IBEX Puppetry
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- Ibex Puppetry presents special treats at the Orlando Fringe this week and next! Expect to see the monsters of Big Nazo and sing along with Davey Rocker's Barnyard Jam.
- Exciting opportunity from The Puppet Company, one of the Puppet Slam Network grant recipients from Maryland--$500 grants for new short puppet works! Find out more here: http://ow.ly/aSASA
- Heather and mother, Jane. Happy Mother's Day, everyone!
- Mourning Maurice Sendak today. Proud to include Maurice's Higglety Pigglety Pop in Vol 5 of Handmade Puppet Dreams Film Series (from the amazing talents of Clyde Henry Productions)
- Our hardworking performers hone their maneuvers in preparation for the Celebration of Flight performance in China.
- We're busy getting ready to perform at the UNIMA festival in Chengdu! Is anyone else going to China?
- Florida's wild natural regions provide us with artistic inspiration and refresh our hearts. They are all precious, but Silver Springs, one of our most iconic wetland areas, is in danger now. Please look at this link from Audubon of Florida News and consider speaking up to defend it.
- Hao Bang Ya, Dragon! today in Del Ray Beach and tomorrow at Pinocchio's Marionette Theater--one day only shows for your family. Please enjoy the wonderful artistry of our friends Chinese Theater Works.
- We're getting ready for our Free Earth Day puppet parades & crafts this weekend! Rollins College and the City of Winter Park, Florida have a lot of exciting family activities planned. Be sure to join us!
- Free Earth Day puppet parades & crafts
- Hao Bang Ya, Dragon!
- Hao Bang Ya, Dragon!
- Hey Orlando: Come join IBEX at the City of Winter Park & Rollins College Earth Day celebration Saturday, April 21st for a day of free family fun! & visit our friends Chinese Theater Works, on tour to Pinocchio's Marionette Theater and the Puppetry Arts Center of the Palm Beaches this month.
- Heather Henson will be performing at the UNIMA 2012 festival in Chengdu, China this spring with her piece "Celebration of Flight", which explores the convergence of puppetry, kiting, and environmental convictions.
- Candid camera: Celebration of Flight's Uber Crane requires an "uber cart" to move! (From our performance at @imamuseum)
- Candid camera time! Heather Henson outdoors during "Celebration of Flight" at the Indianapolis Museum of Art's 100 Acres earlier this month.
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Tweets
- @thepuppetco is offering $500 grants for new short works. Get all the information from our @puppetslam blog, here: http://t.co/BfNI32we
- Pls RT: All free, all Fringe! IBEX presents Big Nazo & Davey Rocker's Barnyard Jam at the Orlando Fringe Festival -- http://t.co/VI3ORCuc
- Love this feature on @thepuppetco, whose Playhouse Puppetry Slam is one of many grant recipients from our @puppetslam: http://t.co/Bu52vQd6
- IBEX invades @orlandofringe this week with monsters and a barnyard jam: http://t.co/nAHmD9ZJ @thedailycity @orlandosentinel @CentralFLTop5
- @puppettreehouse Wish we could see you here... maybe you'll take a vacation next year! ;D
- @puppettreehouse Did you see what we've got in store for the Orlando Fringe? Sneak peek: http://t.co/1jTXFlJC
- Ibex Puppetry presents special monsters and sing alongs at the Orlando Fringe this week and next! http://t.co/UuiJzKLF
- Florida @puppetslam & Handmade Puppet Dreams screening information--coming to Ft. Lauderdale soon: http://t.co/NgGm9Cpx
- Want to screen Handmade Puppet Dreams in your town? Email film@ibexpuppetry.com to find out how easy it can be!
- "I think there is a certain expectation of rudeness." Story w/ Heather Henson & Lyon Hill abt @puppetslam events here: http://t.co/ofF1m1hG
- @nicholaslemon If you book us, we will come. ;)
- Review of HMPD-included artist ("Mr. Pink and Horsey") Leat Klingman's recent gallery and film installation! http://t.co/BK2eNEH0
- @parkcofield Happy to add you to our list of puppeteers. Hope you find many new friends and followers.May 15, 12 from web Reply, Retweet, Favorite
- Are you a puppeteer? Ask to join our list of Twitter puppet people & places, 200+ & growing! Find a new friend today: http://t.co/4fiqf9jY
- You can apply to teach/perform/volunteer at the 2013 Puppeteers of America festival (@PoA_rEvolution) until May 31st: http://t.co/Rk57Hgmn
- Handmade Puppet Dreams screenings are opportunities for puppet community. See how we fit into @voice4vision this year: http://t.co/0qWoST8h
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- May 07, 11
- May 06, 11
What a great celebration of puppet films! We screened nine Handmade Puppet Dreams, with four filmmakers in attendance - David Michael Friend (Moonfishing), Scotty Shoemaker (Harker), myself Sam K. Hale (Yamasong) and Kevin McTurk (Narrative of Victor Karloch). Other filmmaker's shorts included Matty Sidle, Paul Andrejco, Genevieve Anderson, Steve Johnson, Frankie Cordero and Lyon Hill. Afterward, we were treated to the new documentary "Puppet", which shows filmmaker David Soll's outsider's look into the work of Dan Hurlin and Co. as they develop the show "Disfarmer". Very intriguing and revealing as to the hurdles, challenges, and longing for respect in live puppet theater. I highly recommend it. - May 01, 11
I'm here at Newport Beach Film Festival with filmmakers David Michael Friend and Scott Shoemaker. Gearing up for our screenings at 1pm today! David will be premiering his new amazing and charming film "Moonfishing" about a character who has to fish for moonlight to restore light to his village. We will also be joined by Kevin McTurk who will be giving us a teaser of his new Victorian ghost story puppet film "Narrative of Victor Karloch"! Shall be a wonderful day of puppet short films!
- Apr 06, 11
Thinking of going to the National Puppetry Festival in Atlanta, GA this year? Want to participate in the Puppet Cabaret? According to Beau Brown, the Cabaret curator, the deadline for submissions has been extended to April 14th.
The Puppet Slam Network is offering $300.00 Travel Grants (one per Slam) to help get some of your amazing works to the Cabaret. Use these forms to submit your work for the Cabaret:
Please feel free to contact Beau Brown with any questions you might have. - Mar 31, 11In preparing for our Puppet Slam Network Presentation at the Puppetry and Postdramatic Performance Conference this week, I was looking over the answers to our annual Puppet Slam Survey where we asked the question:How can a Puppet Slam Network could best help you?
Many of the slam organizers mentioned touring slam acts as a way the Puppet Slam Network could help, and I am delighted to say that we will be offering a travel grant to qualified performers who are interested in performing in the PofA Cabaret this year with the deadline extended to Friday, April 14th. Details and Submission forms can be found at the PofA website. Please contact Beau Brown at beau.brown@gmail.com with Submissions.My presentation Slamposium: The New American Vaudeville and the Puppet Slam Network will be held on Friday, April 1st at DRMU Room 228 at the University of Connecticut (Storrs). Thanks everyone for your input and well thought out answers. Please email me and let me know if you plan on attending the conference and the Puppet Slam Network presentation at puppetslam@mac.comBest, MarsianHow can a Puppet Slam Network could best help you?
