Meet Yelena Protsenko of Puppet Theater on Wheels in Studio City

Today we’d like to introduce you to Yelena Protsenko.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Yelena. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
As a professional actress, I have always wanted to find a way to bring theater to the lives of children. I am very passionate about the art of theater and have always felt that it was imperative that the next generation be exposed to the art as well. The original idea of Puppet Theater on Wheels was born from this passion and experience. This theater allows me to bring theater, imagination, magic and enrichment into the lives of children through timeless fairy tales.

Our company got started when I decided to create a puppet show for my son’s birthday. At the time all we had was a borrowed small tabletop puppet stage and our imaginations. The show left such an impression on my son and his friends that I decided we needed to have our own puppet stage.

Several months later, we designed and built our very own stage and created an even bigger production for my son’s next birthday. We invited his school friends and their parents. Everyone that attended the show started asking for business cards of the company that performed. We told them that it was us performing and they were so excited to see such unique birthday party entertainment. From that point on we decided to create a mobile puppet theater and took our act on the road.

In September of 2012, we officially opened up our company and our professional puppet theater journey began. Throughout our short history we have had the opportunity to renovate and expand our theater and add a brand new stage, custom backgrounds, handmade custom puppets, unique music and many other amazing additions. Our professionally trained multilingual staff has grown as well. We work with talented actors, singers, songwriters, puppet builders, technical support and administrative professionals. Each of them brings something special to our team and we are grateful to have them. Since this all started at my son’s birthday party we have made a tradition of releasing new productions at our children’s birthday parties and we continue to share these amazing productions at birthday parties and other special events.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Since we are the first puppet theater who combines culture, education and entertainment, it has been difficult to explain that we are not just your traditional birthday party entertainment. We bring a full production right to our customers. Luckily, when people experience our shows they understand the uniqueness of what we do.

Please tell us about Puppet Theater on Wheels.
We are a traveling puppet theater. We specialize in educating children through classic fairy tales. We talk about the most important subjects in a fun, kid-friendly way.

We are proud to be bringing a classic puppet theater to the next generation. All of our productions are available in English and Russian. Our sets and puppets are all custom made.

Since we are a traveling theater, we are often invited to perform on tours, festival and different school locations.

We are currently working on a puppet/actors show geared towards our adult audience “Simple Things”, which will premier June 3rd and 4th at Two Roads Theater in Studio City.

We work with the city of West Hollywood to unite Russian and American Culture. We host free to public performances in Plummer Park every season which is sponsored by the city.

Our Plummer Park schedule for 2017:
April 30th
11:00 Cinderella (in Russian)
12:15 Cinderella (in English)

August 27th
11:00 Karlsson on the Roof (in Russian)
12:15 Karlsson on the Roof (in English)

December 17th
11:00 The Snow Queen (in Russian)
12:15 The Snow Queen (in English)

If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
If I were to start over, I would protect my craft a little better.

Pricing:

• Our basic birthday package start at $290.00
• The tickets for “Simple Things” will go on sale soon for $20-25

Contact Info:

• Website: www.puppettheateronwheels.com
• Phone: (310)210-9277
• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: puppettheateronwheels
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/puppettheateronwheels
• Yelp: http://www.yelp.com/biz/puppet-theater-on-wheels-los-angeles-2

Image Credit:
All the pictures were taken by our team members.