Fox Folk Marionette Christmas Shows

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.

Two shows were offered Dec. 7th at the Apple Creek YMCA on Appleton's northside.  On Wednesday, the show was performed at the Thompson Community Center in downtown Appleton for the Memory Cafe program.  On Saturday, Dec. 14th the puppets perform at St. Paul Lutheran Church/School in their Christmas for Kids program.

This year's troupe is made up of 10 high school students from Fox Valley Lutheran High School. Congrats to them for braving the cold temps and performing well under challenging conditions. Below is a photo of this year's talented crew.

Directors Dave and Cassie Payne have enjoyed the opportunity to visit new venues and update this show which first debuted two years ago.  A new show will debut in January entitled "A Sight to See" and will feature a Biblical Easter theme.  Dave has also been putting the finishing touches on a book detailing the history of these unique puppets which first performed in December of 1965 and have performed for over 50,000 from across the U.S. over the years. Currently the book covers 150 pages and details the background of the puppets from the late 1940's to about 2005 when the puppets were donated to Fox Valley Lutheran High School.

"Warhorse" in Appleton

If you haven't got tickets to "Warhorse" in Appleton's Fox Cities Performing Arts Center, I don't think it's too late. I just looked online and there seem to be tickets left.
A few guild members will be attending the 1 p.m. show on Sunday, June 30. Afterwards (about 3:30-4 p.m.) we will be meeting up with Dave and Cassie Payne at Fox Valley Lutheran H.S. for a tour of their marionette theater. (See his previous post on this site.)
The high school is at 5300 Meade St.
 The bunch of us will have supper out, too, and talk guild talk.  Dave and Cassie have tickets for the 6:30 performance that day and the rest of us will head for home.
Questions? Email voight167@centurylink.net.

Fox Folk Marionettes perform

Enjoyed the Puppet Guild meeting in Wild Rose and the show at the library.  Fun day!  Here's a couple photos of the Fox Folk Marionette Show we recently gave to an audience of about 200 kindergartners and 60 parents at Fox Valley Lutheran High School in Appleton.

The show is entitled "I Can Do All Things..."  Here Jack and Jill are encountering a big rock that no one can figure out how to move.

The prince and princess are not happy about the rock blocking their way.

Jack and Jill prove that "little people can do big things" by moving the rock and are rewarded by the king with a cart full of gold.

The Fox Folk Marionette Troupe takes a bow after the show.


If you'd like a close look at these puppets -- which were built in the 1960's and have performed for over 30,000 people through the years - come visit us for our Puppetry Guild outing in Appleton at the end of June.

April Guild Meeting Report

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.

Cassie Payne (my daughter) & Mickey Stratil from Hands 2 Grow Puppet Productions presented at the UW-Whitewater conference and said it was a great forum with lots of awesome ideas!

On this Thursday (April 11), Cassie and I are doing a Fox Folk Marionette Show & Tell at the Memory Cafe event in Appleton.  We'll be showcasing the story of the marionettes inherited by Fox Valley Lutheran High School.  It's at the Atlas Cafe from about 2-4 p.m.  We are planning to offer a Memory Cafe Christmas show next November-December at Appleton's Thompson Center. 

On Friday, the Fox Folk Marionettes will be entertaining and audience of over 250 at Fox Valley Lutheran High School's Kinderfest 2013 for area kindergartners.  Our puppets give the opening devotion that emphasizes the message:  "I Can Do All Things Through Christ Who Strengthens Me!"

Appleton will be a hotbed of professional puppetry in the next couple month with Lion King and Warhorse coming to the Fox Cities PAC.  We have tickets for both and are excited to enjoy these awesome performances. Happy puppeting!

Library ideas

Kathy Luck of Sussex emailed to say that she  is going through things and has quite a few older puppetry books. She rescued them from her library's "weed out" shelf. She wonders if anyone might be interested in them and will compile a list.

Who knows? Maybe she has some old treasures. A Paul McPharlin or a Tony Sarg?

