Wis Puppetry Guild

Puppet Potlatch in Indiana

2011-11-14T15:03:00.000-08:00

Pokagon report 2011

There were more than 90 people at this year’s Puppet Potlatch at Pokagon State Park in Indiana. The weather was great, conducive to walks in the woods.

We (Chuck and Sandye Voight) were the only ones from the Wisconsin Puppetry Guild, and while we missed our fellow Cheeseheads, we did have a chance to hang out with Ginger Lozar of Champaign, IL. Her Central Illinois Guild is alive and kicking. Ginger came with her friend and fellow puppeteer, Elizabeth (whose last name escapes me). They brought wonderful puppets to sell at the trading post --- and let us have a Friday night sneak peak and first pick!

The puppets were from the estate of Esther Cheatle, a retired Springfield, Ill., pathologist and lifelong puppeteer who died last spring at the age of 95. She had no children or other survivors and the estate gave her extensive collection of puppets to the Central Ill. Guild. We acquired several that she made in the Martin Stevens style, as well as a fantastic disconnecting skeleton (she was a pathologist!) and a few that she had collected (one from Burma) and a Kukla, Fran & Ollie poster.

Friday Night

The ice breaker was a make-a-puppet-show game in which we had to use found objects to make up a fairy tale/nursery rhyme a la “Into the Woods.” Has anyone ever tried this with kids? It sounds like a fun workshop for a winter day.

The evening performances were “Hans My Hedgehog,” a large-scale (like 8 ft. by 10 ft) shadow show of this obscure Grimm Fairy Tale, using overhead projector black-and-white shadows. Four puppeteers of the Sea Beast Puppet Co. worked 3 overheads behind this gigantic set. It was great. Kat Pleviak and her brother, of Chicago, are the instigators. We’d like to get them to come to the Hazel Green Day of Puppetry.

The second Friday night performance was Fred Putz and Richard Schnadig’s “Punch and the Sausage Factory.” But we bailed to turn in for the night.

(By the way, since we have the tollway pass for Illinois, which works in Indiana, AND there was NO ROAD CONSTRUCTION!!, it took us only 5 ½ hours to get there this year – half an hour less than usual).

Saturday, I went to the

Guild Presidents’ Breakfast

Dave Herzog, regional director, was presented with a blue cape embroidered with “Grand Poo-bah of the Great Lakes Region.”

He reported that our region is in pretty good financial shape, with a balance of about $7,000.

Among the guild reports, I noted that the Chicago Guild relies majorly on Facebook, which really reels in the young puppeteers. Kat Pleviak (see above) organized a puppet slam in a bar and it was a sell-out.

Another guild (sorry, I didn’t write it down), celebrates the English tradition of Boxing Day sometime after Christmas by exchanging boxes of puppet stuff --- the idea is that stuff you don’t want might work for someone else, plus you get rid of it.

Dave reported that only 264 people attended the national festival in Atlanta this past summer. Not a great turnout for a national. Efforts are under way to make the next one more affordable.

Next year, our guild will be in charge of performances for Potlatch.

Saturday Fun

We went to Kat Pleviak’s shadow puppet workshop and Dave’s costuming shortcuts. There were others on animating eyes, acting, casting in plastic wood, painting and wigging your puppet, playwriting, paper puppets, simple rod puppets and puppets in therapy.

After lunch and the best trading post ever (not kidding), there were 2 performances designed to be critiqued by Jim Rose, Nancy Sander and Mel Biske. There was “Hope USO Show in WWII,” a marionette show by Freedom Puppets (Scott Beam) and “The Crane Maiden,” by DeRosier Puppets --- a troupe of 3 girls, ages 8-12! The critiquing was very tactful and helpful.

Regional meeting

The regional festival next summer will be Howe to do Puppets at the Howe Academy in Howe, Ind. (not far from Shipshewana).

It will be bare bones, bring your own sleeping bag, towels, etc. for a stripped down price of $250 per person P of A member, $120 for juniors and a 2 + 2 family rate of $480 INCLUDING MEALS. Performances will be open to the public. Performers will no longer attend for free.