Click below to read what people are saying!Keeping us in contact with other puppeteers so we can present new puppet artists at our slams in San Diego. We can also plan to travel to other regions and participate in their slams.***I want to learn how to use the network and utilize the ways it can help All the Saints Theater Company grow, and connect with other puppeteers and public puppet enthusiasts.***Want to connect to other Midwest Slams, also try to attract some of the puppeteers from both coasts to come slam with us (we’re not that far away!)***Connecting with puppetry artists and publicizing our events***It would increase interest in the slams as well as reach folks that haven’t heard about this form of short-form puppetry. Puppetry is mostly seen as a simple art form that speaks only to children, but it’s so much more! I strive to bring that fact to light here in Portland.***We appreciate being connected to a national network of puppeteers interested in performing at Romps.***A network to share acts would be of the most assistance. It would also be great to be able to share other resources (travel tips, touring ideas, banding together for additional funding from other sources)***We’re always interested in bringing acts in from the region, and always open to HPD films as well as amateur film work.***It will help to let other artists and curators hear about the work we are presenting here in LA. Conversely, it will help us to know about other artists and curators around the country, and possibly lead to presenting some of these artists in our cabaret. It will also help us in terms of national visibility.***No Answer***This could help people outside of the CalArts find out about the Puppet Cabaret.***Last year we had an audience of 20 people. This year we had over 50 people. I feel that the network helped us achieve a higher number of audience members. We had a raffle for the O’Neill at our August slam and, due to our larger house, we were able to raise $250! In part thanks to the Slam Network.***Keeping informed of other slams and artists can only help build the Slam Nation and aid in traveling from one city to another with a piece. Carole and Liz have both come from NY to do our slam, and that is something I would love to continue.***Will bring more and better artists out to perform***..I’m glad to see that the project has taken off and that it has grown so large. For the past 3 years I did not know there was a directory, and that it was such a network.***Puppet Slam Network can offer HOBT information and models on how to organize and market puppet slams. HOBT is also available as a venue for other puppet slams***Full Moon is a puppet-specific cabaret, open to all puppet artists and forms of puppetry. Being part of a network is a great way for us to meet national puppet artists. Also many regular performers at Full Moon tour and appreciate the connection with potential performing opportunities.***One of our major goals at Links Hall is to foster opportunities for work that originates here to have a life beyond it. We believe performance-based artists can best grow both their craft and their art through live performance, particularly before audiences of strangers. We were delighted that Meredith Miller, who was asked to create a new work for our toy theater festival in February, was subsequently asked to bring her work “The Abduction” to Minneapolis’ Open Eye Figure Theater’s puppet festival and to Great Small Work’s International Toy Theater Festival. She had told Links Hall’s director that prior to being asked to be part of the Links Hall festival, she hadn’t created a new work of her own in two years because she had been working so much on other artists’ works. The Puppet Slam Network would be a huge help in identifying places where new work generated here could have further life and create opportunity for artistic exchange between cities.***Connection to other groups who are organizing….we are pretty isolated here. Also we would like other people to know what we are doing….so if they are passing through PR they can contact.***No Response***It would be good if worthy artists could tour from one slam to another, in a “Slam Circuit.”***To open a pathway for a ‘performer trade’ pool and insure that slams that happen in the same region have variety. Also to help other Slam Coordinators plan their dates around one another’s events, so there is little crossover.***A Puppet Slam Network could: Help us broaden our artist-base by providing a place to post our artist-invitations beyond our regional mailing lists. Help us broaden our audience-base by providing a place to post our eventannouncements beyond our regional mailing lists. Keep us informed of slams throughout the country. Create a nationwide awareness of the Puppet Slam Movement, generating heightened public interest in such events.***No Answer***To get the word out.***Getting the word out that we accept and show video shorts.***Connecting slam curators with each other. Possibly a slam curator summit!***The V4V Festival aims to support and encourage NYC artists who are making work for puppetry. For the Puppet Art Attacks Slam, we like to challenge artists (from anywhere) to create short and succinct works and hope that this exercise advances their artistic growth and maturity. We also want to excite audiences with the breathless variety of form and expression that puppetry has to offer, in one evening of fast paced theatre-- in a decidedly community based environment of mutual support and excitement. We would like to send our participating artists out to other festivals and slams with the work that they bring to our festival-and we would love to afford to bring artists from distant areas to share their work with us—but we can’t help them financially. All we can do is “trumpet” them to the best of our abilities and with the limited resources we have. If a Puppet Slam Network could raise funds to help with expenses of travel and accommodations for a few --who are selected yearly to bring their short works to the wide array of Slams now cropping up—that would benefit us-as presenters--BUT-it would also provide an incredible boost of confidence for those artists who would receive this honor. The return in this investment is more high caliber work from the selected artists in the future, and for the artists who will create work in response to the challenge to be selected for the honor. Competition ensues-but it is important to make sure it is perceived as self competition rather than competition against others. One must make her/his own best work and defeating others has nothing to add to this goal. It would be great if it could help with advertising! If it could help post information to other sites, guilds, list serves, and advertising sources that would be great!***No Response***I think that being a part of the network would attract new artists to our evenings and help raise awareness about our evenings which we hope will attract younger and emerging acts as well.***Communication is always important. It’s good to have a centralized place to learn about other slams, make sure our schedules don’t conflict, etc. It’s good to have a hub for the community.***Referring performers to us, helping to defray costs for travel, helping to support the development of quality new works***Being in Arizona, we have a limited supply of puppeteers from which to draw; it would be nice if the Network put us in touch with puppeteers who would like to come and perform as Guest Artists (or would like us to come and perform at their Slams).***The puppet slam would definitely help puppeteers in other cities know about us. In addition, our venue is in a very diverse neighborhood in Southwest Baltimore that is cut off from downtown by an expressway. The neighborhood is underserved by cultural organizations, and the theater has long provided an important service by offering performances. The Slam Series would provide valuable performance programming for the area, and increase foot traffic in the neighborhood at night. Events at Black Cherry generally draw a very socially diverse audience, helping to build community. The slam series will also help to build an audience for puppetry in Baltimore.***We would love to meet more puppeteers that could potentially tour to DC. We’d also love to know of more slams where we could tour to.***No Answer***Connection to other groups who are organizing….we are pretty isolated here. Also we would like other people to know what we are doing….so if they are passing through PR they can contact.***It is exciting to feel part of a national community of puppetry experimenters. It is also useful to have our events promoted through this network, and to be notified about events happening around the country.***Linking to our website? helping us figure out whom to ask to perform at our slams (i.e., suggestions…)***We would love to connect and network with other puppeteers from outside of Asheville. This past slam we were fortunate to meet Hannah Miller and Jack Fields from Orlando, who were able to come up to Asheville with support from IBEX (Thank you!). We want to travel and perform at other puppet slams, and we want to support a community and exchange of ideas with other puppet slams around the country. Having a Puppet Slam Network can help facilitate this.***No Answer*** - Mar 28, 11Members of the Ibex family were excited to receive an invitation to a Muppets-themed group art exhibit planned by Orlando-area locals Benjamin Sawinski and Tracy Brown.
The event will be at the funky Metrowest location Achille's Art Cafe on Saturday, April 16th. Here's a taste of what to expect (by Vaughn Belak, one of the more than 13 contributing artists): - Mar 28, 11Puppet Slam Network SLAM ALERT!There are several puppet slams occurring just a few hours away from one another over the course of one week. It's great to see slam curators coordinating to create circuits like this so that performers can travel short distances to share their craft with each other as well as new audiences. Check it out:
- May 20th, 2011 Blood From A Turnip (Providence)
- May 21st, 2011 Puppet Showplace Slam (Brookline, MA)
- May 25th, 2011 PUNCH (NYC)
- May 27th & 28th, 2011 Puppet Playlist (NYC)
Hey, we're so helpful, we even mapped all the theaters for you:If you are arranging, performing at, or just curious about Puppet Slams, you should sign up for the Puppet Slam Network email list. Every month you'll get an update about what Puppet Slams are happening, when, and where!If you host (or are planning to host) a Puppet Slam, you can contact PuppetSlam@Mac.com to have your event added to the Puppet Slam Network's database. To learn more about the Puppet Slam Network, go to the Puppet Slam Network homepage! - Mar 22, 11
Here is a review of the Hive Gallery talkback on "Yamasong", an IBEX Puppetry short film. The talkback featured Sam Koji Hale and composer Shoji Kameda. Enjoy!
http://graphation.com/blog/2011/03/have-puppet-will-follow/ - Apr 08, 11
We had a GREAT turnout last night for "Yamasong" @ The Hive Gallery & Studio in L.A.! Full house of mostly young artists connected with the Hive Gallery (fantastic art space!) -discussed the artist's lifestyle, conceptualizing scale and sculpture, the critical role of music in film. I even got into a little about Gaston Bachelard's "Poetics of Space" - a book I read in art school. Deep reading on art philosophy, but very inspiring stuff!
Shoji Kameda of On Ensemble, "Yamasong's" composer was great partner on the talkback - I always get excited by his energy and enthusiasm! He and I tag-teamed how we met (at a live puppet show I did called "The Fox Lantern") and the coincidental overlap in his creating a song about climbing a mountain and my deriving a fantastic journey up a mountain without him telling me that's what the song was about!
And after the talkback we sat down for a screening of "The Dark Crystal", which is always inspiring to watch! Love that film!
NEXT UP: Handmade Puppet Dreams at Newport Beach Film Festival on May 1st. Mark your calendars and come see highlights of the Handmade Puppet Dreams series! - Mar 17, 11
Graphation @ The Hive featuring "Yamasong"
Time: Thursday, March 17 · 8:00pm - 11:00pm
Location: The Hive Gallery and Studios, 729 S. Spring St., Los Angeles, CA
Join Sam Hale, director of the Handmade Puppet Dreams film "Yamasong", and Shoji Kameda, composer of the song that inspired the short film, plus the puppet stars and of course the film, YAMASONG. Followed by a Q&A with Sam and Shoji and one of the Jim Henson masterpieces that inspired Yamasong, The Dark Crystal.
Watch the Yamasong trailer here:
http://bit.ly/yamasongteaser
Watch the trailer for The Dark Crystal here:
http://bit.ly/darkcrystal
Hope to see you there! - Mar 11, 11
Watching the Davey Rocker Barnyard Jam show is difficult. Difficult to focus on, I mean, because the swarm of toddlers leaping about the stage will distract you with their joyful jumps and delightful dance moves. See for yourself in this video, compiled during their 2010 Orlando Puppet Festival performance at Lake Eola:
The Barnyard Jam is the collaboration of Orlando-area locals David Schweizer and a few local puppeteers/builder, including John Kennedy (no, not THAT John Kennedy--this one) and "Wavy Davy" Jordan. The bright, charming character of John Kennedy's puppets (featured in the video above) immediately set the mood for positivity and fantasy. No surprise, since Kennedy has been an official Muppeteer for years and penned two books on puppet-building. Jordan is a prop and puppet maker as well as a Nickelodeon veteran. His clever caterpillar can be seen in this clip:
Schweizer has put his considerable skills as a songwriter and performer to work to create kid-friendly music that can be enjoyed by adults, too. Known for his original pop music as well as his legendary bluegrass shows, he is also respected as a producer (he owns and manages Richter Records & Studio). TIP: If you listen closely to the catchy, upbeat songs in The Barnyard Jam's repertoire, you will recognize the voice of local folk queen Terri Binion!Bring your kids or just treat your inner child to the Davey Rocker's Barnyard Jam at the Winter Park Art Festival! It's March 19th (that's a Saturday) at 1:15 PM.Learn more at http://daveyrocker.com/index.html
by Hannah - Mar 07, 11Upon entering the Orlando Ibex office, you may notice a female figure sitting in the corner.Her head wilts forward, making her seem more a dormant spirit than an object. Despite her compacted, limbless anatomy, she is unmistakably feminine. The facial features are delicate, the torso is composed solely of exaggerated breasts, and the lower body borrows the form of a skirt. She is a creature of nature, draped in greenery,with veins beneath the translucent skin that echo a leaf's venation. The pole at her center is like the trunk of a tree, rooting into the base.This figure is one of Heather’s creations from Heart of Coal, which was in the 2008 Orlando Fringe Festival. An allegory about the destructive practice of mountaintop removal, it used shadow puppets, actors, and puppets. It was one of the first times I saw Heather’s work, and epitomized everything that is distinctive about her style: the emphasis on femininity, nature, and light. This emphasis extends to the background elements, which relate to the design of the Earth Mother’s breasts.The background’s translucency allowed them to function as shadow puppet stages, adding another layer of reality to the storytelling.A great deal of work went into the creation of these beautiful translucent pieces.Even the King’s industrial, inorganic form is given extra life by the inclusion of illuminated panels.The strength of Heart of Coal’s artistic designs was part of what drew my interest to Heather’s company in early 2008. The knowledge that I would work on similar projects excited me when I joined later that year. Though time has dulled my memories of the show’s plot and characters, I still recall the ethereal beauty of those veiny, undulating hills.Photos were taken by Billy Kid and edited by Jack Fields.To learn more about mountaintop removal, visit: http://www.ilovemountains.orgBy Jack
- Mar 07, 11"My Dear Lewis" by Kyle Loven6th Annual Orlando Puppet FestivalFriday, December 3rd, 2010Gallery at Avalon Island
The moment he ripped the hair from his own head, just a foot or two away from me in the intimate Theater at Avalon Island, the watery state of my eyes recalled me to myself. I had forgotten I had a body or a name. Placeless and weightless for the first half of the show, I was enthralled by the dark whimsy and mystery of Kyle Loven’s “My Dear Lewis”.
