Program
People
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Adam Francis Proulx - Creator, Performer
Adam is a Canadian theatre creator and puppeteer whose award-winning solo shows have toured across North America. His acclaimed works include BAKER’S DOZEN: 12 Angry Puppets, THE FAMILY CROW: A Murder Mystery, and Emilio’s A Million Chameleons, which recently enjoyed an Off-Broadway run and earned him a Dora nomination for Outstanding Performance. Adam returns to his favourite festival—Orlando Fringe—with this new and deeply personal story from his hometown. He’s performed on stages across the continent, including in the original Canadian companies of Avenue Q (as Princeton/Rod) and Disney’s Frozen (as Olaf). You can currently catch him as Fuzz the Hamster on The Fabulous Show with Fay & Fluffy. Adam previously served three seasons as Assistant Artistic Director at the Victoria Playhouse Petrolia, and has held residencies with The Puppetsmithery (Australia), Ontario Culture Days, and Tarragon Theatre. In 2025, he was named a Protégé Winner of the Johanna Metcalf Award for the Performing Arts. AdamFrancisProulx.com | PuckingFuppets.com |
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Byron Laviolette - Director
Byron is a director and creator with over two decades of experience across theatre, interactive media, and experience design. He is the resident director with Adam Francis Proulx’s Pucking Fuppet Co., having helmed The Family Crow, Ferry Tale, Emilio’s A Million Chameleons, and the short film How to Hug a Porcupine. He also directs for award-winning artists like Morro and Jasp, and Pearle Harbour. Byron was Creative Director of The Mission Business, a Digi Award-winning agency with clients including NASA, CBC, and Starbucks. He’s designed games and courseware for Ubisoft, Microsoft, and OntarioLearn. He holds a PhD in Interactive Theatre from York University, and his writing has appeared in Scene Changes, EYE Weekly, and AdBusters. He also directs acclaimed audiobooks, including Empire of Wild and The Butcher and the Wren. Byron is the founding Artistic Director of Toronto’s newest festival, What The Festival, championing puppetry, clown, bouffon, and drag. wtfestival.ca |
FERRY TALE! was originally produced in collaboration with the Museum of Sault Ste. Marie.
ADDITIONAL ORIGINAL TEAM
Original Audio Engineer - Rob Denton
Indigenous Consultant - Sarah Gartshore
Puppetry Consultation - Bad Fox, Mind of a Snail
Puppetry Coach - Mike Peterson
Additional Graphic Design - Emily Jewer
Original Illustrations - Chris Stash
Additional Puppet Building - Kristi Holt
RESEARCH ASSISTANCE
Will Hollingshead - Museum of Sault Ste. Marie
John Preville - Superior District Library
Ginny Cymbalist - Sault Michigan Historical Society
Gil Cymbalist - Sault Michigan Historical Society
Kevin Meraglia - Sault Ste. Marie Public Library
Sarah McComb - Sault Ste. Marie Public Library
Shelley Gold
Louise Griffith
ADDITIONAL ORIGINAL TEAM
Original Audio Engineer - Rob Denton
Indigenous Consultant - Sarah Gartshore
Puppetry Consultation - Bad Fox, Mind of a Snail
Puppetry Coach - Mike Peterson
Additional Graphic Design - Emily Jewer
Original Illustrations - Chris Stash
Additional Puppet Building - Kristi Holt
RESEARCH ASSISTANCE
Will Hollingshead - Museum of Sault Ste. Marie
John Preville - Superior District Library
Ginny Cymbalist - Sault Michigan Historical Society
Gil Cymbalist - Sault Michigan Historical Society
Kevin Meraglia - Sault Ste. Marie Public Library
Sarah McComb - Sault Ste. Marie Public Library
Shelley Gold
Louise Griffith
Show Notes
Creator's Notes from Adam - As you’ll hear in this show, I grew up on the Canada/USA border. And when I was 18, I moved here to Orlando to work as a “Canadian” in Epcot’s International Program for a year. I’ve always had a personal connection to the complex (and sometimes comical) relationship between our two countries.
On a recent trip home for my father’s birthday, I was struck by how much things have changed. Helicopters now patrol the border overhead. People in my hometown won’t cross into the U.S. anymore — afraid their cars might get keyed just for having Canadian plates.
Honestly, I was planning to bring a different show to Orlando Fringe this year. But this felt like the right time to tell a true story of love that defied borders — a story of resilience, whimsy, and hope in a world that too often invites us to feel fear instead.
We first shared a shorter version of this piece two years ago at the museum in Sault Ste. Marie. I’m not sure what exactly pulled me so fiercely into John and Mary’s story, but I do believe there’s universality in the specific. Most of us have known what it is to be kept apart from someone we love — by distance, family, belief systems, borders… or even a second-grade teacher who wouldn’t let you sit next to your crush anymore.
Stylistically, this is one of the most divergent shows I’ve created. I run a puppet theatre company, and people are often surprised by how different my work can look from show to show. I see puppetry as a tool in the theatrical toolbox. Sometimes that tool is fleece. Sometimes it’s paper. Sometimes the tool needs the force of a sledgehammer. And sometimes, the precision of a sewing needle.
This show draws heavily on my love of 1930s aesthetics — cartoons, newsprint, cinema. I once designed puppets for A Christmas Carol made entirely out of pages from the book. I’ve always adored lo-fi theatrical magic: whimsy, surprise, and using everyday items in unexpected ways.
