Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Behind the Scenes of Adult Classes at Puppet Showplace

Adventures in Puppetry: Part Two
by Guest Blogger Holly Hartman

For Part One, click here.

It is Monday night at the Puppet Showplace Theatre,  I am at the third class of Jonathan Little’s  “Furry Monsters 101,” and I don’t know when I have last laughed this much. I have forgotten about my long day at the office and the sardine subway ride that capped it and have succumbed to the hilarity of playing with monster puppets.

Class Three: Where Is My Head?

Last week we saw ourselves—or rather, our puppets—on the screen of a video monitor for the first time. Like an infant, I was riveted by my own image (in this case, I was a shaggy orange creature with a bow tie). This week we’re sharing the camera in small groups. Our puppets’ movements onscreen are slow, absurd. I’m reminded of how it takes practice for young children to learn where their limbs are in space.

Many of our puppets look like dopey pets: mouths ajar, heads cocked, too clumsy to heed Jonathan as he urges us to move the puppets together and make them look at the camera. My golf-ball-like eyes can’t find the camera; my furry neck cranes in the wrong direction, as if the puppet is captivated by a faraway song. (Note: the students who’ve taken the class before--one is on his fourth enrollment--are a testimony to the benefits of practice. But most of us newbies are pretty klutzy.)



Things a Director Would Never Say to a Human Actor, Yet Prove Helpful When Spoken About a Puppet:

“Your neck looks broken. Hey Chris, would you go un-break his neck?”

“Oops, let me adjust your eyeballs.”

“Next time, remember to open your mouth when you sing.”

More Lucid in Gibberish

Seeing our puppets in groups is also a lesson in how tricky it is to establish spatial relationships among them, in part because we are manipulating them overhead. Many of our puppets end up talking nose-to-nose (or nose-to-where-a-nose-might-be), or leaning away from each other, or failing to make eye contact. As a group, they don’t look very socialized.

We sing “Frere Jacques” with simple choreography that nonetheless goes astray as often as not. (Some of us are self-conscious. “But it’s a puppet,” Jonathan counsels. “It wants to sing and dance.”) Then we try an exercise in which we pair off and have a conversation in gibberish: one puppet speaks nonsense words, the second riffs off of that, and so on. This becomes interesting fast. When the two puppeteers are attuned to each other, a relationship between their puppets begins to arise.

I find it oddly liberating to speak in a nonexistent language. With words cut off from meaning, it’s easier to play with voice and gesture. Plus I like the surrealism of it. At times I brush up against what for me is the most gratifying part of the creative process, when my cognitive mind fades away; and at those times I cannot quite tell whether I am playing with the puppet or the puppet is playing with me.

Class Four: Think Less, Skit More

I thought we were going to start our fourth class with more camera work, but Jonathan greets us by saying that last week he could see us thinking too hard. So instead we’ll begin with vocal and movement practice, then write skits and perform them onstage, then rewrite them and perform them on camera. Well! Is that all for the first hour?!

Soon we have broken into groups to write and rehearse our skits while Chris and Jonathan make the rounds to check on our progress. I feel grateful at how formal instruction accelerates learning, especially when Chris advises us on manipulating our puppets (“When you open the mouth all the way on that one it looks crazy, see?”).

Instructor, Jon Little
The skits end up being pretty hilarious. There’s an operatic saga of family dysfunction, complete with Wagner-length high notes; a Shakespearean trio trying to throw off a gypsy curse; and a tale of infidelity in the American West that features a make-out scene so heated the furry lovers have to pause for a breath. All of this, out of thin air.

Puppet Party

Coordinating my puppet’s jaw, arm, and body movements while I am talking remains a challenge. “Holly, your puppet is on roller skates,” Jonathan says after I glide my blue monster across the stage, having forgotten to give it the natural side-to-side motion of walking. (Which would have been okay if roller skates had featured in the scene.) Some puppets appear to be victims of quicksand, sinking out of the camera frame over time.

Before long, nine puppets are on camera at once. It turns out that much consolidation is possible when we angle our bodies sideways (I recall Jonathan telling us in the first class that “puppetry is the art of working in someone’s armpit”). But onscreen, the puppets don’t look crowded. In fact, they look pretty relaxed and happy as they mingle, sharing puppet observations on party clothes and nachos.