The next national festival is set for Philadelphia, which is also being touted as an affordable event.

More shows

After the usual fun supper at Timbuktoo (formerly known as the Herb Garden – they still have crab cakes and sweet potato fries), the evening shows were Melikan’s “The Shoemaker and the Night Before Christmas,” and Bob Brown’s ‘Teddy Bear’s Picnic.” And, of course, there was the late night Potpourri. Roz Puppets performed Sunday at the Punch Brunch.

See what you guys missed? Next year’s Potlatch will be Nov. 2-4.

Sandye Voight

Day of Puppetry 2012

2011-10-24T09:05:00.000-07:00

The Fever River Puppeteers Board has been meeting regularly (or more than usual) to better plan next year's Day of Puppetry at the Hazel Green Opera House.

We've settled on Saturday, May 19 -- which is the weekend AFTER Mother's Day but still avoids the dreaded graduation party time which has been sucking away audiences.

We're aiming for more of a children's festival -- taking a cue from West Liberty, Iowa, home of Monica Leo's Eulenspiegel Puppets and a wonderful Children's Festival in late September.

Our plan is to offer 2 or 3 guest shows, plus our children play-writing contest winners (we're opening it to grownups this year) and to alternate the shows with Something Else at the church hall. Our board members felt strongly that we need to offer kids something physical to do, so we've got a couple of possibilities -- a gymnastics teacher, yoga teacher and mom-and-tot music activity teacher.

Instead of a puppet workshop at the church hall, we hope to have some make/take booths on the street, along with concessions and vendors. The local Women's Club is interested in being part of it and possibly some groups from the high school. Maybe musicians (the high school music teacher's tuba ensemble has been a big hit), giant puppets milling around.

Maybe the Wis. Puppetry Guild could have a booth of its own?

Please mark your calendars for next year.

Feel free to email us at voight@mhtc.net.

Sandye Voight

Guild planning meeting

2011-09-12T15:59:00.000-07:00

After a long hiatus, the Wisconsin Puppetry Guild held a planning meeting Sept. 10 at Joan McCarthy’s home in Middleton.

We decided to focus on two big meetings during the coming year, one in the Fox Valley and one in Madison.

Dates need to be firmed up and Joan is working on a newsletter, but tentative plans are for an April 14 or 21, 2012, meeting in Madison and a Sept. 8, 2012, meeting in Oshkosh. (We first considered it just the opposite --- April in Oshkosh, September in Madison. But we want the Oshkosh meeting to be an outdoor event, to see Jeff Decker’s Sherman the Dragon, so September might be better.)

We want to try to get back to our original model of a performance and a workshop at each meeting and of having them in public libraries to encourage new members.

We also want to offer optional get-togethers around the state when puppeteers are performing. We’d go out for lunch or supper together. One such possibility is in January, when Joe Cashore will be performing in Dubuque, Iowa – which is just 15 minutes from the Hazel Green Opera House.

We also want to improve the link to our blog via the website, which needs updating.

And we want to resume sending at least some of our newsletters out in paper form.

You input is encouraged.

Thanks.

Sandye Voight

President for life unless you want to arm wrestle

News from the National Festival

2011-08-01T09:41:00.000-07:00

At long last, I'm posting again on what is supposed to be a blog for the Wisconsin Puppetry Guild.

I've created 3 postings today. This one is an overview of the recent festival --- the fun stuff about performances, etc. Then I threw my reports on the national meeting and the Great Lakes Regional meetings into 2 other blog postings. So scroll down and read. Please add your comments.

And, when I set this thing up, it was so that others of you could post, too. But frankly, I don't remember how!

I've got some other things to add before we meet on Saturday, Sept. 10, at 9:30 a.m. in Middleton, but I'll do that another day.

Thanks for reading!

Sandye Voight

Guild president (still! impeach me, so I can't be President for Life.)

Festival Overview, Thoughts, Observations

This was the second time in 2 years that the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta hosted the National Puppetry Festival.