In fact, this might be the closest I’ve come to recreating the basement shows I used to stage as a seven-year-old — like the time I turned a photocopy of a Canadian $10 bill into a puppet of our first Prime Minister, recorded his answers onto a VHS tape, and interviewed him live for my classroom. So if this feels a little nostalgic, a little handmade, a little mischievous — good. That’s the point.
Thank you to the staff and patrons of Orlando Fringe for the warm welcome, year after year. I love this festival dearly. It always feels like coming home — even when home feels a little complicated.
On a recent trip home for my father’s birthday, I was struck by how much things have changed. Helicopters now patrol the border overhead. People in my hometown won’t cross into the U.S. anymore — afraid their cars might get keyed just for having Canadian plates.
Honestly, I was planning to bring a different show to Orlando Fringe this year. But this felt like the right time to tell a true story of love that defied borders — a story of resilience, whimsy, and hope in a world that too often invites us to feel fear instead.
We first shared a shorter version of this piece two years ago at the museum in Sault Ste. Marie. I’m not sure what exactly pulled me so fiercely into John and Mary’s story, but I do believe there’s universality in the specific. Most of us have known what it is to be kept apart from someone we love — by distance, family, belief systems, borders… or even a second-grade teacher who wouldn’t let you sit next to your crush anymore.
Stylistically, this is one of the most divergent shows I’ve created. I run a puppet theatre company, and people are often surprised by how different my work can look from show to show. I see puppetry as a tool in the theatrical toolbox. Sometimes that tool is fleece. Sometimes it’s paper. Sometimes the tool needs the force of a sledgehammer. And sometimes, the precision of a sewing needle.
This show draws heavily on my love of 1930s aesthetics — cartoons, newsprint, cinema. I once designed puppets for A Christmas Carol made entirely out of pages from the book. I’ve always adored lo-fi theatrical magic: whimsy, surprise, and using everyday items in unexpected ways.
In fact, this might be the closest I’ve come to recreating the basement shows I used to stage as a seven-year-old — like the time I turned a photocopy of a Canadian $10 bill into a puppet of our first Prime Minister, recorded his answers onto a VHS tape, and interviewed him live for my classroom. So if this feels a little nostalgic, a little handmade, a little mischievous — good. That’s the point.
Thank you to the staff and patrons of Orlando Fringe for the warm welcome, year after year. I love this festival dearly. It always feels like coming home — even when home feels a little complicated.
Director's Notes from Byron - I’ll be honest - FERRY TALE! is unlike any project I’ve ever worked on. (And after 20+ years in the theatre, that’s saying something.)
It’s not that it’s historically-based that makes it so unique, nor that it’s a love story - which isn’t usually my thing. No, what makes this one so special is just how complicated it is to pull off. As you will see/have seen, the sheer amount of stuff used during this show is incredible (and I’m used to clowns, who LOVE stuff).
In order to make FERRY TALE! work, Adam and I had to imagine a near endless parade of paper, photos and placards that all operate in an intricate choreography. There are so many stacks of sheets, contraptions of cardboard and folders and files that the dance of materials is as much the story of this show as is the people who once lived it.
And the story itself is great, everything one could ask for really - a ‘Meet Cute’ that starts off full of possibilities but is threatened by past mistakes and looming future changes to the world the couple live in. It has highs and lows, opportunities and obstacles - even flashbacks (literally!).
Ultimately, I think this show is about borders in a few ways. FERRY TALE! exists on the border, the edge of what Adam and I have made before - it’s very different from The Family Crow or Emillio’s A Million Chameleons. It also sits on a real border, one that as I write this sees two nations struggling to remember that the relationship we once had is worth fighting to restore.
So yes, this show is different. But what is the same is just how amazing Adam is as a creator and performer, as is our desire to bring joy and wonder. I always think that by making something sort of strange, it actually becomes more accessible, more knowable. (That's why we cry at animated films about trash robots…)
I have learned a lot from this project, and I hope that you will as well. FERRY TALE! is all about going on a journey. It might not always go where you think it might, or end the way you expect it to, but it’s one hell of a ride.
It’s not that it’s historically-based that makes it so unique, nor that it’s a love story - which isn’t usually my thing. No, what makes this one so special is just how complicated it is to pull off. As you will see/have seen, the sheer amount of stuff used during this show is incredible (and I’m used to clowns, who LOVE stuff).
In order to make FERRY TALE! work, Adam and I had to imagine a near endless parade of paper, photos and placards that all operate in an intricate choreography. There are so many stacks of sheets, contraptions of cardboard and folders and files that the dance of materials is as much the story of this show as is the people who once lived it.
And the story itself is great, everything one could ask for really - a ‘Meet Cute’ that starts off full of possibilities but is threatened by past mistakes and looming future changes to the world the couple live in. It has highs and lows, opportunities and obstacles - even flashbacks (literally!).
Ultimately, I think this show is about borders in a few ways. FERRY TALE! exists on the border, the edge of what Adam and I have made before - it’s very different from The Family Crow or Emillio’s A Million Chameleons. It also sits on a real border, one that as I write this sees two nations struggling to remember that the relationship we once had is worth fighting to restore.
So yes, this show is different. But what is the same is just how amazing Adam is as a creator and performer, as is our desire to bring joy and wonder. I always think that by making something sort of strange, it actually becomes more accessible, more knowable. (That's why we cry at animated films about trash robots…)
I have learned a lot from this project, and I hope that you will as well. FERRY TALE! is all about going on a journey. It might not always go where you think it might, or end the way you expect it to, but it’s one hell of a ride.
Production Photos
Selected Source Materials
We gratefully acknowledge our funders and supporters:
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