As my rudimentary skills increase, so does my appreciation for the video monitor as a teaching tool. In a nutshell: you can see where you are going wrong and fix it, then and there. Crookneck-squash neck, fixed. Zombie arms, fixed. For someone new to performance, this is like magic.

What the Puppet Wants

I took the class partly in the hope of demystifying puppetry for myself, at least a little bit. In this I have both somewhat succeeded and happily failed.

As to the success: In four whirlwind classes, I have been introduced to the skills necessary to operate hand-and-rod puppets (those icons of my circa 1975 worship of all things Muppet). I now have a novice’s sense of how to make this kind of puppet speak, move, and interact. I see that it takes a tremendous amount of practice to make these actions appear realistic, and that it’s a tremendous amount of fun.

Yet there’s something about puppetry that resists demystification. In skilled hands, a puppet in motion has a life of its own--with its own disposition, its own demands, and the capacity to outwit its puppeteer--and I am happy to say that this aspect of puppetry remains mysterious to me.

UPCOMING FALL CLASSES:
Click Here  for a full list of upcoming classes.

Introduction to Puppetry Arts

Instructor: Brad Shur, Artist in Residence
Four sessions, September 16 - October 7
Monday nights, 6:30 to 8:30 pm

What makes a great puppet show? Participants will be introduced to the exciting and multifaceted world of puppetry through hands-on exploration of the materials and performance methods used by professional puppeteers. Participants will survey basic puppetry construction methods, build their own puppets, and learn the basic techniques for making puppets come to life.
Mask and Physical Theatre Intensive
Instructor: Avital Peleg
Four sessions, September 18 - October 9
Wednesday nights, 6:30 to 9:00 pm

This workshop invites participants to immerse themselves in the physical and visual world of mask theatre, discovering the power of their own poetic body through a non-verbal approach to acting. Participants will focus on in-depth and detail-oriented physical performance with full-face white neutral masks. Beginning with solo scenes, adding objects, and building towards duo and ensemble work, participants will heighten their awareness of timing, breath, spatial composition, and audience perception.

Introduction to Shadow Puppetry
Instructor: Brad Shur, Artist in Residence
Four sessions, October 1 - October 22
Tuesdays, 6:30 to 8:30 pm

Shadow puppetry is a centuries-old art form that is constantly evolving to incorporate new materials and technologies. In "Introduction to Shadow Puppetry," students will learn the history of shadow performance and encounter examples of the exciting work being developed by today's shadow puppeteers. Through building and performance exercises, the class will explore diverse styles of shadow puppets ranging from simple hand shadows to elaborate cut-out figures with moving parts. 

Monday, August 26, 2013

Fall Fairy Tale Festival: Labor Day Weekend Through Columbus Day!

Puppet Showplace Theatre presents...

3rd Annual Fall Fairy Tale Festival
August 31-October 14


FALL FAIRY TALE FESTIVAL KICK OFF WEEKEND!

"Snow White & Other Tales"
by Perry Alley Theatre
Sat & Sun, Aug 31 & Sept 1
Shows at 1pm & 3pm


Join friends and family for a scavenger hunt, special treats, and other festive activities all throughout Puppet Showplace Theatre's Labor Day weekend season kick-off event!

About the show: Three fairy tales come to life as you’ve never seen them before in this imaginative production by the award-winning Perry Alley Theatre. See "Little Red Riding Hood" as it might have been performed in Ancient Rome, play pranks with the medieval puppet cast of “The Princess and the Pea,” and get a taste of Dad’s unusual sense of humor in an original dinner-table retelling of “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.”

A show for the whole family: "Snow White and Other Tales" is a great show for all ages. The content is episodic, interactive, and silly, with lots of jokes that are appealing to younger audiences. The show is also very thoughtful and intellectually creative and appeals to parents and older children who will appreciate the verbal puns and tounge-in-cheek historical references.


Many different styles of puppetry: The show uses multiple styles of puppetry, including traditional glove puppetry, table top puppetry, and found object puppetry. This show is particularly recommended for those who are interested in creative variations on traditional puppetry performance. To prepare for the show, grown ups may want to explore different versions of fairytales with their children to see how an artist can modify the story.