April 13 meeting

Guild Gathering 

at Wild Rose

Saturday, April 13

Hosted by librarian Kent Barnhard

Patterson Memorial Library, 500 Division St., Wild Rose 

www.wildroselibrary.org

•  10:30 a.m. – “River Critters,” Fever River Puppeteers; a hand, rod and shadow puppet show about animals on the Mississippi River.  Buddy and Grandpa go fishing, unaware of the antics of a playful otter, a wily raccoon and assorted other critters.

This show will be open to the public. It runs about 50 minutes, plus Q&A after the show.

• Noon-1 p.m. –  Lunch out. Possibly at The Chatter Box Café! (Do you suppose they serve Hot Dish?)
•  1-1:15 p.m.: – Guild meeting – Short and sweet
• 1:30 p.m. – Voice workshop by Jill Frederickson

Pup-a-Foo-Glee at Hazel Green

10 a.m.-3 p.m. (approx.)

Saturday, May 18

The Fever River Puppeteers will host the second annual Pup a Foo Glee, a day of puppets, food and fun

at the Hazel Green Opera House, 2130 Main St., Hazel Green

• “Dragon Feathers,” by the Melikin Puppets, of Chicago
• “Call of the Sea: A Mermaid’s Tale,” by Ginger Lozar, of Champaign, Ill.
•  “Punch & Judy,” by the Fever River Puppeteers
• Concessions by the Hazel Green Lions Club and the Southwestern High School Student Council. 
• Street activities:  painting, chalk drawing and make-take puppet making
• Theater games and puppet improv games.
• It’s all free, but donations are appreciated.

Afterwards, puppeteers, helpers and guild members are invited to Chez Voight in nearby Benton (5 miles) for a brat feed.

For info, call Chuck at 608-732-6404. Details to come at www.hazelgreenoperahouse.blogspot.com

The Fox Folk Marionette Troupe is offering a pair of family-friendly shows on the afternoon of Sunday, January 27th as part of Fox Valley Lutheran High School's annual Winterfest. The curtain rises on the early show at 12:30 p.m. Entitled "A Lamb's Tale," the show tells the Christmas story from the perspective of the Bethlehem shepherds and their sheep. Meet shepherds Reuben, Micah, and Caleb -- plus the black sheep of their flock: Layellah. At 2:30 p.m., the group will perform a whimsical fairy tale show called "Princess Gloriana and the Dragon." Travel to the imaginary land of Fortunia and see what happens when an evil dragon makes his lair in the enchanted forest. What will Princess Gloriana and the royal family do? And what about this new knight Sir Baldwin who has just arrived on the scene. Can he save the day?

 

 

Both show features student puppeteers from Fox Valley Lutheran High School and were written by Director Dave Payne. Featured are beautifully crafted human and animal marionettes originally built by members of All Saints Episcopal Church in Appleton in the 1960's. These marionettes were donated to FVL by the Purdy family in 2004 and have performed for over 35,000 people over the years. More info on the puppet troupe is available at http://www.fvlhs.org/Marionettes

Shows last about 30 minutes and are delightful family entertainment. After each show, there will be a chance for the audience to get a closer look at the puppets and meet the puppeteers. This year the shows will be performed in the auxiliary gym at Fox Valley Lutheran High School.

Admission for the marionette performances will be through the FVL Winterfest 2013 event. The theme for this annual showcase of student music talent is "Simply Music." Doors open at 11 am. In addition to music being performed on numerous stages around the school, a variety of taste treats are offered. Always popular are the homemade tortes and pies. Adult tickets are $3 in advance from the FVL School Office or $4 at the door. Students 11 and under are free. All proceeds benefit the FVL music programs.

 

Fox Valley Lutheran High School is located on the north side of Appleton at the corner of Meade Street and Cty JJ and is completely handicapped accessible. Parking is available on both the upper and lower levels of the school.