Kyle was brought to Orlando from his base in Seattle as part of IBEX Puppetry’s annual Orlando Puppet Festival and his low-tech, emotionally draining show was arguably the highlight of an exciting and diverse weekend of puppet-oriented theater.
It was the revelation of the main character’s heart, emerging pale and anatomically correct from its place in a locked box padded with hairs torn from the protagonists’ head, that connected me directly to the story. I ceased being an observer and found myself in Lewis-the Everyman, the Eternal Soul-as he looked back through all the lives and loves he’d experienced and struggled to find a foothold in the muddy limbo between sleep and waking, between birth and death as he hovered partially aware in the collective unconsciousness where our memories hide to preserve themselves.
“My Dear Lewis” plays with archetypical oppositions such as Heaven and Hell, mind and body, and, of course, man and woman, illustrating with extremes everything that exists between and because of extremes. Like soft muscle flexing against tough bone to create movement, memories arise from the interplay of these extremes in our lives. To stretch this idea further, Kyle’s puppetry also experiments with actor/object, fire/water, light/dark, and imagery/words. This constant attention to conflict means that, while watching “My Dear Lewis”, you cannot overlook the irresolvable clash at the center of human existence: we live to remember, we remember to forget, and ultimately… we live to die.
All of this intensity is tempered by clever visual humor and tender details. The desk atop which “My Dear Lewis” comes alive is scratched and dotted with paint. Stitches on fabric pieces are visible; so are the carving marks on the unfinished wood puppets. Lines of newspaper text are legible on the papier-mâché puppets. The hair on a child marionette is Kyle’s own.
Find out more about Kyle Loven's latest exploits at http://www.kyleloven.com/
by Hannah - Mar 07, 11
Had our Handmade Puppet Dreams screening today at Clinton Street Theater and what a great audience Portland was! Attendance was impressive!! Our Q&A went well, where I was joined by Jesse Gregg and Ashley Burke, fellow collaborators on the short film "Yamasong". Portland was an amazing experience. Thank you Katie McClenahan of Beady Little Eyes and Tears of Joy for a great event!! - Feb 21, 11
Don't forget, "Handmade Puppet Dreams" Volume 1 screens at Clinton Street Theater in Portland tomorrow (2/20) at 2 pm! Includes a special screening of "Yamasong" and a Q&A panel of the film's artists as well!
- Mar 07, 11
Michael Curry Studio HOW AMAZING! Giant parade puppets, creatures, dinosaurs, and one of the most organized and well-thought out studios I've ever been in. They embody one of my important puppet building concepts - BUILD LIGHT! They love composite materials, especially carbon-fiber, tubing, etc., lots of hoop structure, inflatables.... Brilliant stuff. The place where art and design dance together. All of this in the middle of dairy farms! If you're ever in Portland and can visit, DO IT! - Mar 07, 11
- Mar 07, 11
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Posts
- May 17, 12Looking for advice on starting a slam or being a better puppet slam artist? Find out what leading puppet slam curators and performers had to say when we posed the question: What advice do you have for up and coming slam artists or curators who are just starting out? Have something to add? Continue the conversation on our Facebook page…Evan O’Television - Blood From a Turnip #ProvidenceMaintain a spirit of adventurousness and experimentation but also never forget the importance of the audience. What is the journey you are hoping to take them on? How successful are you? Whenever experimental work forgets to continuously engage or reward the audience then it misses the inherently conversational nature of live theater and risks being over-indulgent.AlexanderWinifield Pirate Puppet Cabaret #LondonDon’t be afraid of failing miserably, or looking like an idiot. There is nothing so dangerous, nor full of potential, as a man unafraid of looking like an idiot. Try not to make a habit of it, is all.KatPleviak - Puppet Meltdown #ChicagoMake each performance the very best it can be on the day you do it and take pride in your work! Have fun, share work, learn and grow and live!Deborah Hunt - Sobre La Mesa Puppet SlamNoches de Cabaret #SanJuanJust do it!Enda O. Breadon - Kolohe Puppet Slam #HonoluluI’d tell them to give me advice. I am making this shit up as I go and I really have no idea what I’m doing.
Alissa Hunnicutt - New Brew #Brooklyn
I think a lot of your interview subjects have suggested going to a slam if you're interested in participating in slams. I totally agree. See what other artists in your area are doing. It's inspiring. I am also a huge cheerleader for The National Puppetry Conference at The O'Neill Theater Center. Your readers hear that name a ton too, I'm sure. The participant pieces that are developed in the evenings are where a lot of the slam content comes from in my circle of peers. In a few days you are exposed to so many different methods and techniques for creating short form puppetry. Plus it's a very tight network of puppeteers who have leads on performance opportunities, become fast friends, and it has a very special place in my heart.
Gepetta - Performer-At-Large #Philadelphia
The best advice I was given was from writer/performer Ryka Aoki, while I was on the Tranny Roadshow. She said something along the lines of if you are nervous you need to channel that energy into the performance. The best performances I have done are when I want to pee my pants a little.
Honey Goodenough - Puppet Pandemic #NYC
Above all, be good to your performers. There can be a lot of stress related to producing an event, but if you want people to continue to work with you it must be worthwhile for the performers. We have to support this art form, from the ground up! So work hard, be kind, and have fun!
Roxie Myhrum - Puppet Showplace Slam #Brookline
Document your work! It's a pain in the ass, but it's well worth it--if a curator can see you looking awesome and rocking it out at one slam, they'll want you to do the same at their venue. Also, see lots of work! It's easy to get stuck in the studio or to be swamped by your own projects. You'll grow as an artist by getting out more!
Jessica Simon - Nasty, Brutish and Short: A Puppet Cabaret #Chicago
Try and see a lot of stuff, talk to people after shows, ask veterans to do something with you.
Valeska Populoh - Puppet Slamwich #Baltimore
Go watch a lot of performers. See what makes people laugh and respond. See what works and what doesn't. Don't be discouraged if your first performances flop or have flaws. Keep performing and making more work and seeing more work and talking to other performers in order to learn and grow!
Beau Brown - Puckin’ Fuppet Show #Atlanta
National Puppet Slam #Atlanta
DO IT! Start a slam! Crash an open mic night with your puppets! Make videos! Keep throwing stuff at the wall till it sticks! Something will and it will be awesome!
Valerie Meiss - Wham Bam Puppet Slam #Asheville
Do it! Do it now! And promote it, and promote it as an adult show, so you don't have to deal with upset people. (It shouldn't be a big deal, but sometimes it is.) And have fun with it! And send me an email if you have questions, I feel like I'm able to help out sometimes! And I've asked a bunch of questions myself, so I know whom to recommend.
Carole D'Agostino - Performer-At-Large #NYC
Go see shows, take notes. Make your own shows and rehearse the heck out of them. When you travel, bring your own tape and extension cords. You have something to learn from everyone- and it's a good idea to be aware. Also, save all your receipts- these events are tax write-offs. This is your career!
Cathy Shaw – Puppet Art Attacks #NYCThe messiest parts are the changeovers. You need someone who will run and organize the changeovers. I like it when all of the participating artists are part of making the event work - it really establishes a community fast. They should each have a part to do in the changeovers. Then you need someone to carefully go through the pieces with each artist, setting cues in a cue-to-cue fashion, building light and sound cues only - NO RUN THROUGHS! We are able to do 10 or 12 acts in 2 hours and all the cues are executed near perfect in the show. I do that, facilitating communications between the designers and the Stage Manager and the Board Ops and keeping things moving forward.
