Revision of Mary Jane Oelke's portfolio from Mon, 12/23/2019 - 14:35

About Mary Jane

Baltimore County

Mary Jane Oelke is a musician, puppet master, actress, artist, theatre artist and has performed and designed sets, props, masks and puppets for numerous theatres. Her puppetry performances have been seen at venues including The Walters Art Gallery, Towson University, Spotlighters Theatre, Fells Point Corner Theater, The Vagabond Theatre, and more. Oelke combines original music, scripts, set design, acting/voiceover, marionette performance and scene painting skills to create original… more

View Mary Jane's Resume

HYSTERICAL HISTORICAL REENACTMENTS

A centuries old tradition is for puppeteers to mock the aristocracy and elite through veiled innuendo and thinly disguised social and political satire and allegory using puppets (and often slapstick humor.....think "Punch and Judy").

HYSTERICAL HISTORICAL REENACTMENTS will be episodic shorts using marionettes portraying actual past events, produced to be performed live and on video

The First part of this project will be to spoof the debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump during which they actually called each other puppets. The title of this short will be "Puppets of Puppets that Called Each Other Puppets". Then I am adding Bernie Sanders and his pal, "Burdie" and a few other characters including "Joe the Woodcutter" and some of his friends, Melania and Putin marionettes have been finished for this project and also Elizabeth Warren.

I attended some SAG-AFTRA workshops with the goal of producing a signatory video short of this project under a SAG-AFTRA short projects agreement. I also attended a workshop on production with Marc and Maria Unger, local actor/producers of , THESPIANS, a wonderfull independent series, also a SAG-AFTRA signatory project which is shot locally in and around Baltimore. I am currently working on sets, finalizing a budget and etc, etc, etc...

Burdie Scene demo

This is a taped preliminary rehearsal of the BURDIE SCENE, for the project:

HYSTERICAL HISTORICAL REENACTMENTS
Melania marionette for HYSTERICAL HISTORICAL REENACTMENTS

"Melania" mixed media marionette created for HYSTERICAL HISTORICAL REENACTMENTS awaits costuming.

Artist, M. J. Oelke
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"sHillary" and "Trumpster" , mixed media marionettes by M. J. Oelke c 2016
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Mixed media Marionette, "Trumpster", By M.J.Oelke. This marionette has a flexing jaw for voice-over performance.
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"Trumpster", mixed media marionette
Burnie Sanders marionette for HYSTERICAL HISTORICAL REENACTMENTS

This is a mixed media marionette, "Senator Burnie Sanders",

created for HYSTERICAL HISTORICAL REENACTMENTS

artist, Mary Jane Oelke
Burdie, marionette

"Burdie", mixed media marionette by M.J.Oelke. This puppet accompanies "Senator Sanders" during the second vignette, "Bernie and the Bird" (from HYSTERICAL HISTORICAL REENACTMENTS)
DONKEY

DONKEY, mixed media marionette, by M.J.Oelke

portrays the Democratic Party in an episode of HYSTERICAL HISTORICAL REENACTMENTS
BUBBLES the ELEPHANT

BUBBLES THE ELEPHANT, mixed media marionette by M J Oelke

"Bubbles" portrays the Republican Party in an episode of

HYSTERICAL HISTORICAL REENACTMENTS
ELIZABETH WARREN, marionette

Elizabeth Warren caricature, mixed media marionnette by, M.J. Oelke, for "HYSTERICAL HISTORICAL REENACTMENTS" . This puppet can lift her eyeglasses.

THE FOREST CHILDREN

THE FOREST CHILDREN

A brother and sister wander the forest, encountering wildlife and learning about eco-systems.

This marionette show project will be aiming to peak students curiosity about forest eco-systems and wildlife habitat, yet be entertaining to all ages. Although loosely based on the German and French fairy tales, "Hansel and Gretel" and "The Lost Children", using somewhat traditional characters, this project will include story development that will introduce wildlife safety and forest ecology issues in an entertaining marionette performance that is environmentally educational.

