The team behind Computer Science for Fun (CS4FN), bring you Conjuring with Computation: A Manual of Magic and Computing for Beginners. Develop your skills to be a magician while also learning the basics of computer science by exploring its links to magic. Each chapter explains how to do a simple magic trick, step-by-step, then uses the trick to introduce linked fundamental ideas in computer science in a fun way.By reading the book you will learn to do self-working tricks, be able to hold magic shows, create you own versions of tricks and with creativity even invent your own. We cover:The book includes profiles of computer scientists, and magicians with links to technology, through history.Master conjuring and thinking computationally.

This book examines the nation's outdoor arts festivals and identifies their shared and divergent traits, considering factors such as event programming, staffing, finances and audience demographics. This book examines a cross-section of U.S. festivals, self-identified as predominantly "outdoors" and featuring "arts and cultural" programming, and hopes to establish a basis for future exploration into their significance for artists, audiences, and communities. Ideally, the survey and case study results will prompt other arts organizations to ask: what are festivals doing right and how can we replicate it?

Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. We are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.

Learn Ventriloquism from the ground up as taught by a master: Technique, comedy, performance, equipment, promotion, and show business. "Al Stevens has written this wonderful new textbook on ventriloquism that any student - young or old, beginner or seasoned pro - will find of tremendous value. It covers not only the basics, albeit described in new ways and with delightful new twists, but it also contains advanced techniques and concepts for the serious student. In addition, it reveals deep insight into subjects rarely touched upon in other books on ventriloquism." From the Foreword by Tom Ladshaw

This unique guide contains over two hundred workable clown acts. Since the origin of many of them is extremely vague, it is difficult to give credit where credit is due. The author therefore thanks all in general who have carried on the circus tradition with clowns and clowning. Even for the most inexperienced clowns many of these acts will prove sure-fire. The more difficult acts will require training. Any production, of course, is the better for good planning, preparation, and rehearsal.Though only 168 clown acts are numbered, there are many subdivisions of additional stunts which bring the total in the book to well over 200

With Instructions For Using And Making The Ventrilo.

In its heyday, the American circus was the largest showbiz industry the world had ever seen. From the mid-1800s to mid-1900s, traveling circuses performed for audiences of up to 14,000 per show, employed as many as 1,600 men and women, and crisscrossed the country on 20,000 miles of railroad in one season alone. The spectacle of death-defying daredevils, strapping superheroes and scantily clad starlets, fearless animal trainers, and startling "freaks" gripped the American imagination, outshining theater, vaudeville, comedy, and minstrel shows. This book sheds fresh light on the circus phenomenon. With photographic gems of early circus performers, as well as original posters, lithographs, sideshow banners and engravings from the 16th to 19th centuries illustrating the worldwide roots of the circus, readers are transported to a world of thrill and skill, grit and glamor. Highlights include iconic circus photographs by Mathew Brady, Cornell Capa, Walker Evans, Weegee, and Lisette Model, and little-known circus images by Stanley Kubrick and Charles and Ray Eames.

Well-known theatre and circus historian William L. Slout here collects together 29 first-hand accounts of 19th- and early 20th-century popular amusements, including summer resorts, watering places, agricultural fairs, World's Fairs, the circus, vaudeville, theatre, and amusement parks. Complete with index, introduction, and contemporaneous illustrations.

Drawn from never-before-seen documents and many unpublished photographs. It will appeal to readers of theatre, magic and war history. John Mulholland (1898-1970) edited the magician's magazine The Sphinx for 23 years, ending the publication to be consultant to the newly born CIA in 1953. His assignments included working with billionaires and inventors, cracking codes and delving into the clandestine world of ESP research, LSD use and the secret MK-ULTRA world headed by the notorious Dr. Sidney Gottlieb. During this period, CIA Dr. Frank Olson died the day after Thanksgiving, 1953.This book examines Mulholland's role during this dramatic period in the CIA's history and goes against the current trend of accusing Mulholland as having a role in Olson's fatal fall from a hotel window.

Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone!

Originally published in the 1940s, the author, a master of his craft, has clearly and concisely explained the making of both hand and string puppets, and also clearly shown how they may be used in appropriate settings. With the idea of giving asistance to the novice, and help to the more advanced student, the book is written in plain and concise language; the diagrams and photographs should explain the intricacies of puppet-making, leaving the individual to fill in the details from his own imagination. Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. Hesperides Press are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork. Contents Include: Glove Puppets - String Puppets - Puppets with Wire Frame Foundation - Carved Wooden Puppets - Dressing The Puppets - Controls - The Glove Puppet Stage - The Play

"Making and Manipulating Marionettes" is a superb guide to a craft and performance art that has fascinated audiences for over 2,000 years. Handsomely illustrated throughout, it presents precise instructions for the making of marionettes, both for plays and for acts in the variety tradition. All aspects of marionette design, construction, and control are covered, and there are rare insights into specialized designs and stringing techniques. Contents include an introduction to the marionette tradition and the principles and practicalities of marionette design; advice on materials and methods for carving, modeling, and casting puppet parts; detailed explanations for marionette control, stringing, and manipulation; step-by-step instructions for the construction and jointing of human and animal marionettes; and professional secrets for achieving a wide range of special effects.