The artists may not be used to writing out a script (or they might say there isn't any dialogue, or that their piece is easy, just lights up lights down) - but still they have to write out a narrative in advance that the stage manager can use to record her cues (if he/she will be calling the show.) Otherwise the Board Ops need something that they can refer to during the show to jog their memory for the cues. All of the pieces might be easy separately, but put together it is an hour or more show with a lot going on. So, the artists must write a script that the crew can use to record what they need to record to run the cues as efficiently as possible. Even knowing if they will be onstage behind the host frozen to start, or if they will enter in darkness after the host has introduced them - all of this must be written in a script - its all part of how their piece resonates--so they should take care of every single detail and write it in a script they can give people who will execute cues for their piece. They should get it to you in advance. Digital is best because the Stage Manager can format it just the way they like to write in cues. - May 14, 12VanessaGilbert is a collaborative theatre artist based in Providence, where she hosts Blood from A Turnip – Rhode Island’s only late night puppet salon. Vanessa produces and directs theatrical works of varying scales, from miniature puppet theatre to multi-day performance festivals, and opera. In her 17 years with Perishable Theatre, Vanessa has directed and produced scores of plays and events. At Perishable, she founded both Blood from a Turnip and the Resident Artist at Perishable Theatre program. She instigated Magdalena USA, to date the only Magdalena Project event in the United States. Vanessa is an associate artist with Sleeping Weazel, an expansive theatre company based in Boston and on the internet.Photo: Marilyn Fontenrose, 2012Marsian: How long have you been involved with Puppet Slams?Vanessa Gilbert: My first slam experience was inventing Blood from a Turnip, our salon in Providence, RI. I thought that Jeremy Woodward and I invented the concept, not knowing that a sister event, the Puppet Slam at the Puppet Showplace in Brookline, MA was going strong at the time. Jeremy and I wanted a venue to showcase both our own short puppet shows (we were the purveyors of The LunchCart Circus, the only circus in the world with a snack for the audience at the end of the show) and those of artists who were starting to work with puppets in their own work. Being in a city with an innovative art school (the inimitable Rhode Island School of Design) and a hip liberal arts school (Brown University) has provided a steady stream of performers. Some of the most memorable shows that we have presented were made by sculptors or visual artists who found their way to puppets as an extension of their art practice. Once I met Kristen McLean, then the director of the Puppet Showplace and the mind behind their Puppet Slam, I was introduced to the concept.Marsian: What was the very first Blood from a Turnip like?VG: I believe that our first Blood from a Turnip featured short shows by students at the University of Connecticut at Storrs’ Puppetry Program as well as Evan O’Television, whose video ventriloquism was just starting to make the rounds of the incipient puppet circuit. Another early salon showcased a sculpture student at RISD who performed a mysterious show that involved a rotating board, small plastic animals, and a farm animal speak and say toy.M: What is the funniest, freakiest, edgiest, or weirdest show you have seen?VG: Running the salon in the way we do has made for some very memorable experiences. I am thinking in particular of a show called HamBot, the Robot Hamlet, in which the lead artist adapted the entirety of Hamlet into an toy theatre show as envisaged by the B-film director Ed Wood. Because the artist was working with the whole play, he didn’t take into account our time constraint of 10 minutes and after about 15 minutes of somewhat stilted object manipulation, the audience caught on that we were in for the full ride of Hamlet as told through a robot figurine, which had a very mechanical character voice as you would expect a robot to do. The entire audience went on a ride of discomfort and then eventual acceptance and euphoria by the end of the 30 minutes when it ended. We joked afterward that we ought to have t-shirts printed with the slogan, “ I Survived Hambot.”M: What inspired you to start hosting a Blood from a Turnip?VG: With scenic designer Jeremy Woodward, I co-founded Blood from a Turnip, one of the first puppet slams in the circuit. We started just months after Kristen McLean started the slam at the Puppet Showplace Theatre in Brookline, MA. This was in 1996/97. As well as working with Big Nazo Puppets, Jeremy and I were making shows collaboratively as well as individually and started noticing that other artists were finding puppets too. We decided to create Blood from a Turnip as a venue for artists to perform their shows, which were often quite different than their other work. This led us to the wonderful underground scene of puppets for adults. We determined that Blood from a Turnip would have the following qualities:1. Blood from a Turnip would be a salon, not a slam. Slam connotes competition and we wanted there to be only winners at the end of the evening.2. We would welcome anyone who had a puppet show or thought that they had a puppet show. It was important to open the door to people who were new to puppetry in addition to the seasoned professionals. We adopted a “ If you are so moved to do a show, we will present you” attitude that has served us well for 15 years3. We would limit the acts to 10 minutes.4. We would be a late night event; we wanted to serve adult audiences both to reclaim puppetry as a form for adult enjoyment as well as provide an alternative to going to a club.5. We would ask a local musician to provide “charming and personable musical interludes” between the actsM: Wow, you just got bullet pointy at me! Anything else?VG: There were other rules that have gone by the wayside over the past decade and a half; for instance, when we began, we hosted a communal dinner for the performers that always featured turnip as an ingredient. We also started out as a monthly event, with 9-10 shows per year. After a year of constantly having to program and publicize the salon, we settled on a 5 show per year formula that has served us well.M: You had a series of co-hosts…V: Jeremy and I would co-host, but after three or four years, we were eager to move on to other things, even though we loved Blood from a Turnip. At that time, Jeremy and I split the hosting duties between us and I invited you, Marsian, to join me. What fun times we had, no?M: It was so many moons ago. We’ve become different people and yet remained the..VG: ..Right, and when you left us for graduate school, I invited my husband David Higgins and my puppet husband, Evan O’Television, to become part of the producing/curation staff. We have also been joined as a host by Nicky Heart and playwright/puppeteer Amanda Weir.M: What gap do you think puppet slams fill that is not filled by other forms of puppetry?VG: Slams are a place to celebrate adults who still play with dolls and enjoy the thrilling exchange of energy between a performer, an object, and an audience. Even though there is a place for puppetry in the neo-vaudeville circuit, Slams (and Salons) provide a focus on unmitigated delight. Don’t we need more unmitigated delight?M: Who are some other artists on the puppet slam circuit who you are inspired by?VG: Pretty much every performer who comes through our doors is inspiring to me. Artists are not on the slam circuit to make money, so there is a no-holds-barred sensation about their pieces. Some of our more recent folks include Kim Mikenis, The Human Light Box, who makes naughty and hilarious shadow puppet pieces that she performs within a shower curtain stage; Liz Joyce of Goat on a Boat puppet theatre on Long Island, whose hand puppet shows make me guffaw; and Carole D'Agostino, who is really an excellent puppeteer with remarkable comedic timing. I also really love the folks who bring us their first puppet shows. Beth Nixon of Ramshackle Enterprises made one of her first puppet shows for Blood from a Turnip, and now she is touring the NorthEast with her work. Folks don't always know where the puppet is going to lead them.M: What pieces do you have in circulation to perform in puppet slams?VG: I recently revised an object theatre piece that is a retelling of the Vasilisa, the Beautiful fairy tale in which Vasilisa is a small wooden match. The story is a Russian version of Cinderella, really, in which Vasilisa is sent out to the deep dark woods by her evil stepmother and stepsisters to fetch some fire from Baba Yaga, a witch who purportedly eats humans and makes their bones into the gates of her chicken-footed hut. Not too many theatres may be happy about hosting the piece as I light a match; none of this LED fire substitute for this girl.M: Well hopefully, you won’t get blacklisted from this interview. Where do you see the Puppet Slam Network in the future?VG: I think that the Puppet Slam Network has had a critical impact on the connectivity of all of our separate performances. Because of the PSN, I feel as though I can call folks all across the country for inspiration and guidance.M: Do you have any exciting news announcements that you would like to drop here first, exclusively on our Puppet Slam Blog for the tens of hundreds of readers?!?VG: On Friday May 18th, we are retiring the late-night format for some prime-time slots that will allow us to have longer shows. We are reuniting the entire gang of hosts in person or via Skype to give back the night.M: It’s a date!VG: I am quite looking forward to it. I will probably wear a dress, which rarely happens.M: Do you expect any backlash? Never mind... You heard it here first!
- May 10, 12For the last 15 years, the performer known as Evan O'Television has hit the slam circuit as both sides of his comedy act with his television alter ego. Evan frequently performs at puppet slams in Providence and Boston. For a decade, he produced PAN 9, a multi-genre variety show event out of an artist's loft in Allston, which hosted one of the earliest Boston area puppet slams. Recently, Evan has been co-hosting Blood From a Turnip, which will have its final late night iteration on May 19th. Evan's feature-length show "Evan O'Television in Double Negatives" traveled to the New York International Fringe Festival.
Blood From a Turnip #Providence, Evan O’Television, Photo: David Higgins
Marsian: What was you most disasterous slam experience?
Evan O'Television: One of Kristin McLean's occasional collaborators was the director of The Revolving Museum - an organization that curated site specific shows at various different locations all around Boston. The director of the Revolving Museum had set up a show for First Night (New Year's Eve) Boston that he populated primarily with Puppet Slam performers. He asked me to perform at it. It was at the Cyclorama in Boston and there was a very cool set, and we were all in different rooms of a mocked-up house. People were encouraged to wander around and it was definitely a very cool set up if you were a more interactive performer. But the problem was that I was performing a 15 minute version of the "Ex Machina" show I described earlier. And this piece also now included an audience-plant routine. The biggest issue is that my pieces are narrative and definitely require the undivided attention of an audience. Here, we were playing a venue where people would essentially wander through look at what we were doing for about 2 minutes and then move on. Because I perform with a recording it's difficult to stop or start over and nearly impossible to improvise. So we just kept performing it over and over, often with no one in our space and just me and my friend and collaborator Mark Myatt (who was my audience "plant" originally intended to blend in with the never-constant audience). Most of the time we were performing for no one, or else for people who took a brief interest akin to viewing animals in a zoo.
M: What did you take away from that experience?
EO: After performing in this show I have always taken pains to clarify that any show I am booked at is organized as a theatrical performance and not an "installation" style environment.
