Voice behind the Puppet, KCBW2009
What is the truth? One persons’ trash is another man’s treasure. A puppet in the hands of a master may move well yet not use words to speak. A doll in the hands of a virtuoso voice proliferate puppeteer may live to evoke more emotion than its human counterpart.
In the world of puppetry there is an organization in the United States called the Puppeteers of America. Ronny Burkett’s new piece investigates one experience.
Timothy gave me some kind of voice. Tool of permission.
How does the audience experience change with each voice? Each style? The rhythms matter and the rhythms cross cultures.
The only crime at PuppetLove was lack of editing. When people understand the limitations of the showcase form and the risks involved…
A gong would have saved us 30 minutes.
I would have gonged the crane show a couple of minutes in to the hand puppets.
Vasily – maybe although he was edgy and out there
Then Katie – the experience of trying so hard just to see what’s going on only to be rewarded with the horror of the little mouse swinging by his neck on a piece of string – strangling to death. “Oh please let the next one be upbeat.”
*Then beautiful, moving, delicate shadow piece by Tony and Roland – their position in he line up hurt them. They could have been first?
*Sarah Frechette – classy – wish Lady Mai had been in the first half – maybe put Bill and Jason at the end of the first or second.
The transitions were very smooth. There was one super long one. I would place Mel and Tootsie with a podium stage right instead of having them rolling around.
How were we to know “PuppetLove” would fire the imagination the way it did. We are so used to not drawing an audience to our adult work, to playing only to puppeteers and their friends and family. Nancy Aldrich,
To Whom it May Concern,
As Publicity Coordinator/Director of Public Relations for Tears of Joy Theatre I wish to issue the following statement:
PuppetLove09-Portland in the Dolores Winningstad Theatre was a huge success but in a weird way. It sold out but the entire third tier left during the first part of the second act. Comments ranged from: “That was exquisite! I want to learn marionettes like that!” to “I’ve seen better things at my son’s grade school,” to “I loved the Frogs.”
Artistic Director of Tears of Joy Theatre believes in collaboration. For the last several years she has been putting together a showcase of puppetry for adults. In the past Tears of Joy Theatre has hosted “Drunk Puppet Night” first conceived in Seattle by Monkey Wrench Puppet Lab. It was fairly well attended but more important to Aldrich, it attracted the attention of puppeteers looking for work. Aaron Lathrop is one such puppeteer who presented his work Saturday night with a talking cell phone, laptop computer and giant projection of Jesus. It was very topical and hi-tech.
PuppetLove09-Portland started with Nancy Aldrich inviting puppeteers in Portland to showcase their work for adults. Most rarely perform this type of work or if they do it’s in a bar or nightclub. When she realized the performance date fell on Valentine’s Day she chose the name PuppetLove also inspired by a festival of the same name in San Francisco mc’d by Ruby.
Who knew that people would expect quality on the level of the symphony, ballet or opera just by virtue of being in the Winningstad or being presented by Tears of Joy Theatre? Tears of Joy Theatre presented these works because they were puppets and local. OK, Vasily didn’t have a puppet. He should have been gonged and gagged. It was only a $16 ticket. We can’t blame people for not liking what they saw, but I stand behind what we presented. Dan Luce’s Frogs were great. Bill and Jason’s piece is hysterical good work. Linda Blakely suggested it might hold the attention of Middle School kids.
Sometimes in puppetry it is important to look for the gems. Sarah Frechette’s last piece alone was worth the Kinsman Foundation’s investment. Perhaps we can smooth this with an edited video of some of the art that was generated from what was essentially seed money for something that could have happened no other way. Maybe Mr. and Mrs. Ashland have seen better work at an elementary school. I suggest it is a simple misunderstanding. This was a low budget event for puppeteers to play in the Winningstad that caught the imaginations of enough people to sell out the house surprising everybody. I suggest they simply had the wrong expectation or idea about the nature of the event.
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Thursday, December 24, 2009
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