Each marionette takes 100 hours or more to construct. The set is designed to fit a portable marionette stage. Most of pre-production has been done on this show. I would like to finish this production, culminating in a live performance run and a video version shot as "shorts" to be released as a New Media Project under a SAG-AFTRA micro budget agreement.

Joe the Woodcutter, demo

This demo video shows Joe the Woodcutter, a mixed media marionette by M. J. Oelke, as he practices splitting a piece of firewood with his axe, all for his upcoming role in THE FOREST CHILDREN project.
Cranky Crow, mixed media marionette

Cranky Crow, is a mixed media marionette created for THE FOREST CHILDREN project.
Rageddy Raccoon

"Raggedy Raccoon", mixed media marionette by M.J.Oelke for "The Forest Children", marionette show project.
Mixed media marionettes for THE FOREST CHILDREN

mixed media marionettes by M.J.Oelke...from "The Forest Children"
Hungry Hound

mixed media marionette by M.J. oelke...."Hungry Hound" from THE FOREST CHILDREN
THE FOREST CHILDREN

Scene from "The Forest Children", theatrical work in progress with mixed media marionettes, set design and scene painting by puppet master, M.J.Oelke
"Ducky"

mixed media marionette from, THE FOREST CHILDREN, "Ducky" by M.J. Oelke
Molly Moocher and Sally Sanghunter

Mixed media marionettes by M.J.Oelke - characters from "The Forest Children" with set design and scene painting by Oelke.
Wild Turkey marionette demo

Demo of mixed media turkey marionette from, THE FOREST CHILDREN, by M.J.Oelke
Characters for THE FOREST CHILDREN

Scene from THE FOREST CHILDREN, with mixed media marionettes, set design and scene painting by M.J.Oelke

Spectres of War

This is a music video in development. with papier mache' marionettes by M. J. Oelke

with original music by Pulling Strings. musicians, Rick Serra- guitar, Brian Jacques-lead guitar, Dave Tomasi- bass guitar, Mary Jane Oelke-violin and

Tom Miller- percussion.

Spectres of War

"Spectres of War" with papier mache' marionettes by M. J. Oelke

music by Pulling Strings
Spectres of War

Detail of the mother's head, "Spectres of War", papier mache' marionette by M.J.Oelke
Spectres of War

SPECTRES OF WAR..detail of papier mache' marionette - showing head of baby by M.J.Oelke
rehearsal video Spectres of War

rehearsal video of Spectres of War papier mache' marionettes by M.J. Oelke. Video is accompanied by musicians from the group, Pulling Strings (with original music by Rick Serra playing Guitar and M. J. Oelke on electric violin)
Spectres of War

papier mache' marionette by M.J.Oelke for, SPECTRES OF WAR, music video.
Spectres of War

detail of papier mache' marionette from, SPECTRES OF WAR, c M.J.Oelke 2018

THE STRINGLING MARIONETTES

THE STRINGLING MARIONETTES, was founded by Mary Jane Oelke as a touring puppet troupe of hand crafted marionettes, with original scripts, sets and music, that features live character acting and live music.

Mary Jane Oelke with Stringling Marionettes about to perform at a local festival

Mary Jane Oelke with Stringling Marionettes about to perform at a local Baltimore festival.
The Silly Circus clip

This is a short excerpt from "The Silly Circus" with our Stringling Marionette Company set squeezed into a Baltimore Row home full of kids to perform live with master musician, Jay Walton, providing live trombone accompaniment.
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portable marionette show stage by M.J.Oelke for THE STRINGLING MARIONETTES
Back drop painted by M. J. Oelke for "The Silly Circus", a live marionette theater performance by STRINGLING MARIONETTES

Hand painted backdrop by M. J. Oelke for, THE SILLY CIRCUS, an original marionette play set, "In a town far away, in a land long ago....", performed by STRINGLING MARIONETTE COMPANY.
MatildatheHon

"Matilda the Hon" warms up the audience before a marionette show . Mixed media puppet with live voice by M.J.Oelke