M: How could your slam circuit grow?EO: I definitely would like to see more connection and sharing of acts from Boston and Providence up to Vermont, with Sandglass, and obviously Bread and Puppet. So many performers I have enjoyed over the years have spent time in Vermont and yet, we still haven't fully been able to make Western Mass and Vermont a consistent part of a circuit down to Boston and Providence. There's plenty of work still to be done on making the loop from New York to Providence to Boston and back more regular and fruitful. Even though there has been some success with mini-tours in recent years we can always do more. It would be also be cool to extend the performer's circuit up to Maine, which has always seemed to be rich with talent (Frogtown Mountain Puppeteers come to mind).
M: And Nancy Andrews is up there too!
EO: I would love to see a slam circuit that brought more performers from Vermont, Western Mass. and Maine down to Boston and Providence, perhaps though UConn and on to New York, Philly and maybe even D.C.... and of course, vice-versa.
M: Tell us about a fabulous failure and what you've learned from it.
EO: There was an early show, probably the 5th or 6th piece I created as Evan O' Television, where I had a lousy idea for a very odd and awkward premise, where the TV and the live performer would start by speaking for many minutes entirely in synchronized speech, saying the exact same things, almost like a chant, and then a breakdown in our synchronized presentation would happen and we would separate into our usual argument mode. One problem was that I was under-rehearsed so I was genuinely screwing up the synchronized speaking before the built-in intentional screw-up" could happen. But it was basically too convoluted and too elaborate a performance idea with very little payoff to recommend it. It taught me a lot about how I need to simplify and shape my ideas in the writing and recording stage before I got to the performance stage. And it also taught me that when I am attempting something very stylistic different within my formula, I need to allow for even more rehearsal time.
M: Why are Puppet Slams important to you?EO: I love Puppet Slams because they are some of the only shows you can attend and still see things you didn't expect to see. There are very often surprises, in terms of what kind of performance someone sharing, and what their particular angle or interpretation of puppetry is. It is also great that very often the participants are a mixture of pros and amateurs, newbies and veterans. You not only have very good odds for seeing something completely unexpected, but you also could see something astonishingly professional in its execution, and sometimes both within the same performance.
M: What inspires you to create a puppet slam piece?
EO: I wish I knew where my ideas came from so that I might burn a fire under them and become magically way more prolific. Most of my ideas are about situations I can imagine the TV and I struggling with onstage. If you have seen any of my performances, it's pretty clear that they are all built around a some performance goal that is thwarted or that the TV and I ultimately become distracted from in some way, or ultimately fail at.
So I guess the seeds of my pieces always are twofold:
1. What would be interesting to watch the Evan on the TV and I try to do?
2. What is a new, interesting and entertaining way for us to fail at that goal?
I also always like to play with breaking the audience boundaries and pursuing new ways to interact with the audience, because the more I do that, the less restricted and trapped I feel by the fact that I am performing with a recording. Finally, in recent years, I have looked for new ways that circumstantially or plot-wise my live-performer character can sometimes get the upper hand or grab some power from the TV, because the Evan on the television is so often the more charismatic comedic star of my show. I like to occasionally have the straight-man win one.
M: Who are some other artists on the puppet slam circuit that you are inspired by?EO: At a Blood From A Turnip show that Vanessa Gilbert organized on the Brown Campus many years ago, there was a really amazing shadow show, I think it was The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, by the Drama of Works. That really blew me away. It absolutely pushed the most cinematic potential of shadow shows in ways I've never seen. You had a piece in that show as well, Marsian, your Michael Jackson's Zoo storybook piece which I really enjoyed in all of its perverse splendor.
M: Go on!EO: I especially liked the way it was reminiscent of Children's TV - just you sitting there with the giant book, that you opened up and the puppets came out of. I have always loved how quickly you are able to immerse the audience in the uniqueness of your world. As you know I also loved every iteration of Growing Up Linda, that I have seen and really enjoyed it when you revived it at my Itching Man show at the Coolidge Corner.
M: Well thanks for the trip down memory lane...
EO: Sarah Frechette is always one of my faves, though I haven't seen her perform in a while, not since she moved West. I'm just mesmerized by her power to make herself invisible through her Marionette skills and I love the puppets that she builds. The Man on the Burning Trapeze, I believe was the name of a piece she used to do that used to give me chills it was so good.
M: Anyone else?EO: Last Winter in New York at the Hellzapoppin' Puppets show I saw Carla Rhodes for the first time and I was in awe. It was just so exciting, to see someone who, like me, is playing around thematically with updating vaudeville traditions - but unlike me, has absolute real-deal chops and virtuosity regarding the traditional twin talents of puppeteering and ventriloquism. Also, the way in which her puppet Cecil, both seduces the audience, but then punishes us by being totally offensive, is something that I really enjoy comedically. I like the way we, in the audience, are made to feel guilty for liking him, and also how it falls to Carla as the puppeteer and performer to negotiate those uncomfortably funny problems of political incorrectness, in front of the audience.
M: What pieces do you have in circulation to perform in puppet slams?
EO: I have about three 8-10 minute sets right now that I feel are slam-ready and slam-worthy.
The first piece is essentially the initial 10 minutes excepted from my NY Fringe Festival show Double Negatives. In it the television and I are undermined in our attempt to introduce ourselves to the audience by technical difficulties that involve a particularly awkward moment for the TV... of losing lip-synch.
Another piece is an abbreviated version of the show I am currently developing, called TV Personality, In addition to dealing with a difference of opinion about how to start our show and greet the audience, the TV and I get into conflict about the appropriateness of a certain Abbott & Costello anecdote and entertain very different ideas about what the future holds for us. If people are interested in booking a longer set, I also perform a 25 minute version of this show.
I also have a piece called Similies in which the TV attempts to moderate the live Evan's stress, by smoking an illicit substance. But this ends up working in the wrong direction, resulting in the opposite of a mellowing effect.
And finally, if people want to book a longer piece, I have my long-standing, crowd-pleaser, Pavlov which famously involves audience participation and hypnosis and runs about 15 minutes.
M: I love that one! Such a classic. Where can people contact you to perform?
EO: People can contact me at my website, www.EvanOTV.com. It is still kind of just an old Wordpress Blog where I sometimes post about my shows. It will be undergoing a redesign this year I hope. Or you can email me at Evan@evanotv.com
M: Where would you like to see the Puppet Slam Network in the future?
EO: I would like to see the Puppet Slam Network continuing it's current trajectory. It's pretty inspiring to see it grow. And I would like to see more and more of the Puppet Slam Network in person. Namely, I would absolutely love to have a majority of the shows I do in 2013 to be at Slams around the country. Puppet shows and puppet audiences have always been my favorite crowds.
M: That's a fabulous post-apocalyptic goal! What advice do you have for up and coming slam artists who are just starting out?
EO: Maintain a spirit of adventurousness and experimentation but also never forget the importance of the audience. What is the journey you are hoping to take them on? How successful are you? Whenever experimental work forgets to continuously engage or reward the audience then it misses the inherently conversational nature of live theater and risks being over-indulgent.
M: Anything else we should know?
EO: On May 19th Vanessa Gilbert and David Higgins and I will be having our final Blood From A Turnip of the season. We'll have the always inspiring and hilarious Z & Chad with their Wonderspark Puppets (another favorite act I could have mentioned above). We will also have MF Town Productions from Providence, and Nicole LeDuc Hartigan bringing her newly acquired Storrs, CT, puppet school knowledge. This will be our final season of doing Blood From A Turnip as a late-night series. We will return in the Fall and Winter with a smaller selection of shows that will probably be more feature-driven.
And on June 9th and 10th, in Cambridge, Mass., I am reviving my Itching Man brand of live events in Boston with a two-night Fest celebrating Art Doing It With Comedy that includes ventriloquist Carla Rhodes, puppeteer Kim Mikeness, and sock-puppet soap opera Fat Nancy and Crisco alongside some of my favorite comic performers.
M: Yay! - May 15, 12For the last 15 years, the performer known as Evan O'Television has hit the slam circuit as both sides of his comedy act with his television alter ego. Evan frequently performs at puppet slams in Providence and Boston. For a decade, he produced PAN 9, a multi-genre variety show event out of an artist's loft in Allston, which hosted one of the earliest Boston area puppet slams. Recently, Evan has been co-hosting Blood From a Turnip, which will have its final late night iteration on May 19th. Evan's feature-length show "Evan O'Television in Double Negatives" traveled to the New York International Fringe Festival.
Photo: Sarah Paterson Marsian: How long have you performed at Puppet Slams?Evan O'Television: In the 1990's I moved to Boston after attending Amherst College and growing up doing community theater and school theater in Brattleboro, Vermont (just two exits south of Putney, current home of the great Sandglass Theatre). When I first got to Boston I was directing short plays (in one and two-night runs) at venues like the Middle East rock club in Cambridge. That was when I met Kristin McLean who was then the director of the Puppet Showplace Theatre. She had already launched the very first round of Puppet Slams at the Showplace. She and I met at a party for a mutual friend and ended up talking for hours about performance and puppetry. For about a year I had been performing a 15-20 minute piece about Andy Kaufman called "A is for Andy". That was the first piece where I recorded myself and then performed a dialogue with the video. I knew I was cribbing from ventriloquist/dummy dynamics but Kristin convinced me that what I was doing was in essence puppetry, and encouraged me to create something new in the same style for her next Puppet Showplace Slam.