Suggested story books: Can't wait for the show day to arrive? Check out these suggested books to get you into the fairy tale mood.  These stories aren't your typical renditions, but unique and creative retellings!  Read a fractured fairytale book like "The Stinky Cheese Man" or Compare Disney's "Snow White" to the Brother's Grimm edition or Pushkin's "The Tale of the Dead Princess and the Seven Knights"
Andrew and Bonnie Periale receiving 2013 Paul Vincent Davis award for life time achievement in puppetry.
About the artists: Andrew and Bonnie Periale founded Perry Alley Theatre in 1986 and moved to their current home and studio in NH in 1988. Together, they’ve produced a dozen major shows and many shorter pieces for touring. Andrew and Bonnie have performed at numerous national and regional festivals, at the Smithsonian Institution, the Center for Puppetry Arts (Atlanta), the Jim Henson International Festival of Puppetry and many other venues across the U.S. as well as in France and Italy.

They have produced the magazines for UNIMA-USA for 28 years, establishing Puppetry International magazine in the early 1990s. Recognition includes The Paul Vincent Davis Award, the George Latshaw Award, 3 Henson Foundation grants, 2 UNIMA Citations, an Emmy nomination, finalists in the International Festival of Film and Television and, from UNIMA-USA, a Lifetime Achievement award.

Learn more about Perry Alley theatre on their website: CLICK HERE

Friday, August 23, 2013

Final Summer Puppet Adventure of the Season!

THIS WEEK AT PUPPET SHOWPLACE...
The most adventurous, beanstalk climbing story book character of them all closes out our Summer Puppet Adventures series this weekend- That's right, JACK IS BACK!

"Jack and the Beanstalk" 
by Dream Tale Puppets

ONE DAY ONLY!
Saturday, August 24 at 10:30am & 1pm


About the show: "Jack and the Beanstalk" is a joyous, original adaptation of the classic tale about poor Jack who went to sell his cow for three magic beans and out-witted a boy-eating giant. Jack's daring adventure up the huge beanstalk helps him and his mother out of their difficult financial situation, even if his mother is a bit worried about the moral issues surrounding this unusual way to acquire wealth. Hand puppets, Table Top puppets, Marionettes, and Masks.


About the performer: Dream Tale Puppets is a continuation of the Story and Puppet Time project which began at the Cape Cod Children’s Museum in April 2003.  Jacek Zuzanski has a Master of Art degree from The State Puppetry Institute in Wrocław, Poland, and The Ministry for Art and Culture’s Stage Directing Certificate. Jacek currently teaches acting and puppetry at the Cape Cod Conservatory and at the Falmouth Academy.


Jacek also teaches puppetry at Puppet Showplace, and will be leading a week long performance technique summer camp for ages 7-12, August 26-30. LEARN MORE!

Sunday, August 4, 2013

Hold Onto Your Underpants...

Squirrel On the Loose at Puppet Showplace!

Back by Popular Demand: "Squirrel Stole My Underpants" by Bonnie Duncan



Just when you thought you were having a bad day, nothing makes things more complicated than losing your underpants. However, you did not lose them by accident; they were stolen! In this exciting journey through the imagination, performer Bonnie Duncan takes us on little Sylive's adventure to retrieve her favorite pair of underpants from a silly sneaky squirrel.

Bonnie combines puppetry, dance, original music, and mime in a way that might just knock your socks off- or even your underwear! Will our lonely heroine rescue her underpants and discover the magic within herself? Join us on this adventure to find out!

Showtimes:

August 7-10
Wed-Sat
10:30am & 1pm
BUY TICKETS!

About Bonnie Duncan...

Bonnie Duncan has come a long way since her days growing up in the south competing in dance and swimming competitions. After studying theatre and education in college, Bonnie continued into grad school learning how to make her own costumes while acting in original theatre pieces. The solo puppeteer creates her own award winning productions which she brings to theatres, museums and festivals across the country.

With every performance during her last visit to Puppet Showplace SOLD OUT, it goes to show that Bonnie Duncan's performances are not ones you want to miss!

LIVE MUSIC!

Every performance of "Squirrel Stole My Underpants" this week will be accompanied by live music.  What a special treat!