Potlatch was wonderful

by Sandye Voight

Chuck and I had a wonderful time -- as usual -- at Potlatch, the annual Great Lakes Region puppet gathering at the beautiful Pokagon State Park, just this side of the Ohio border in Indiana.
We were the only Cheeseheads to attend this year. We missed you guys!

We also missed our honorary Cheesehead, Ginger Lozar, of Champaign, IL, who was stuck in the Newark Airport because of Superstorm Sandy (note: without an e).
Ginger was to have performed Saturday night, but couldn't get a flight out and ultimately rented a car to drive home. We understand she had been traveling in Turkey. Anyway, we volunteered to perform in her place and at the last minute hauled our "River Critters" stage to Indiana. No time to practice, but we'd done it a lot lately, just that there were two weekend Halloween performances in between.
I was a bit nervous, but we managed not to embarass ourselves. In fact, 1 minute into the show they started applauding our scrolling scenery, so we started to feel pretty good.

We were in good company.
Other performers included Rick Morse ("Sleeping Beauty"), Dunworth Puppet Productions ("Puppet Circus"), Nancy Sanders ("Jack and the Beanstalk"), Bob Brown ("Mother Goose Caboose" cabaret style marionettes made from stuffed animals), David Quesal ("The Story of Leo and Seymore" with Folkmanis puppets) and Guy Thompson (a rollicking Punch and Judy for the Sunday Punch Brunch).
The opening ice breaker was a flash mob of puppeteers in the lodge's fireplace room, near the dining hall. We assembled with hidden puppets each and then burst into singing "Rainbow Connection." Not sure there were too many civilians in the lodge to hear us! but it was fun.

Saturday, we sat in on a lighting workshop (then hurriedly searched our tree light boxes to make sure we had blue and yellow gels for our performance that night!). It was a bit technical for me, but there was a lot of discussion about working with the new LED lights and issues about dimmers when we won't be able to get incandescent bulbs anymore.
I also took a make-take with Peggy Melchior and got some patterns for a simple butterfly puppet that could be adapted as a bat, bird or pteradactyl.

Regional News

Here is some of the actual news that we learned at the guild and regional meetings:

• The 2014 "mini-festival" (as they're calling it), will be in Detroit, probably at the end of July.
• The Detroit Institute of Art reached out to the Detroit Puppetry Guild and asked to host it. That's expected to help keep expenses down.
• The national festival in Philadelphia this summer will operate on the Potlatch model -- performers and workshop presenters will not be paid.
• Dave Herzog, our regional director, is challenging each guild to sponsor a Potlatch scholarship next fall for a young person -- even if it is only the $50 registration fee. (anyone 16 and younger would need an adult guardian).  Also, guilds could sponsor P of A memberships for young people.

• Terri Klinghofer of Indiana has volunteered to become the region's new treasurer, a position that also will include being the Potlatch registrar, for the sake of convenience.

Tidbits from the guild reports:

• Chicago: Young people are not joining but the guild tries to keep them informed about events in the hope that they will become involved.
• Detroit: Meets 4 times per year in museums and libraries, plus a summer picnic
• Columbus: Meets once per month from September through May.
• Central Ill.: Six core members and gaining. Puppeteers critique and support each others shows. The University of Illinois' Youth Literature Festival has become a major joint event with puppeteers.
• Western Michigan: Building parade puppets together for the Saugatuck Christmas parade.
• Indiana: Blooming Laps, a shared equipment space in Bloomington offers the use of expensive equipment, such as sanders and robotics-making stuff and the expertise of creative people who know how to use the equipment.

Finally find us on Facebook

I've caved and created a Facebook page for FeverRiver Puppeteers. Apparently, I was a bit impatient in trying to load photos, so you'll see the giant Hazel at the Opera House multiple times.
Bear with me! When I announced my intention to Facebook at the Sunday performance, people applauded. Yay!