Chuck and I attended both. This was my 8^th national and Chuck’s 7^th (he didn’t go to the one in Tampa, Fla., in 2000.)

This time, in Atlanta, we were all in one dorm and the distance to the center of activity was not as long as 2 years ago. That helped us cope with the heat and humidity. (The South. In July. Bound to be hot hot hot.) The rooms were all “suites” with a bathroom per 2 rooms. That was OK. But our tolerance of bunkbed living is about over.

Enough about the accommodations (oh, food—OK. Alcohol at late-night events non-existent, except for sneaking it in a grownup sippy cup. Too high a price, apparently, for university approval. ) What you really want to hear about:

Festival Performances

Our favorites included “Brother Coyote and Sister Fox,” by the Thistle Theatre. There were some particularly hilarious chickens in a show that was kind of biligual. The Corbian Arts created a magical show – “Darwin the Dinosaur” -- with high puppets that featured tech lights, like they were wrapped in Christmas lights.

Our favorite show was the most hilarious version I’ve ever seen of “The Headless Horseman of Sleepy Hollow” by the Frogtown Mountain Puppeteers of Maine. This sibling group of 2 brothers and a sister perform Muppet-style on cardboard sets. (This was the last show of the festival and a fitting, feel-good ending.)

We were bused to the Center for Puppetry Arts for two shows, “Cinderella Della Circus,” a whimsical traditional marionette show, and The Ghastly Dreadfuls, a wonderful, adult Halloween show that they brought back just for us. It was a series of short puppet bits in a variety of styles – some funny, some just creepy and “Twilight Zone”-esque. Plus we got a chance to sing along. The musicians were fantastic.

Peggy Melchior and her daughter Heidi Pearson entertained us with “An Evening with the Melchior Marionettes: Three Women, Three Mothers, Three Puppeteers.” There was a Power Point slide show reminiscence about Peggy’s mother Erica, interspersed with live performances of well-known bits from their shows. And their was a fourth puppeteer: Peggy’s little girl in her stagehand debut.

Another evening show was Steve Whitmire and KERMIT THE FROG!!!! Steve has been performing Kermit for the more than 20 years, since the death of Jim Henson. At first, it was just Steve on stage and I kept mumbling, “where’s the frog?” At the end of the very special evening (slide show, Q & A, anecdotes), at the request of a woman in the audience, Kermit led us all in singing, “Rainbow Connection.”

Altogether, there were 16 performances, plus late night events: Potpourri was led off by 98-year-old Bernice Silver, who rose from her wheel chair and then assumed a big grin and a “ta-da” posture as she began one of her usual puppet skits involving paper cutouts and a singalong to a song she wrote and that nobody had the words to! You had to be there. (We made it to at least the beginnings of these late night festivities.)

I attended workshops on grant writing, new sculpting materials and using a limberjack. And I hit the puppetry store a few times, too.

Before the awards ceremony on Saturday night, guilds with banners (including us) paraded in with them and stood on stage. I forgot to bring a cow puppet with me, and wanted to have one to help represent Wisconsin, so I bought skunk handpuppet in the store and surgically changed him into a passable Bossy.

Puppets of America festival meeting

2011-08-01T09:36:00.000-07:00

Puppeteers of America –

National meeting July 13, 2011

Puppeteers gathered for a national meeting on the second afternoon of the festival in Atlanta, Ga., on the campus of Georgia Tech.

President Anna Vargas reported that the P of A currently has 1,418 members.

(Note that the Wisconsin Puppetry Guild’s Pam Corcoran is a new board member. Yay, Pam! But she was not able to attend the festival.)

Anna said the organization is in a transition period especially in regard to its website, which she said is undergoing a major upgrade. (www.puppeteers.org)

The P of A Facebook page has 3,200 people (friends?) and 1,600 check the page every week.

There are 36 active guilds within the organization.

The Northeast Region had a “spy” at the Great Lakes Region’s annual potlatch in November. Sharon Peck took copious notes and even gave a workshop. The upshot is that they will host a similar event in Sept. of 2012.