Puppets of Nostalgia is the first major work in any Western language to examine the ritual origins and religious dimensions of puppetry in Japan. In a lucid and engaging style accessible to the general reader, Jane Marie Law describes the "life, death, and rebirth" of awaji ningyo shibai, the unique form of puppet theater of Awaji Island that has existed since the sixteenth century. Puppetry rites on Awaji helped to maintain rigid ritual purity codes and to keep dangerous spiritual forces properly channeled and appeased. Law conducted fieldwork on Awaji, located in Japan's Inland Sea, over a ten-year period. In addition to being a detailed history and ethnography of this ritual tradition, Law's work is, at a theoretical level, a study of the process and meaning of tradition formation, reformation, invention, and revitalization. It will interest scholars in a number of fields, including the history of religions, anthropology, cultural studies, ritual and theater studies, Japanese studies, and social history. Focusing on the puppetry tradition of Awaji Island, Puppets of Nostalgia describes the activities of the island's ritual puppeteers and includes the first English translation of their performance texts and detailed descriptions of their rites. Because the author has lived on Awaji during extended periods of research, the work includes fine attention to local detail and nuanced readings of religious currents in Japan that affect popular religious expression. Illustrated throughout with rare photographs, the book provides an in-depth view of a four-hundred-year-old tradition never so thoroughly revealed to Western readers. Originally published in 1997. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

The global rise of festival culture and experience has taken over that which used to merely be events. The Cambridge Companion to International Theatre Festivals provides an up-to-date, contextualized account of the worldwide reach and impact of the 'festivalization' of culture. It introduces new methodologies for the study of the global network of theatre production using digital humanities, raises questions about how alternative origin stories might impact the study of festivals, investigates the festivalized production of space in the world's 'Festival Cities', and re-examines the social role and cultural work of twenty-first-century theatre, performance, and multi-arts festivals. With chapters on festivals in Africa, Asia, Australia, the Arab world, the francophone world, Europe, North America, and Latin America it analyses festivals as sites of intercultural negotiation and exchange.

The Edible Monument considers the elaborate architecture, sculpture, and floats designed for court and civic celebrations in early modern Europe, including popular festivals such as Carnival and the Italian Cuccagna. Like illuminations and fireworks, ephemeral artworks made of food were not well documented and were difficult to describe because they were perishable and thus quickly consumed or destroyed. In times before photography and cookbooks, there were neither literary models nor iconography for how food and its preparation should be explained or depicted. Drawing on books, prints, and scrolls that document festival arts, elaborate banquets, and street feasts, the essays in this volume examine the mythic themes and personas employed to honor and celebrate rulers; the methods, materials, and wares used to prepare, depict, and serve food; and how foods such as sugar were transformed to express political goals or accomplishments. Although made for consumption, food could also be a work of art, both a special attraction and an expression of power. Formal occasions and spontaneous celebrations drew communities together, while special foods and seasonal menus revived ancient legends, evoking memories and recalling shared histories, values, and tastes. This book is published on the occasion of an exhibition at the Getty Research Center from October 13, 2015, to March 23, 2016.

The author of the first complete text on clown ministry is back by popular demand with this follow-up book. Clown ministry has grown, changed and flourished in the decade-plus since its inception. This book updates through inspirational features and dynamic new material. Part I - Who's Who contains profiles on the "movers and shakers" in the clown ministry field, including "Where are they now?" looks at clowns featured in The Clown Ministry Handbook. Veteran clown ministers from America and abroad share performance tips and anecdotes, their philosophies of clown ministry and more. "Before and after" photographs (with clown makeup and without) and other illustrations add a delightful dimension to the clowns' stories. Part II - Everything New contains seventy-five clown skits for all the traditional holidays and a few untraditional ones as well, such as Good Neighbor Day, National Procrastination Week and even National Nothing Day! Some contain spoken dialog and some are pantomimed. Skits are included for any number of clowns, from one to a whole troupe. Prop lists and production notes accompany each skit. Contains a wealth of fresh, funny material.

For one year, Alma Guillermoprieto lived in Manguiera, a village near Rio de Janeiro, to learn the ritual of samba--the sensuous song and dance marked by a rapturous beat--and to take part in Rio's renowned carnivale parade.

This stunningly illustrated book introduces for the first time the beauty of theatre puppets from all major Asian traditions, taking the reader on an inspiring journey through hundreds of years of craftsmanship and creativity in nearly 350 glorious photographs. Asian Theatre Puppets will have immense appeal both to audiences with an interest in the Asian arts, as well as to the general reader, as it opens up a whole realm of artistic expression that has hitherto been largely unknown in the West.

!Viva Mexico! !Viva la Independencia! Celebrations of September 16 examines the Independence holiday, exploring how this most important public festival in the civic calendar has given Mexicans a rich tradition of national celebration that is part creation myth, part official pomp, and part popular merrymaking. The editors examine how Independence Day festivities have provided a medium for informal education, sketching on the canvas of the public sphere national values, glorifying specific historical events and individuals, and celebrating government plans and achievements. Since 1823, this festival has served as an essential contribution to the conversion of Mexicans to common ideals, as people across the country express their national identity with the cry, '!Viva Mexico! !Viva la Independencia!'

Delightful activity book for older children (and adults, too) shows how to create 34 fascinating shadows on a wall simply by positioning hands and fingers. Learn how to make a bird take flight, a duck quack, Toby the dog wag his tail, a rabbit munch his meal, and more.