M: And when was the first one?EO: So, I think the first one I performed at was that Winter, in 1996? I know it was the first time I called myself "Evan O'Television" The night is a blur of a memory for me, but that is the case every time I first perform a new piece. It was the first version of a show I would perform for several years called "Ex-Machina". I had written it to be a little more directly about puppetry than some of my other pieces - As a live performer I had my head in a cardboard "TV-Shaped" box, directly across from the actual TV, and as a live performer claimed to be an animatronic puppet. The piece consisted mainly of the TV and I arguing about when the actual live performer was going to show up.M: Who was on the bill that night?EO: I don't really remember who else performed that night, but some of the key performers at those early Brookline Slams were the Andrew Periale's Perry Alley Theatre (doing their Chinese Menu puppet Shows), Paul Vincent Davis doing any number of wonderful shows, Kristin McLean herself (often doing gorgeous shadow puppetry) and the late Caleb Fullam performing with his sweetly funny original creations.
M: Explain "video ventriloquism"EO: My tether to puppetry (you could even call it my creative umbilical cord) continues to be primarily based on how much of the structure of my act is directly borrowed from Ventriloquist "dummy" acts. The Evan on the television plays the dummy role, by continuously performing as the primary foil and catalyst for my routines. Also the television is related to other forms of puppetry beyond ventriloquism because the TV is the focal point for any "illusion" that occurs in my act. Where many puppet-artists, such as marionette-performers or hand-puppeteers rely on physical skills to create misdirection, or performer-character separation, or give illusion-based believability to their act, the mechanics of the illusion that I create are primarily auditory. The believability, regarding how much my dialogue resembles the rhythms of real life conversation is the primary illusion. The more I am able to achieve that goal, the greater chance there is that the audience might forget the unreality of what they are watching. That audience commitment to the imaginary and suspension of disbelief is common in all theater, but I definitely think that the way I approach it, is most influenced by puppetry,M: You've toured all over the North East with your TV.
EO: I have performed in Slams in New York City (Great Small Works' Spaghetti Dinner and Hellzapoppin' Puppets at the Voice 4 Vision Festival), Connecticut (UConn, Puppet Slam), Philadelphia (Puppet Uprising) and obviously Boston (Brookline) and Providence (Blood From A Turnip). Sadly, only the Northeast. Philly was the most furthest and therefore by default, the most exotic. Morgan Andrews and Beth Nixon put on a terrific show with an infectiously circus-like atmosphere.M: What is the funniest, freakiest, edgiest, or weirdest show you have seen?
EO: My favorite performance ever at a puppet slam still has to be a Big Nazo performance I saw at the Brookline Puppet Showplace. Big Nazo was preceded on the bill by a quiet 20-something young man who spoke in thickly broken-English and said he was from somewhere in Eastern Europe, I think. He had a very intricate and delicate Toy Theatre set that he had made, if I remember corectly, he even needed a bit of help getting up on stage. I feel like it was about 4 feet across, with miniature figures and detailed little buildings across the whole thing. He explained that the set was an exact model of the village he came from, in his country, and he pointed out all sorts of details on it, as the entire Showplace leaned forward in awe at the meticulous creation. He said that he had written a song about his village that described all of the little buildings and each of people on his elaborate tiny Toy Theater model.
M: LovelyEO: After he was about one verse into his song (I believe the first verse may have even been sung in his "native" tongue), suddenly two enormous 7-foot tall, Big Nazo Puppets burst through the upstage curtain stepping on his model and crushing it completely. The singer tried to salvage the tiny village but the Nazo monster had turned the "accidental" crushing of his Toy Theater into a slapstick entanglement, in which the Big Nazo creature couldn't move in any direction without stomping or wrecking the model further.
M: Oh My!EO: The audience was so devastated horrified and shocked, that I think they were even further revulsed by those people who got "the joke" right away and had started laughing first. Gradually everyone realized that they'd been had and the foreign singer was a set up. The Big Nazo singer with the extended rat head started up his patter and they launched into a song, but the total chaos of audience response that they had created did not die down for minutes.
M: That's amazing!
EO: I always think of that as one of the most powerful, brilliant and funny manipulations of the audience I have ever seen or felt. - definitely in the Andy Kaufman tradition of engaging sympathy and flipping expectations. We were all so invested in and devoted to this sweet, fictional singer/model maker that we were truly shocked and horrified by the destruction. And then it all gradually gave way to realizing the whole thing was a joke. It was amazing.
M: How unexpected!EO: Here's another contrasting example of a show I loved, a truly beautiful show that not many people had the chance to see when it was originally performed. Many years ago Kristin McLean did a performance in which she had this small white house she had built, I think with sticks and rice paper. I believe it was a tribute to the late Mary Churchill who ran the Puppet Showplace for many years. Over the course of Kristin's performance she used the walls of the house in many different ways, including as a shadowpuppet screen-- projecting images through these walls. She also painted on the walls with water and ink, all during the course of telling a story. Eventually, I think she cut into the rice paper walls of the little house making doors and windows and if I remember correctly, she ultimately began taking it apart. It was just a powerful piece that examined very simply and directly all of the stylistic directions you could go with this physical object, and have them metaphorically resonate, and in the execution each action, the piece was consistently, quietly, beautiful, profound and poetic.
M: Stay Tuned for Part 2... - May 06, 12Grants for the Production of New Slam Pieces!The Puppet Company (in Glen Echo, MD), is offering two grants of $500 each for the development and presentation of puppetry works specifically for Slam presentation. These first awards are being granted for pieces to be presented at the next Playhouse Puppetry Slam in the fall of 2012.They are accepting applications by email only and are asking for the following to be sent toa.stevens@thepuppetco.org(Allan Stevens)1) Name, address, phone and email2) A brief biography or resume, focusing on your work in puppetry3) Whether you are working alone or with a company or group4) A description of the piece you are proposing, not to exceed one page5) Photographs of your workObligations: The new piece must be between 5 and 10 minutes in length, and must performed at the next Playhouse Puppetry Slam at the Puppet Co. Playhouse in Glen Echo, MD, AND at one other east coast Slam of your choosing. All entries must be must created with an understanding of “puppet” defined as “…any inanimate object, disassociated body part, or shadow image made to move and to have the appearance of life and personality distinctly independent from the puppeteer in control.”A payment of $400 will be made upon the announcement of selection. The additional $100 will be paid upon presentation at the Playhouse Puppetry Slam.
- May 03, 12May Puppet Slams and Cabarets are happening in #NYC #Brooklyn #Valencia #Phoenix #Calgary #Seattle #Montréal #Providence #Brookline #Chicago #FtLauderdale #LosAngelesPuppet Playlist City #NYCTuesday, May 1st at 7:30pm & 9:30pmThe Kraine Theater84 E. 4th StreetNew York, NY 10003(212) 777-6088$8/$10Puppet Playlist slams brilliant puppeteers and talented musicians together for an evening of original works of puppetry inspired by Motown with live musical interpretations by some of NYC’s most exciting singer-songwritersGreat Small Works Spaghetti Dinner #BrooklynTuesday, May 1st at 8:00PMOne Arm Red
10 Jay Street, 9th floor
DUMBO, Brooklyn(917) 319-8104$5-$15Food and drink will be available throughout the night. Please come by and share stories of how you occupied your May Day!CalArts Puppet Cabaret: Cirque Bezerk #ValenciaFriday, May 4th at 10:00PMCalifornia Institute of the Arts, Graduation Courtyard24700 McBean ParkwayValencia, CA 91355(661) 255-1050FreeCalArts Puppet Cabaret is a community event that invites students from all schools within the Institute to present collaborative or individual work related to puppetry and/or object-based performance.Adult Puppet Slam #PhoenixFriday, May 4th at 8:00PMSaturday, May 5th at 8:00PMGreat Arizona Puppet Theater302 W. Latham StreetPhoenix, Arizona 85003(602) 262-2050$8 advance/ $10 at the doorArizona's quirkiest, edgiest puppeteers come together for some raunchy fun! Independent performers do short pieces, which are usually funny and always adult! Puppet Slam nights at the Great Arizona Puppet Theater are for guests 18 and over.Psycho de Mayo Dolly Wiggler Cabaret #CalgarySaturday, May 5th at 7:30PM, 9:00PM & 10:30PMMount Royal Villagelower level - 880 16 Ave SW,Calgary, AB T2S 0B7, Canada(403) 266-1503$10It’s wild, it’s weird, and it’s always entertaining. The Dolly Wiggler Cabaret features short bits of brilliance from local, national and international animated object artists. Adults only.Fussy Cloud Puppet Slam #SeattleSaturday, May 5th at 8:00PMWe weren't kidding: The Fussy Cloud mission to entertain continues, just like these irrepressible drizzling days. We do not come in peace; there will be toy theatre. Your old favorites will be in the lineup, and some new hand-carved facesCafé Concret #MontréalMonday, May 7th at 8:00PMCasa del Popolo4873 Boulevard Saint-LaurentMontréal, QC, Canada, H2T 1R6(514) 284-3804$10This bilingual soirée of experimental puppetry and object theatre features Quality Slippers; Lyndsay Love; Sarah Sabourin, Jasa Baka & Peter Nevins; Sarah Albu & Jeffery Stonehouse; Sinful Hags; Morgan Sea; Mamee’s Cheap Eats; Egotrip Productions; and music by Norvaisa.Blood From a Turnip #ProvidenceFriday, May 18th at 10:00PMBlackbox at 95 Empire95 Empire StProvidence, RI 02903http://www.facebook.com/pages/Blood-from-a-Turnip/162776430470017?ref=ts$7Continuing