The Big News

Barriers have been lifted to forming a new guild (and to keeping a floundering one going).A guild need only have 3 members of the P of A and need only meet once per year.

Focus groups

Anna broke up the attendees into smaller focus groups, with a board member at the helm of each. The task was to do a spot analysis of the organization, to list strengths and weaknesses, threats and opportunities.

Here’s some of what our group came up with:

Strengths:

Festivals – seeing strong performances, eating together and sharing ideas
The number of young people in attendance
The insurance program
P of A consultants
The online bookstore and lending library

Weaknesses/threats

Lack of programming for teachers who attend the festivals.
The exclusivity of festivals – that they are not open to the public
The workshops – not many are advanced
The invisibility of the P of A
Puppeteers are spread out and isolated by long distances

Opportunities

Strengthen the smaller organizations (guilds? Regions?) by organizing round robin tours of puppet theaters
Push for more Day of Puppetry emphasis
During festivals, have some performances puppeteers-only and some that repeat for the public.
Puppet slams
Technology
Use the Puppetry Journal to provide more how-to and technical info
Reach out to colleges
Put something about puppetry into Broadway’s Playbill (in late of all the puppetry in the theater these days)
Expand the bibliography (bookstore? Lending? Website?) for beginners and advanced

Vargas is interested in input from members. She welcomes you to send your ideas to her at annadpuppet@yahoo.com

Great Lakes Regional meeting report

2011-08-01T09:31:00.000-07:00

Great Lakes Regional meeting

at the National Puppetry Festival

July 16, 2011 -- Atlanta, Ga.

Regional president Dave Herzog reported that the region is in good financial shape, with losses from the 2010 regional festival in Springfield covered by fund raising efforts at the last potlatch.

The next Potlatch will be the weekend of Nov. 4-6, at the Pottawatomie State Park near Algona, Ind. For those of you who have never gone, it is always there and always on the first full weekend of November. It also is ALWAYS a wonderful, wonderful time in a beautiful wooded setting on a lake. The Pokagon lodge is very comfy and has a great indoor pool. A potlatch (like a potluck) is about sharing, so performers and workshop presenters are not paid.

Recently, the P of A ruled that the Great Lakes Regional’s annual Potlatch IS a P of A sanctioned event, since the money is funneled through the region’s treasury. That means that elections held at Potlatch are valid.

Dave promised a regional newsletter to arrive via email in August. His email is dhpuppets@aol.com.

The next regional festival is all but officially approved by the P of A. It is scheduled for June 26-29 at the Howe Academy in Howe, Ind. It used to be called Howe Military Academy and the dorms as said to be Spartan but the site is expected to make this a very affordable festial. Plus, Dave says there’s a nice motel nearby, for those of us who’ve reached the brink of tolerance on sleeping in dorms (no word on whether these are bunk beds).

Scott Beam (freedompuppets@yahoo.com) will be the festival director. He worked closely with Guy Thompson on the festival that was held in nearby Shipshewana, Ind., in 2008.

Dave said that Corcordia Seminary in St. Paul is trying to woo the P of A back to that campus for the next 2 national festivals. Jessica Simon, a Chicago puppeteer, said there also is a proposal for a national to be held at Swarthmore College near Philadelphia.

The Chicago guild is hoping to sponsor a youth scholarship for future regional festivals.

Dave said guild members should be urged to join P of A and keep up their memberships.

A link to the guild website should be sent to the P of A webmaster.

The P of A site has a Puppet Places link. Peggy Melchior is in charge of it. (The last time I checked, the Hazel Green Opera House was on it. Is there any place else in Wisconsin that should be added?)

The Chicago Puppetry Guild piggybacked a Day of Puppetry with an Irish festival to great advantage. They highly recommend piggybacking a DoP with an existing event.

Other notes: Kat Pleviak organized a puppet slam in Chicago. And Ohio puppeteer Dave Greenbaum died in the spring.