FeverRiver Puppeteers on Facebook

Kenosha meeting and 2013

ArtWorks, a gallery in downtown Kenosha, was a good spot for our October gathering.
Jill Frederickson hosted us in the ArtWorks (gallery/studio/art supply shop) basement, home of Puppet Underground (get it? basement. underground.)
The Underground is a spinoff of a Kenosha writers group that thought -- hey let's do something with puppets. Jill said  oooh oooh! I know about puppets. The result was "Dante's Disco Inferno" last spring which I believe was the first puppet slam attempt. They're also doing "Terror at the Underground" this month.
In fact, the first performance was the night of our gathering. However, it didn't start until 9 p.m. and Chuck and I had to head back home to the West Coast of Wisconsin.
But back to our gathering. Twas a small group. Besides us Voights and hostess Jill, John Bloner of the Underground group came and Chet Griffith, owner of ArtWorks and Underground instigator, was able to pop in now and then (customers kept coming into his shop upstairs.)
Chuck did some cardboard construction demonstrating, showing Jill and John how adaptive corrugated cardboard can be. He brought examples of props and scenery from marionette shows. Jill and John discussed how they might be adapted for other forms of puppetry.
We played a bit with Pam Corcoran's improv/manipulation puppets. They are simple cloth handpuppets, featureless except for noses. Pam has cards made up with instructions, similar to playing charades. You take a puppet and see how well you can act --- Puppet walks in, looking tired, yawns, stretches, cleans a spot, goes to sleep, snores --- that kind of thing. Thanks to Pam for leaving the improv set for us to use. Would be more fun with more people.
Chet said that he became interested in puppetry as a kid because of a great aunt, Margaret Lindeman, who was an English professor at Northwestern and also did a puppet show on WGN in Chicago. We'll have to look her up.

Mark your calendars for April 12 and 13, May 18, and June 25-27

April 12 -- Brian Henson's Stuff and Unstrung, Grand Theater, Wausau

April 13 -- Meeting in Wild Rose, hosted by Kent Barnhard. Jill will do a voice workshop. The Voights' Fever River Puppeteers will perform "River Critters.'

May 18 -- Pup a Foo Glee, a day of Puppetry at the Hazel Green Opera House

June 25-27 (assuming it's one of these, not all) Touring production of "War Horse" in Appleton (save your pennies) and maybe a picnic and swap meet.

I hope to post more about the Puppet Underground as photos become available.

Kenosha meeting Oct. 13

Saturday, Oct. 13

5002 7th Ave, Kenosha, WI

(Note: A basement room with stairs.)

Our hostess -- Jill Frederickson (see above with fuzzy blue friend) . An afternoon workshop and show. And if you’re up to some late night fun,  stick around for supper and “Monster Puppet Slam”

* 1-1:30 p.m. --   Introductions and Sharing

* 1:30-1:45 p.m. --   WPG Business Meeting

* 1:45-2 p.m. -- Coffee

* 2-3:15 p.m. --  Cardboard Construction with Chuck Voight

* 3:30-4:30 p.m. “On Hand,” hand puppet improv with Sandye Voight -- you get to participate!

*  7 p.m.-- Meet and eat

Boat House Pub & Eatery

4917 7th Avenue, Kenosha, WI 53140

262-654-9922

(Jill says this is across the street from:)

s 9 p.m.--“Monster Puppet Slam”

Public Event, By John Bloner Jr

ArtWorks, 5002 7th Ave, Kenosha, WI

Meeting update

Due to the death of a brother-in-law, the Voights will be unable to attend the meeting in Ft. Atkinson. Pam Corcoran has graciously stepped up and will perform "Queen of Hearts" in place of the Fever River Puppeteers'  "River Critters." We will miss you all and hope to see you in October.

Newsletter and Meeting

We're snail-mailing a newsletter this week. Watch for it!
Let us know if there are other people who should be on the list.
We have decided tentatively to send some of the newsletters via actual U.S. Postal Service, since it's often easy to ignore emails (we get so many!) and it's nice to have a paper thing to hold in your hand.

