforces the ‘point’ of the scene, insisting on a deep sense of characters (what they show and what they hide) and bring with me an ‘audience-first’ approach to theatre making.
Since then, Adam and I have worked together a lot. A LOT. In the years since 12 Angry Puppets, I’ve directed The Family Crow, Ferry Tale, How to Hug a Porcupine, and we co-created the off-Broadway, frenetic family-friendly musical Emilio’s A Million Chameleons. I’ve learned a lot over the course of all this - about what a puppet is, what it does, and what its limits are.
One thing I was taught was that it's better to have a range of puppets who each do one thing well, than one puppet that is expected to do a range of things. In this show, that rule is both bent and broken - to the delight of all, I think. What Adam manages to do with just one ‘dolly’ (a common nickname in the puppetry world) is truly incredible. He transforms a single frame into a dozen distinct and dynamic characters who look, sound, and most importantly feel like individual jurors.
12 Angry Puppets then is special: to me because it was my first toe dip into the world of puppet, to Adam because it’s the show that started his meteoric rise to the master artist he is today, and hopefully to you too! This show is a rare glimpse back to the start of someone’s work, but also an amazing exhibition of what he has become. It’s pure theatrical magic.
So sit back and enjoy. I imagine that you will enjoy watching it as much as I have working on it.
12 Angry Puppets was the first project that Adam and I ever worked on together - I was brought in to, amongst other things, help ‘punch up’ one of the sequences near the end. (A term borrowed from the world of comedy, where someone provides fresh ideas to another’s stand up, sketch or show.) At the time, though, I was a clown guy, having worked almost exclusively with Canada’s favourite clown sisters Morro and Jasp.
Back then, I had an appreciation for puppetry, but no real feel for it, so I leaned on what I knew: blocking that reinforces the ‘point’ of the scene, insisting on a deep sense of characters (what they show and what they hide) and bring with me an ‘audience-first’ approach to theatre making.
Since then, Adam and I have worked together a lot. A LOT. In the years since 12 Angry Puppets, I’ve directed The Family Crow, Ferry Tale, How to Hug a Porcupine, and we co-created the off-Broadway, frenetic family-friendly musical Emilio’s A Million Chameleons. I’ve learned a lot over the course of all this - about what a puppet is, what it does, and what its limits are.
One thing I was taught was that it's better to have a range of puppets who each do one thing well, than one puppet that is expected to do a range of things. In this show, that rule is both bent and broken - to the delight of all, I think. What Adam manages to do with just one ‘dolly’ (a common nickname in the puppetry world) is truly incredible. He transforms a single frame into a dozen distinct and dynamic characters who look, sound, and most importantly feel like individual jurors.
12 Angry Puppets then is special: to me because it was my first toe dip into the world of puppet, to Adam because it’s the show that started his meteoric rise to the master artist he is today, and hopefully to you too! This show is a rare glimpse back to the start of someone’s work, but also an amazing exhibition of what he has become. It’s pure theatrical magic.
So sit back and enjoy. I imagine that you will enjoy watching it as much as I have working on it.
Adam's Notes - This was my first show. Appropriately, 12 years ago.
Fresh off of a few runs of Avenue Q, I saw a Fringe show in 2013 and decided that was a thing I wanted to do - partly because I love that kind of bite-sized theatre - and also because I wanted to travel and I thought this might be a good way of going about it. Well, it worked.
When I premiered 12 Angry Puppets (which began life as Baker’s Dozen) in 2014, I was slinging steaks at The Keg… I stole the chair for the show from the restaurant (I gave it back, probably). Now I have a stable of shows that I’ve been touring around the world for years. It’s been truly life-changing.
When I was deciding what show to bring to Edmonton Fringe this year (my 4th in a row!) I started thinking how odd it was that I’d never come with this show, so it was time to close the loop.
I love this show and I’ve been so excited to revisit it. It’s partly inspired by the jury in the musical Chicago, and partly based on an old Jim Henson interview where he sort of swapped its features around like Mr. Potato Head. It does what I love about theatre - especially Fringe-type theatre. It’s a show from a box. We all get together in an empty room, a thing happens, and then we leave and it’s empty again. We all used our collective imagination to make something happen.