Feb. 12 meeting

2011-01-01T11:30:00.000-08:00

Renowned marionettist Joseph Cashore will be performing in Wisconsin in February.

Let's go! (Check out his remarkable puppetry at www.cashoremarionettes.com.)

7:30 p.m. at Thrasher Opera House

Saturday, February 12

506 Mill Street

Green Lake, WI 54941

Green Lake is west of Fondulac

Tickets: $22/each

Order tickets here:

Thrasher Opera House in Green Lake, Wisconsin

http://www.thrasheroperahouse.com/thrasher/events.asp

We could meet at 4 p.m. here for a catch-up meeting/gathering and have supper before the show:

Goose Blind Restaurant one block from Thrasher Opera House (to meet for guild business in afternoon)

http://www.gooseblind.com/

Here are a couple of places people could stay if, like us Voights, they would have a long drive home and want to relax:

Angel Inn B&B

http://www.angelinns.com/

Heidel House Resort and spa

http://www.heidelhouse.com/rooms/roomrates.asp

Pokagon 20

2010-11-13T14:36:00.000-08:00

A report by Guild President Sandye Voight

Wisconsin Guilding members Joan McCarthy, Chuck Voight and I, as well as John McCarthy attended the Great Lakes Regional Potlatch Nov. 5-7 at the Potawatomie Inn, Pokagon State Park, near Angola, Ind.

Performances included “The Fisherman and his Wife,” by Brad Lowe; “Captain Cranky and his Crew,” by Dave Herzog; Heidi Rugg’s “The Little Bread Hen;” Bob Brown’s “Secondhand Stars;” Nancy Sanders’ “Rumpelstiltskin;” and Jim Rose’s “Punch and Judy.”

Brad’s and Dave’s shows were repeats from the summer festival in Springfield, but of course, they’re delightful a second time and besides, there were only 38 people at that festival. Registration for Potlatch was a whopping 116!!!! Including about a dozen enthusiastic newcomers.

Receipts from a scotch auction, silent auction and a regular outloud auction approached $900, which will help immensely with the red ink incurred this summer.

The “ice breaker” was an auction of wearable puppet art, hosted by the Cincinnati Guild. I remembered that we were supposed to bring wearable puppet stuff but completely blanked on the notion that we were supposed to give it up to sell. So after a dismal attempt to create a puppet apron by late guild member Betty, I got 2 red blazers and red pants at a thrift shop and quickly sewed a bunch of puppets to them. Unfortunately, many of the puppets I used were ones I didn’t want to sell, including a punch and judy and a couple of antique Clippos. So, we just modeled the outfits (including some goofy headgear.) It was still fun.

One of my favorite performances was “The Little Bread Hen.” I think the company is from Virginia. Anyway, toward the end, you could swear you smelled bread baking! And, we did. The clever puppeteers had a little convection oven going in the back for our olfactory pleasure.

I took Anne Newman’s workshop on making pool noodle puppets. You cut a slice of foam pool noodle and use it as a handpuppet head. It’s already got a hole in the middle for your finger. You can just poke pieces of pipe cleaner into it for features and hair, etc. Put a piece of cloth on your hand and tie off your thumb and middle finger with a rubber band for the 2 hands. I will definitely try this sometime as a workshop at the opera house.

I also sat in on Bob Brown’s workshop on making marionettes from stuffed toys purchased at the thrift shop. He showed how to take some stuffing out, enhance the facial features with paint or markers and add some simple jointing for better movement. He does this to make a lot of new puppets fast for his Tiny Tot Tuesday shows, since the theater kept wanting him to make new shows all the time.

Our guild was in charge of the Trading Post (flea market) this year. Wow! People really take this seriously. There was a lot of great things for sale. Of course, I had to buy a few things!

Guild presidents meeting

Why is this meeting always at 8 a.m. on Saturday! Dave Herzog, who is Great Lakes Regional director, said he’ll try for another time next year.

He’ll be updating us on the new treasury balance after Potlatch.

He has proposed the region consider sitting out the next round of regionals, in 2012, and at least re-examine the approach.

