Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Summer workshop in Benton


Where has the summer gone?!
I can't believe it's June since I blogged. Then again, yes, I can.
Here is a picture of the 4 fabulous marionettes that my summer mini-class at Benton Elementary School made. I taught the class as part of the summer rec program. We met for an hour and a half each morning (I arranged to spread a day of vacation across the week, so that I could do the workshop during the day.)
Only 4 kids signed up, but that proved to be just right. They had to apply Paper Clay (a papier mache product) to heads, hands and feet that I pre-cut. After a night of drying in our garage where the temperature was toasty, the body parts were dry. They sanded and painted. They chose the fabric for the bodies and I sewed the bodies (trunks), which they stuffed (with pennies in the gottom to weight down the butts). We made the arms and legs out of toilet paper rolls that we rolled tighter and covered with fabric.
They had to sew the arms and legs to the body. "I CAN'T SEW!' they wailed. But they sewed.
I made the wooden controls and then allowed the last day for the complicated process of stringing. I pre-cut the fishline and even knotted certain lengths ahead of time and that really worked well.
The end result: a Cowardly Lion and Tinman (they couldn't talk the other 2 into making the Scarecrow and Dorothy), a Princess and a Dallas Cowboy.
If they've survived the last couple of weeks (the puppets, that is), I hope they'll walk with me in the Labor Day parade.
I view the whole experience as a test run for workshops to be done at the opera house. I think adults would enjoy this project. Also, it would be good to have more time (we were pretty rushed every day) and do it as a weeklong Puppet Camp.
Any thoughts?

Thursday, July 2, 2009

Summer Puppet Fun

Greetings to all!

My wife and I just got back from a fun tour of New England. Along the way we were able to see some fun puppet spots! Does anyone recognize this familiar scene?



It's my wife Joyce and me on a life-size re-creation of the Sesame Street set at the Strong National Museum of Play in Rochester, NY. If you are ever in that area, you have to go see this museum. This section of the museum was designed with the help of the Sesame Street people. If you are a SS fan, you will enjoy this tribute to all things Sesame Street.



Even a spot to play with the puppets!



Below is a photo of me with my new puppet friend Captain No-Eye!



He is one of the stars of the show "Everybody Loves Pirates" as performed by the Frogtown Mountain Puppeteers. My daughter and I had first seen this outstanding trio of puppeteers at the National PoA Conference a couple years ago. This time they were performing at the library in Boothbay Harbor, Maine for Windjammer Fest. Talk about working in cramped conditions! Originally the program was slated to be outside, but weather didn't cooperate. The show was awesome and afterwards I got to go back stage and experiment with the puppets.

We also were able to see a marionette performance entitled "The Dragon King" performed by the Tanglewood Marionettes in Falmouth, MA.



This 10-foot long dragon puppet comes out at the grand finale. Beautiful puppets that they craft themselves.



Their show featured marionettes, rod puppets, blacklight puppetry, and much more. Only two puppeteers, but did they put on an amazing show!

Hope your travels include wonderful puppetry like we enjoyed!

Dave Payne
Fox Folk Marionette Troupe
Hands 2 Puppet Productions

Sunday, April 19, 2009

Day of Puppetry May 30



Hold onto your sockpuppets! This is going to be great.
Thanks to the Wisconsin Puppetry Guild, the Hazel Green Opera House's annual Puppet Playwriting Contest will be expanded to an entire-- 
ta da:

Day of Puppetry
9:30-3:30 (approx.) Saturday May 30

Save the date. Make plans. It's going to be great.
Events will be in the opera house (2130 W. Main St., Hazel Green, Wis.) as well as in the Methodist Church hall that is a block away.
Right now it looks like we'll use the church hall for the puppetmaking workshop as well as lunchtime concessions. We've also got village permission to block off the street in front of the opera house for a mid-day parade.
Guest performers will be Monica Leo's Eulenspiegel Puppets presenting "The Woolly Mammoth." Monica's puppet company is in West Liberty, Iowa, and she is originally from Dubuque. 
Guild member  Pam Corcoran, of Stevens Point, Wis., is in charge of the make-and-take workshop which will be a woolly mammoth puppet. 
Tim Reed, Milwaukee, will present 'Planet Protectors'. Here is the YouTube link to see a clip from this show: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEo8j5LmY7c
The Fever River Puppeteers (whose home is the Hazel Green Opera House) will perform the 3 winning entries in our 4th annual Puppet Playwriting Contest.


The Best Part 
I forgot to tell you that thanks to donations from the Grant County Safe & Stable Families, admission to the contest performance is free and thanks to a donation from the Wisconsin Puppetry Guild, all other events at the festival will be FREEWILL DONATION. That means it is affordable for everyone.  You just pay what you can.  Considering the state of the economy and the number of people who have lost their jobs lately, we wanted to offer a family event that everyone can afford. Any donations received will be used to jumpstart a similar event next year.

There will be more news to come as we finalize plans. (We might even have a puppet-related garageless garage sale.) If anyone has any thoughts, hopes, ideas or comments, send them along.
Keep checking this blog for updates!


Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Baboushka & the Christmas Visitors

I have just put up a Picasa web album of our "Baboushka & the Christmas Visitors" Show. We gave our first performance in Oshkosh in late January and will be visiting two schools in April for our Senior Showcase programs.

If you are interested here are the links...

Saturday, February 21, 2009

Fox Folk Marionettes Show - Winterfest 2009














Greetings from Appleton! The Fox Folk Marionettes performed two programs on February 8 at Fox Valley Lutheran High School's Winterfest celebration. Our first performance was Baboushka & the Christmas Visitors and our second show debuted our newly written show entitled Piccolo: The Stubborn Little Donkey. Both shows had audiences of over 100 - we were very excited.

I have just put up a Picasa web album of the Piccolo show. If you are interested here are the links...

Web album:

Slide show:


You can find out more about the Fox Folk Marionettes at http://fvlhs.org/fvlhighschool/school+life/co-curriculars/fox_folk.asp

We have two Senior Showcase performances scheduled for local schools this April as well. Have a great spring season!

Dave Payne
Fox Folk Marionette Troupe Director



Monday, January 12, 2009

Thanks! Looks like fun!

Thanks for getting this started. I hope it becomes a valuable tool for our puppet friends across Wisconsin.

Sunday, January 11, 2009

We're blogging!


Hello, members of the Wisconsin Puppetry Guild and others.
I think I said I would start this the last time we met -- in August?!
Okay, here it is. I've listed the members/friends that are on our email list. 
We can add more. 
You are welcome to post. Tell us what you are doing, planning, thinking in the way of puppetry.
I hope this will be a new way for us to communicate.
Add pictures. It's really pretty easy. Comment on each other's blogs.
Let's give it a whirl.
Happy blogging.
-- Sandye Voight, president