The Lovelace Marionette Theatre Company (also known as Rikes's Puppets, Lazarus Puppets and Margo's Moppets) was formed in 1949 by Margo Lovelace Visser as a traveling forum for her interest in puppet theatre. In 1964 a permanent home for the company was established--the first such permanent home for a puppet theatre company in the United States. Located at 5888.5 Ellsworth Avenue in Pittsburgh's Shadyside neighborhood, this professional puppet theater specialized in performing their own adaptations of classic and folk tales as well as their own original stories for both children and adults. They also pioneered the experimental theatre programs of Jean Cocteau, Jean Giraudoux and Moliere using rod puppets and Japanese-style bunraku figures. Having outgrown its facilities on Ellsworth Avenue, in 1977 they shifted the stage to the Carnegie Museum of Art Theater offering a full subscription season of puppet theater. The Theatre collaborated with New York-based Mabou Mines--training their actors on the use of bunraku figures; Pittsburgh's Ironclad Agreement Theatre Co.--on the American Premiere of Gov't Owned Apples; and the Pittsburgh Public Theatre--in a 1978 production of Balyasnikov. Other noteworthy performances have included a 3-week residency at the Smithsonian Institute; selection by Theatre Association of Pennsylvania (1977 - 1981) for an annual showcase of Pennsylvania's finest professional theatre; at the Union Internationale de la Marionette Festival Mondial in France and the Three Rivers Arts Festivals. Among its other activities, the Lovelace Marionette Theatre Company also provided training and apprentice programs for young people, including the noted American theatre director, Peter Sellars. They developed a cultural enrichment program in 1970 for Pittsburgh Public Schools eventually expanding to 145 schools in Western Pennsylvania. Instruction has played a major role in its activities. The company developed a residency program in which students spend time in workshops learning about all aspects of puppet theater in a direct hands-on approach. Also offered were workshops for teachers to learn puppetry skills for integration into the classroom. The regular staff of LMT Co. has included David Visser, Heather Mathieson and Pamela Zarra. The creative driving force behind this venture has been its founder Margo Lovelace Visser. She studied at Carnegie Institute of Technology (now Carnegie Mellon University), and with Cedric Head's Kingsland Marionettes, the German puppeteer--Erhard Reis, and Moscow's Central Puppet Theatre (Lovelace Puppets have been on displayed in the museum from 1966-1981) at the request of Sergei Obraztsov. She has also traveled widely exploring puppet theaters around the world and collecting masks and puppets. Her collection is presently on deposit with the Children's Museum of Pittsburgh. Ms. Lovelace was an active member of the American Marionettes Council, the Union Internationale de la Marionette, a member of committees for both Pennsylvania Council on the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts. She produced a short subject film in 1978, Museum Piece, which was nominated for an Academy Award by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Other awards include a bronze medal from the Union Internationale de la Marionette, a finalist in the American Film Festival and a Golden Eagle Award for another Film, The Puppet Proposition. In 1981 she was awarded the Theodore A. Hazlett Governor's Award for Excellence in the Theatre Arts. During the last years of the Lovelace Marionette Theatre Company, an umbrella organization, The Marionette Theatre Arts Council, was formed to administer the Lovelace Theatre programs as well as providing educational opportunities and cultural enrichment through the medium of puppet theatre. Among the most noteworthy endeavors was the sponsorship of performances of the Drak Puppet Theater of Czechoslovakia and Das Puppenspiel Theatre of Germany. The organization ended operations in 1983.
From the description of Lovelace Marionette Theatre Company records, 1952-1984. (University of Pittsburgh). WorldCat record id: 31128288
