The Wisconsin Puppetry Guild met Saturday, April 13, 2013, at the Patterson Memorial Library in lovely little Wild Rose.
Our host was librarian Kent Barnhard. Also attending were his girlfriend, Erin, who also is a librarian, as well as Zona Platzek, Pam Corcoran, Dave and Cassie Payne, Chuck and Sandye Voight -- and Pam's 3-year-old grandson, Henry!
Chuck and Sandye (as the Fever River Puppeteers) performed their hand, rod and shadow show, "River Critters" to an audience that included about 35 Wild Rosians.
Kent had lunch fixings brought in for us, so after the show, we stayed in the community room for lunch and a meeting.
Concerned about continuing low attendance numbers, Pam, as acting president, noted that the Great Plains Guild of Iowa/Nebraska has remained dormant for several years. Younger guild members have not taken up the mantle when longtime members are ready to hand it over. This could be us soon.
We discussed offering puppet workshops for Wisconsin school and library conferences.
The Wis. Library Assn. meets in Green Bay in the fall. The Wis. Assn. of Public Libraries meets in May. A "Getting Started with Puppets" workshop would be ideal.
We also discussed somehow getting the attention of state colleges and universities, where the students who are in education, library science and theater likely include the next generation of puppeteers. Kent has contacts with UW-Milwaukee.
Zona, as treasurer, reported that Tim Reed wanted to know if we wanted to keep the domain name Wipupptry.org connected with the website. The cost is $35 per year, $60 for 2 years and $120 for 5 years. Zona said she still gets contacted by potential members because of the website and on her recommendation, so we will keep it. She said she will contact Tim, who will maintain the basic site for us.
Sandye reminded members about the
Day of Puppetry event called Pup-a-Foo-Glee coming up
Saturday, May 18, at the Hazel Green Opera House. Pam hopes to attend some interviews of potential P of A executive directors in the Twin Cities in mid-May.
Dave and Cassie said they already had tickets for the touring production of
"War Horse" in Appleton at
6:30 p.m. Sunday, June 30. We decided that guild members would also try to get tickets for that evening. We will meet in Appleton at about 3 p.m. that day at Fox Valley Lutheran High School, where Dave teaches and where he has the stage for the Fox Folk Marionettes. We will be able to hear the history of this historic collection that was given to the school. And we'll go out for supper before the show.
NOTE: THAT EVENING, SANDYE SUCCESSFULLY ORDERED 2 TICKETS TO "WAR HORSE" FOR THE SAME PERFORMANCE THROUGH TICKETMASTER.
Tickets are available at $92, $82 and $62. We took the middle price. Our seats are
section GRAND1, row A, seats 303-304.
The June 30 gathering will include a planning session for the rest of 2013 and 2014. The formal election of officers was tabled. Zona said she has been treasurer for more than 20 years. She also is membership chairwoman. Besides being president, Pam is in charge of programming. And Sandye took these minutes, besides being newsletter editor.
The Fox Folk Marionettes have had a busy couple weeks performing their Christmas show entitled "The Gift of the Princess." It is a retelling of a Russian folktale focused on the visit of the Three Wisemen to Bethlehem to find the new-born King of Peace.