it’s tradition of providing a stage for first-timers and old pros alike, BfaT presents, In May, first timers Michael and Francesca, who where told, “if you make it, we will show it”. They made it. We’re showing it.Puppet Showplace #BrooklineSaturday, May 19th at 8:00PMPuppet Showplace Theatre32 Station StreetBrookline, MA 02445(617) 731-6400You know what makes a great Mother's Day present? Tickets to a Puppet Slam. Nothing says "I'm grown up but still your kid" like an evening of puppet mayhem. Features Chad Williams and Z. Briggs of WonderSpark Puppets.Mini Puppet Meltdown #ChicagoMonday, May 21st at 7:00PMEisenhower Public Library District4613 N. Oketo AveHarwood Heights, IL 60706(708) 867-7828This “Mini Meltdown” is exactly the same as our other Meltdowns but it’s a bit shorter. Running an hour this bite sized meltdown will showcase some of our favorite slam pieces of the Chicagoland area and beyond.Puppet Rampage – The Slam #FtLauderdaleSaturday, May 26th at 9:30PMWorld and Eye Arts Center109 NW 5th St.Fort Lauderdale, FL.33301(954) 540-9897$12South Florida’s Puppet Rampage explodes bi-annually in an uncensored blitzkrieg of puppet mayhem. While professional and novice puppeteers lob surrealism and satire, The Rampage gives special consideration to sideshow freaks, Burning Man Creatives and asylum escapees looking to perform.Puppetzilla #LosAngelesSunday, May 27th at 2:00PMDowntown Independent Theater251 South Main StreetLos Angeles, CA 90012(213)617-1033$10 Public, $5 MembersPuppetzilla Puppet Slam Goes 3-D! The LAGOP joins forces with the 3-D Club of Los Angeles for puppets, live and onscreen. 3-D puppet films will be shown (3-D glasses will be provided) between live puppet shows onstage. Not for children. - Apr 25, 12Alexander Winfield is a Bermudian-born puppeteer and theatre maker who worked as a freelance puppeteer for six years in Canada. He recently made the move to London to complete an MA at the Central School of Speech and Drama and continues to perform at festivals, theatres, and puppet slams around Europe. With Cryptid Theatre he recently helped host the first Pirate Puppet Cabaret at the Battersea Barge. He has a fondness for dreams, nightmares, the surreal and the stranger corners of human life.Marsian: What is the funniest, freakiest, edgiest, or weirdest piece you have seen?AW: The Left Hand of Frank by Frank Meschkuleit, a fellow Canadian: it’s essentially a one-man cabaret show and is alternatively hilarious and thoughtful. I’d also have to mention Famous Puppet Death Scenes, by the Old Trout Theatre in Calgary.M: I love the Trouts! I performed with them at the Dolly Wiggler Cabaret..AW: No one seems to have heard of them here, but the show is a tour-de-force of puppetry styles, full of variety and humour, as well as several truly moving pieces. With lots of Puppet Death.M: What was the worst puppet slam you’ve been to?AW: I can’t say I’ve ever been to a disastrous Puppet Slam, sorry! One slam I did attend was a bit awkward: it emphasized audience participation, insisting space be left for the public to contribute to the work. Unfortunately it underestimated the audience’s bravery, leading to long passages of awkward silence!M: Is there a slam circuit around London?AW: One of the advantages of London is that it is so very close to so many places. Europe is full of puppet festivals (not quite slams, but still), and with a bit of planning you could fill a year with touring. Little Angel does host puppet slams, though it calls it a scratch night: the Hatch festival. Everything is a festival over here, makes it sound proper. The Tara Arts Studio, in the south of London, has hosted Puppetry Snax, a slam/scratch night produced in collaboration with the Puppet Centre. The Puppet Centre and the Battersea Arts Centre is also known to host slams/festivals that are puppet friendly.M: Interesting that they call them “scratch” nights in London - sounds itchy. We have have Pandemics here.. Tell us about a fabulous failure and what you've learned from it.AW: I’ve learned to be wary of improv, and of audience participation. You can meet an audience, bring a puppet to them, but relying on them to supply half a story is dangerous, and in any case it’s probably unfair to charge a person a ticket price if they’re doing half the work. I saw an improv act kept asking the audience questions about where to proceed next – it was difficult, and the audience were getting tired of it. I learned that while improv with puppets can be exciting, it’s always important to present ‘something’ to an audience, and to make the interaction feel like part of the show rather than work asked of them.M: What pieces do you have in circulation to perform in slams?AW: I have All Hail Ye Mighty Lords of Nowhere, a post-apocalyptic puppet show that I’ve described as William Blake meets Punch and Judy. Two demons are all that remain on the earth, and realize that by wiping out the human race they annihilated all chance they have of ever having fun again. There is The Man Who Lived in the Road about a man who wakes up in the middle of a road with no memory of who he is or how he got there. With no other humans about, he learns to live a life of loneliness.M: That kinda hits close to home. Anything else?AW: Then there is Horus the God, about the Egyptian god Horus, now retired and living in a council flat.M: What inspires you to create a puppet slam piece?"Inspiration can come from many sources: a banal occurrence seen while walking home, a dream, a piece from a history book. Who knows? Inspiration is a funny beast."
AW: In Malaysia they call artistic inspiration ‘agin’, meaning, literally, ‘the wind’ It can drive a man to make miracles, but if neglected it can drive an artist mad, it can eat him alive from the inside. So perhaps that’s the answer: I don’t want to be eaten alive.M: Why do you think Puppet Slams are important?AW: Puppet slams provide a space where beginning puppeteers can suck with permission. No live performance can have its kinks ironed out without test trials before a live audience, and slams allow puppeteers a space to hurl themselves at the public, and feel what parts of a show work and what parts do not. Puppet Cabarets will continue parallel to the rising popularity of live puppetry – and help to spread a love of puppetry to new audiences.M: That's lovely! And what advice do you have for up and coming slam artists?AW: Don’t be afraid of failing miserably, or looking like an idiot. There is nothing so dangerous, nor full of potential, as a man unafraid of looking like an idiot. Try not to make a habit of it, is all.M: Anything else we should know?AW: I have a strange fascination with Cephalopods, and would love to do a show featuring a giant squid (one of the great marionette performances on film belongs to the giant squid in 20,000 leagues under the sea!). Other than that, expect the unexpected, and always bring an umbrella wherever you go. - Apr 24, 12Alexander Winfield is a Bermudian-born puppeteer and theatre maker who worked as a freelance puppeteer for six years in Canada. He recently made the move to London to complete an MA at the Central School of Speech and Drama and continues to perform at festivals, theatres, and puppet slams around Europe. With Cryptid Theatre he recently helped host the first Pirate Puppet Cabaret at the Battersea Barge. He has a fondness for dreams, nightmares, the surreal and the stranger corners of human life.Marsian: I'm so glad our mutual friend Andrew Young from the Puppet Vision Blog put us in touch and told us about your Pirate Puppet Cabaret!Alexander Winfield: Andrew is definitely one to watch.M: How did you go from Bermuda to London?AW: Via a long, twisting road. I lived and worked as a puppeteer in Toronto for several years, before heading to the UK to take an MA in theatre studies at the Central School of Speech and Drama. Intrigued by the explosion in puppet theatre that spreading across Europe at the moment, I decided to stick around.M: How did you enter the world of puppetry what was it like to start hosting puppet cabarets? What other cities have you performed at puppet slams in?AW: I’ve always had a fascination for puppets. I remember putting on impromptu puppet shows with my brother, using our bunk bed as a stage.M: How Bromantic..AW: I re-entered the world of puppetry as an adult shortly after seeing some Hun Lakhon Lek - a form of Thai Puppetry – enacting the story of the Ramayana. It was absurdly entertaining. I then made several short films that featured puppetry, including Christ in Wood,which featured a wooden Christ coming to life and being a general nuisance.M: Yes, we have a contingent of Bible-puppeteers in the States, but your puppet flick sounds way cooler.AW: That all got me thinking about puppetry again, and eventually I was inspired to start working with puppets by any means necessary. I didn’t really care for the hows of it – I started with street shows performed in a stage made of burlap. I was very poor at the time, and could afford little else. I was finally making money off my art, a fine thing, and that was the start.M: I love burlap to riches stories! So after you got street cred, then you got kidnapped by pirates?AW: The Pirate Puppet Cabaret was the first puppet slam I helped produce. It was a lot of work! There are many puppeteers in London, though they tend to be a scattered and insular breed, like all puppeteers. As a newcomer to the city, and unattached to any larger organizations or theatres whose name might be recognized, it was a challenge to get puppeteers to perform with little unknown me. Keeping the event profit-share, ensuring the puppeteers aren’t working for free, helped a lot.M: Have you performed at other puppet slams?AW: As for when I’ve performed at Puppet Slams, I don’t know I’ve performed at many outside of London (they seem to be, still, somewhat rare creatures). I’ve performed my own shows at festivals and theatres in Montreal, Toronto, Waterloo (Ontario), London (UK), Oxford (UK), Charleville-Mezieres (France), Tolouse (France) and Hamilton (Bermuda) among others.M: Damn! And you after all that, you hosted the Pirate Puppet Cabaret.AW: My slam was undoubtedly smaller than most other slams I’ve seen, not surprising as it was the first I hosted. The space was quite unique – the Battersea Barge, a barge outfitted as a bar/restaurant, at dock on the southern banks of the Thames. To access it you had to walk through about a half mile of alleyways and lamp-lit construction sites. That provided much of our atmosphere.“At no other slam I’ve attended were the acts interrupted by the actions of waves against the barge. Our sea-legs were sorely tested.”M: And how did the pirates get involved?