However, there are 2 proposals on the table:

1. Scott Beam, of Indiana, is researching the use of the Howe Military Academy, which is not far from Pokagon and Shipshewana.

2. The Great Plains Region is proposing planning a joint regional, perhaps coinciding with an existing children’s festival, held in West Liberty, Iowa, each year.

(See my report on the regional meeting during which both of these were discussed.)

Dave is also proposing:

A multi-tiered festival fee schedule, with differing fees for senior citizens, senior citizen couples, students, children, couples and families.

A separate workshop setup for children, so that while adult workshops are going on, there’s something for the kids to do. Ideally, the kids would make puppets and perform something at Potpourri.

A public performance coordinator (preferably a young puppeteer who would receive a stipend) to publicize shows to the general public and to provide outreach to local high school and college students for theater credit. (He’s recommending this for the nationals, also.)

Guest artists from outside the region.

Performers booked by bidding, including the price of the performance, with travel expenses and free registration provided BUT NOT FOOD AND LODGING.

When a budget is chosen, the festival board stick to it.

A call for performers at least 1 ½ years in advance.

That meal packages be optional, not mandatory.

That venues in smaller cities be considered for their affordability.

Each guild gave a report.

Ginger Lozar noted that the Central Illinois Guild has been ‘reborn’ and now has a half dozen active members.

I noted that the Wisconsin Guild has only a half dozen active members, but maybe we should count ourselves lucky, too. I reported on the June Day of Puppetry at the Hazel Green Opera House.

The Chicago Guild is looking into hosting puppet slams.

Western Michigan had fun making humanettes for sale, but no one bought any.

The Detroit Guild is planning a youth puppet rally.

Cincinatti has “Dummies and Donuts,” quick get-togethers and also takes touring puppeteers to lunch.

Columbus puppeteers made Muppet-type puppets.

PGNO is “on life support,” but makes a ton of money on and annual garage sale.

Indiana is “not quite on life support,” but has difficulty meeting because of being spread out.

Next year, Wisconsin Guild is in charge of exhibits at Potlatch.

Regional meeting

There was extensive discussion of the 2 proposals about the next regional.

Scott Beam said the Howe Academy would be able to offer us dorm lodging of $15 per night. He believes he could come up with a package of $250 per person, including lodging, meals and registration.

The site is not handicap accessible, but we could rent ramps for some venues.

Also, there are some motels and B&B’s nearby for those who don’t enjoy dorm living.

There was enough interest among members to pursue the idea further.

We will also continue to look into the idea of a joint festival with the Great Plains.

A presidential note

PGNO president Jean Jackson noted that she’s in her 5^th year of a 2-year presidency.

I’ve been Wis. Guild president since the guild show – definitely more than 5 years. We haven’t had an election of officers for quite a while, because it’s hard to find a time to get together. And I take a share of the blame, since Chuck and I are so busy with shows and other events at the Hazel Green Opera House.

I will be happy to hand over the baton, if someone is interested in jumpstarting or at least continuing this organization.

So, think about that, please. I will try to figure out a time when we can gather in late winter/spring. Any thoughts? Should we meet in Madison? Anyone want to host a meeting or invite us to preview a show, attend a performance, join in a workshop?

If anyone has any questions or ideas, please email me. And email Joan to update her on your puppet doings.

Labor Day weekend show

2010-08-22T12:41:00.000-07:00

On Labor Day weekend we'll present a wonderful African fairy tale called,

"The Cloud Princess."

We fell in love with this quirky story when we first read it in a collection of folk tales with a preface by Nelson Mandela.

11 a.m. and 2 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 4

2 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 5

at the AIR CONDITIONED opera house

$5 adults and $4 children

The story, from Swaziland, which is near South Africa, is about a hare, a woodpecker and a mouse. They encounter a mysterious rainbow bird who possesses a magical feather. As often happens in African tales, animals turn into humans and humans turn into animals. The three friends embark on a dangerous adventure up in the Cloud Kingdom.