I especially like this show because of the characters, and the way audiences fill in the blanks of all of them based on people they know in their own lives. Of course, I have my inspirations for these characters, which I will gladly tell you about at the Fringe bar sometime and shan’t put in writing (there are already a number of family members who won’t talk to me lol). In this shinier new version of the show, my primary focus was to make sure I loved each and every one of these characters - and I do. They’re all imperfect, ridiculous, human, recognizable, familiar, foreign, surprising - just like all of us strangers in the dark.
I’m excited for you to see the show. Thanks for playing make believe with me.
Fresh off of a few runs of Avenue Q, I saw a Fringe show in 2013 and decided that was a thing I wanted to do - partly because I love that kind of bite-sized theatre - and also because I wanted to travel and I thought this might be a good way of going about it. Well, it worked.
When I premiered 12 Angry Puppets (which began life as Baker’s Dozen) in 2014, I was slinging steaks at The Keg… I stole the chair for the show from the restaurant (I gave it back, probably). Now I have a stable of shows that I’ve been touring around the world for years. It’s been truly life-changing.
When I was deciding what show to bring to Edmonton Fringe this year (my 4th in a row!) I started thinking how odd it was that I’d never come with this show, so it was time to close the loop.
I love this show and I’ve been so excited to revisit it. It’s partly inspired by the jury in the musical Chicago, and partly based on an old Jim Henson interview where he sort of swapped its features around like Mr. Potato Head. It does what I love about theatre - especially Fringe-type theatre. It’s a show from a box. We all get together in an empty room, a thing happens, and then we leave and it’s empty again. We all used our collective imagination to make something happen.
I especially like this show because of the characters, and the way audiences fill in the blanks of all of them based on people they know in their own lives. Of course, I have my inspirations for these characters, which I will gladly tell you about at the Fringe bar sometime and shan’t put in writing (there are already a number of family members who won’t talk to me lol). In this shinier new version of the show, my primary focus was to make sure I loved each and every one of these characters - and I do. They’re all imperfect, ridiculous, human, recognizable, familiar, foreign, surprising - just like all of us strangers in the dark.
I’m excited for you to see the show. Thanks for playing make believe with me.
Presentation History
Resource Centre for the Arts, St. John’s, NL, 2018
Orlando Winter Mini Fest, 2018
Orlando Fringe Festival, 2017 (Critic's Pick, Best Specialty Show; Patron’s Pick)
Trail, BC, 2017
ArtSpring, Salt Spring Island, BC, 2016
Surrey Civic Centre, BC, 2016
Collingwood, ON, 2016
Vancouver Fringe Festival 2015 (Pick of the Fringe, BC Touring Council Award)
Montreal Fringe Festival 2015 (Best Solo Show)
Staircase Theatre, Hamilton, ON, 2015
Welcome Friend’s Association Gala Fundraiser 2015 (opener for Rick Mercer)
Sault Pride Gala Performance 2014
Television: Bell Media, 2014
Toronto Fringe Festival, 2014 (Best Puppetry, NOW Magazine)
Toronto Festival of Clowns, 2014
Orlando Winter Mini Fest, 2018
Orlando Fringe Festival, 2017 (Critic's Pick, Best Specialty Show; Patron’s Pick)
Trail, BC, 2017
ArtSpring, Salt Spring Island, BC, 2016
Surrey Civic Centre, BC, 2016
Collingwood, ON, 2016
Vancouver Fringe Festival 2015 (Pick of the Fringe, BC Touring Council Award)
Montreal Fringe Festival 2015 (Best Solo Show)
Staircase Theatre, Hamilton, ON, 2015
Welcome Friend’s Association Gala Fundraiser 2015 (opener for Rick Mercer)
Sault Pride Gala Performance 2014
Television: Bell Media, 2014
Toronto Fringe Festival, 2014 (Best Puppetry, NOW Magazine)
Toronto Festival of Clowns, 2014