Here, though, is the basic info on the next meeting:

Ft. Atkinson 

Guild Meeting 

Saturday, Sept. 29

St. Joseph School,

1660 Endl Boulevard

,Fort Atkinson, WI 53538

(920) 563-3029

 1-1:30 p.m.: Introductions and sharing: 

1:30 to 1:45: WPG Business Meeting: 

 1:45-2 p.m.: Coffee: 

 2-3:15: Hand on Workshop --  

Making Stories Come to Life: Using

puppets to involve groups of children

 (ages 5 - 12) in telling stories

     This workshop, designed for teachers, librarians, and others who work

with children,  will introduce methods to construct quick and easy puppets

and use them to present narrated stories.

3:30-4:30 p.m.: Performance

“River Critters,” by the Fever River Puppeteers -- a hand, rod and shadow puppet show. A day on the Mississippi River, as Buddy and Grandpa go fishing, unaware of the antics of a playful otter, a wily raccoon and assorted other critters.

Hands 2 Grow is offering its new summer show at the Little Chute Public Library tomorrow (Wednesday) at 10:30 and 1:30.  Tall tale fun to match the theme:  Dream Big: READ!

Looking for a great kids book to read? Try Balloons over Broadway by Melissa Sweet. Tells the story of Tony Sarg - the puppeteer who created the annual parade that delights so many people Thanksgiving!  Good stuff!

Important News!!

  

Kickstart 

Hang onto your dowel rods. Zip up your Velcro.  Ratchet up your wingnuts!

We’re tweaking the creaking controls of the Wisconsin Puppetry Guild.

The executive committee of WPG held a planning meeting Saturday, June 23, 2012, at the Middleton home of Joan McCarthy.

This is an update of officers and a SAVE-THE-DATE for the coming puppet year: Sept. 2012 to summer 2013. A fullsome newsletter will be coming later this summer.

OFFICERS

We haven’t had new officers in a long, long, looooooooooonnnnnggggg time.

Since our bylaws call for official elections to be in May, we decided to retool the slate on a temp basis until May 2013. As Pam said, it’s along the lines of “Good news, prisoners! You get to change clothes today. The bad news: Joe, you change with Hank. Hank, you change with Bart….” Etc.

President: Pam Corcoran – corcoran@wi-net.com

Treasurer/membership: Zona Platzek – zplatzek@aol.com

Secretary: Jill Frederickson – handfullofstars@gmail.com

Historian: Joan McCarthy – joan.mccarthy@madcap.org

Newsletter editor: Sandye Voight – voight@mhtc.net

Webmaster: Chuck Voight – voight@mhtc.net

Pam will be in charge of programming as part of her presidential duties. Zona figured it made sense to link membership with the treasury. Chuck and Sandye will work on keeping the blog up to date. The old website will be used only to refer to the blog. Joan is organizing and keeping up scrapbooks about the guild.

SAVE-THE-DATES 

We are planning four regular meeting/events, with a workshop and performance at each, as well as time for updates on Puppeteers of America, festivals, etc. as well as sharing what we are all working on individually.

Saturday, Sept. 29 – St. Joseph School, Ft. Atkinson

Saturday, Oct. 13 – Kenosha -- an evening puppet slam!

Saturday, April 13 – Wild Rose (note that Friday evening, April 12, Brian Henson will be performing in Wausau)

Saturday, May 18 – Pup-a-Foo-Glee (Day of Puppetry) Hazel Green

I expect to have all the details in a nice newsletter to be mailed in August. I will be hounding everyone for pictures in the form of jpgs.

Also, note that the touring production of “War Horse” will be in Appleton on June 25-27, 2013. If you know of other puppet performances or tours coming to Wisconsin, please let us know. It’s always nice to meet for lunch or supper and go to a show together.

Have a great summer! Keep cool.

Puppet Potlatch in Indiana

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

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

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

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.