We present this story using hand, rod and shadow puppets on our dual stage (Sorry, marionette lovers. No string puppets in this show, but we know you'll love it anyway.)

This show, which we recently presented at the Great Lakes Regional Puppet Festival in Springfield, Ill., features original music composed by our daughter, Katie Voight. The other puppeteers at the festival were very impressed with our 'authentic' African music!

And then, watch for us in Benton's Labor Day parade on Monday, 9:30 a.m.

Hands 2 Grow's Fishtank Tales

2010-07-10T21:52:00.000-07:00

Hands 2 Grow Puppet Productions is now performing their Summer 2010 show entitled "Fishtank Tales." Last Thursday the show was presented in Darboy's Harrison Buchanan Park east of Appleton. The day was dubbed Puppets in the Park. The afternoon began with playground program leaders and helpers working with the youngsters on building different types of puppets including paper bag puppets, finger puppets, and more. Hands 2 Grow Puppets were the feature performers of the day.

Fishtank Tales tells the story of Stan and Cynthia who have volunteered to keep the classroom aquarium fed and cleaned over the summer for the teacher. Unfortunately, Stan loses the instruction book and that leads to hilarious problems. Tthe fish in the aquarium -- Gil, Finn, and Bubbles -- share their opinion of the hijinks - especially when Stan tries to feed them salsa instead of fish flakes! In the photo above, the fish and a pirate are enjoying bathtub time as Stan and Cynthia try to clean the fish and the tank with bubble bath. Hands 2 Grow is based in Appleton but travels across northeast Wisconsin and the Midwest.

Happy summer to all!

Think summer!

2010-02-09T05:47:00.000-08:00

Here's a way to chase away the icicles from your puppeting brain!

Check out the Puppeteers of America web site about the Great Lakes Regional Festival this summer in Springfield, Ill.

http://www.puppetryinlandoflincoln.com/3501.html

And now back to shoveling snow.... Must work on a robotic puppet snowplow....

Fox Folk Marionettes Update

2010-01-14T14:14:00.000-08:00

Greetings from Appleton!

Fox Folks Marionettes had the opportunity to present at the new Apple Creek YMCA on the north side of Appleton in early December. It was a great venue and we shared two showings of our adaption of Henry Van Dyke's "The Other Wiseman" entitled "The Search." It was also an opportunity to debut our new "portable" stage. Both we and the stage survived its first journey on the road. Here's a photos of myself and my co-director Cassie...

We received great press on the show. We were on the front page of the Appleton Journal and received a whole page in the County Post East. They also gave us permission to post that page on our site.

Here's the link: http://www.fvlhs.org/resources/countypostarticle.pdf
(NOTE: It's a big page...)

Right now we are working on a brand new show we've just created. It's called Princess Gloriana & the Jewel Trees. It is a fun, fun show and will debut at Fox Valley Lutheran High School's Winterfest on January 31st. We are also reprising "The Search" that afternoon as well.

Happy puppeting!

Summer workshop in Benton

2009-08-26T19:05:00.000-07:00

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?

Summer Puppet Fun

2009-07-02T20:01:00.000-07:00

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

Day of Puppetry May 30

2009-04-19T12:27:00.000-07:00

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!

Baboushka & the Christmas Visitors

2009-02-24T14:41:00.000-08:00

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...

Web album: http://picasaweb.google.com/puppetmandave/BaboushkaTheChristmasVisitors#

Slide show: http://picasaweb.google.com/puppetmandave/BaboushkaTheChristmasVisitors#slideshow

Fox Folk Marionettes Show - Winterfest 2009

2009-02-21T09:11:00.000-08:00

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:

http://picasaweb.google.com/puppetmandave/FoxFolkMarionettesWinterfest2009#

Slide show:

http://picasaweb.google.com/puppetmandave/FoxFolkMarionettesWinterfest2009#slideshow

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

Thanks! Looks like fun!

2009-01-12T14:00:00.000-08:00

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

We're blogging!

2009-01-11T18:06:00.000-08:00

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