The "Veronica" Puppet Theater

Upon seeing the version I built for my kids this past Christmas, my brother-in-law suggested that his daughter, Veronica, might like one as well. I’d already fielded a few requests for these and figured I really needed to come up with a more practical design — something a bit more portable/shippable and lighter weight. The original was also a bit unstable on heavily padded carpet such as that in our basement. So the new design would need to feature longer feet on the side wings as well.


With all of this in mind, here’s the newest design, which I’ve dubbed the “Veronica” after my niece.


The frames are solid maple with 1/2” maple plywood panels. The top panel features a shop-cut birdseye maple veneer that I coaxed my Grizzly drum sander into thicknessing down to 3/64”. The intarsia is the same pattern used on the original, though this time I used bloodwood and mahogany, which I found significantly easier to shape than the original in purpleheart and walnut.


The whole piece breaks down into four components, the two “wings,” the lower front panel with stage, and the top proscenium arch with intarsia masks. Threaded inserts in the front panels accept six (3 per side) brass 1/4 – 20 bolts passed through the wings. The curtain (built by my wife’s best friend Lisa) attaches to the arch simply with a strip of velcro.


Veronica’s expression upon viewing the theater for the first time was priceless! Hopefully she’ll get many years enjoyment from her new theater.


Here’s the original puppet theater I built for my own kids:

-- Patrick, Chicago, IL http://www.TenonAndSpline.com/blog