AW: I’ve always been interested in pirates as icons. Scabbish and unruly, the pirate ship was one of the first functioning democracies in western society, with captains elected by popular vote. Ruthless and violent, they were also known as ‘free men’, men (and women) who had made a break with society and large, and sailed under their own flags. These seeming contradictions have a particular resonance now, when there is much talk of society growing colder and harder, and where there seem to be no free seas left to sail in.M: Tell me about it! No, really, tell me about some of the acts..AW: What we had was very strong – an excellent, atmospheric piece carved out of lights and cardboard, a puppet strip-tease, and a commentary on humankind by demonic puppets. The cardboard piece was by Max McBride, a San Francisco artist and puppeteer whose specialty is making miracles out of ‘mundane’ materials. The strip tease was by Aya Nakamura, a member of Rouge 28 theatre, whose work can be seen at www.ayanakamura.comM: Join us for part 2 of our very special interview with Andrew Winfield... - Apr 20, 12Kat Pleviak, curator of Puppet Meltdown, lives in Chicago where she is also the founder and artistic director of Sea Beast Puppet Company. Under Kat's direction, Sea Beast has initiated a number of exciting puppetry projects including a series of touring family friendly puppet productions, the Gorilla Puppetry Project, and Puppet Meltdown Puppet Slam. Kat has an MFA In Youth Theatre and Puppetry from the University of Hawaii Manoa.Marsian: So Kat, When did you start performing at puppet slams?Kat Pleviak: The first slam I performed in was in 2007 at Puppet Rampage at the National festival. The piece was called Naughty Nursery Rhymes and told the story of Jack and Jill as nasty little rag doll children. If you have the Puppet Rampage DVD there is a very short clip of that performance.
M: How do your puppet slam pieces tie into the other kinds of puppetry, performance or your art-life at large?KP: They are a great outlet for us to experiment with technique and subject matter. My company, Sea Beast Puppet Company, primarily does family friendly touring shows, so doing short and adult pieces allows us to grow and explore our creativity.M: What cities have you performed in puppet slams or cabarets in? Which was the furthest or most exotic?KP: I have performed at slams, in Chicago IL, Skokie IL, Norridge IL, Minneapolis MN, Wilmington NCM: What is the funniest, freakiest, edgiest, or weirdest show you have seen?KP: The first slam I ever went to was at a nation festival in 2005. A woman there did a shadow piece about the holocaust that was amazing and gave me a lot to think about in terms of what you can do with a short puppet piece.
M: What was the worst puppet slam you performed at and why? What made it disastrous?KP: I was in a slam at a puppet festival and we were asked to bring 2 pieces, one of which was cut because the slam went to long. The piece we did show was too small for the space to be seen by anyone in the venue so no one got to enjoy it."A note to producers: Your slam performers are your guests and it should be your number one goal to help them succeed and have a great experience. A note to performers: be true to your work. If you walk into an event and can see your piece won't work, pull it. It does not help you to do a piece that disappoints based on a technicality. Know your work and show it to it's best."
M: If you were to form a puppet slam circuit near you for touring, what slams/cities would this include?KP: Chicago, Champaign, Bloomington, Evanston, Madison, Minneapolis
M: Tell us about a fabulous failure (at a slam) and what you've learned from it.KP: The first slam we ever did had strict guidelines in terms of time and when a few acts went long, we ran over and did not get a curtain call. I think it is so important to recognize your performers. To fix this, we now always plan to have our company represented with a few pieces, some of which are scheduled to go last. This way, if we run long we can cut our own work, to enable recognition of the invited performers.
M: Why are Puppet Slams important to you?KP: They give us a chance to experiment and grow as artists, while connecting with like minded individuals.
M: What inspires you to create a puppet slam piece?KP: Usually things that make me laugh
M: Who are some other artists on the puppet slam circuit that you are inspired by?KP: Carole D'Agostino does "Object Theater Time" which is puppet improv, always amazing and my brother Tom. He has performed in a number of slam pieces and his characters are always amazing.
M: What pieces do you have in circulation to perform in puppet slams?KP: I have a bunch but two of my favorites are Another Man Treasure. This piece is in miniature and tells the story of a mouse and a robot living in a trash heap - I love this piece because we film it live and project it live as a film. The other is called Road Rage and is a shadow piece about an angry driver. I made Road Rage while studying with Richard Bradshaw at the O'Neill Puppetry Conference.
M: Where can people contact you to perform?KP: Email me at katburglar1@hotmail.com, Facebook, or our website - www.seabeastpuppetry.com.M: Where would you like to see the Puppet Slam Network in the future?KP: Everywhere!
M: What advice do you have for up and coming slam artists?KP: Make each performance the very best it can be on the day you do it and take pride in your work!Have fun, share work, learn and grow and live! - Apr 26, 12GREAT SMALL WORKS MAY DAY SPAGHETTI DINNER
Tuesday, May 1, 2012, 8PM
One Arm Red
10 Jay Street, 9th floor
DUMBO, Brooklyn
Sliding scale, $5-$15
Info: 917-319-8104
"R-and-R"
Come celebrate after a day of great displays of common interest and shared physical expression. Contemplate the power that arises from collectively withdrawing cooperation and consent, however you do it...
1. Stagger Back Brass Band
Celebrating the 6th annual Stagger Back Brass Band May Day concert/singalong/extravaganza, featuring Don Godwin, Quince Marcum, Joe Keady, Brian Drye, JR Hankins, Ben Holmes, Jessica Lurie, Greg Squared, Michael Winograd, and Patty Farrell, with singers Eva Primack and Michele Hardesty.
2. Great Small Works' improvised living newspaper shadow show about the events of this May Day 2012.
3. "We Shall Not Be Moved: The Musical Story of the 1937 Woolworth’s Sit-Down Strikes"
Written, Directed and Arranged by Phil Andrews,
featuring Cara Francis, Josh Lerner, Xavier, Sully Ross and Jessie Reilly, with Ava Farkas, Naomi Podber and Judy Shatsky Music by Apocalypse Five and Dime: Joe Keady, Phil Andrews, Rebecca Heinegg, Michele Hardesty, Quince Marcum, Cassandra Burrows, Adam Katzman and Heather Cole.
4. A May Day Crankie by Vermont puppeteer and filmmaker Meredith Holch
5. "Bloomberg’s Fifth Largest Army in the World: Puppet Study #1"
Puppeteer Maura Gahan teams up with Brookyn-based Jacobs/Campbell Dance for a brand new work. Dancers shout, spit, and high kick in cardboard masks with movement references from the 1930s Workers Dance League, Mayor Bloomberg, and N.Y.C.’s finest dancers: the NYPD.
Food and drink will be available throughout the night.
Please come by and share stories of how you occupied your May Day! - Apr 19, 12Recently Puppet Pandemic Slam mogul, Honey Goodenough, posed the following question on our Facebook Page:"PSN Friends - was wondering how you cite your work as a Slam Performer and/or Producer on your resume?"What started out as a discussion on résumé advice, quickly turned into a broader conversation on how we value our work and interface with the rest of the performing arts world. A number of slam organizers and performers weighed in and here are some highlights. Note: If you have anything to add, please join the conversation on our Facebook Page or start your own conversation.* * *Roxie Myhrum - Puppet Showplace Slam #Brookline:If it's performance-based - "Puppeteer", "Puppet Showplace Slam", or if administrative, "Producer/Curator","Puppet Showplace Slam". I have never really seen a resume that successfully integrates performance and production responsibilities, other than making one or the other just a brief footnote (i.e. my production admin resume includes "puppetry" in the "miscellaneous skills" section)Honey Goodenough - Puppet Pandemic #NYC:As a performer, I don't like to take up more than one line for puppet slams even though I've performed in roughly 8 a year. but as a producer should it be listed by slam title?Eric Brooks - Playhouse Puppet Slam #GlenEcho:Have you produced more than one slam? It should definitely be on your resume.
"Slam producers put a whole lot of work in than what everyone sees. It deserves attention on your resume."
Describe what you did, but offer quantitative info such as how many performers you brought in, how much money you raised, how many people saw it, etc.Honey Goodenough - Puppet Pandemic #NYC:It does depend on what job you're applying for. What type of job do you think would be most interested in hearing about producing work? If you are auditioning for a role, do they want to know you produce as well?Carole D'Agostino - performer-at-large #NYC #NJ:I have a separate section in my resume about "Personal Productions" - my own work. I simply state the title, the subject and the genre so: Flirty Birdie/Cabaret Style Peacock/Marionette". Or: "The Hoarding Show/Satirical History of Hoarding/Tabletop and Shadows", "Object Theater". Anyone who is asking for my resume doesn't care about what the venue is - slams or not. If they are asking me for my resume then they don't know me - all they care about is - can she do the specific thing I need for this job - so - can she do marionettes? Fine. Can she do green screen? Black light/ Whatever. No one actually cares what you did- they care who you know and if you have that one thing they need. . . That said - if you perform at a National Festival- or a major venue - you might say you performed thereHoney Goodenough - Puppet Pandemic #NYC:Personal productions. . ..I like it. . . But I wonder if there's another way to phrase it. Self produced? or Independent Projects? Carole - you deserve a producer credit for all the work you've created. . . it's hard to sum up in one title.Carole D'Agostino - performer-at-large #NYC #NJ:Well everyone's resume is individualized- and I will customize my own resumes to suit the client- some people don't care if I can build. I have a show resume. Some people don't care if I can make puppets- I have a costume resume. I am not sure who to define "producer' but I do know if I put THAT on a resume an "actual" producer will think he can't afford me and I won't get hired.Honey Goodenough - Puppet Pandemic #NYC:It's complicated. . . "Producer" can encompass so many duties. It's hard to know when it's a useful to post on a resume. . . I wonder what Katie McClenahan of Beady Little Eye Puppet Slam thinks of all this. .. She also helps produce photo shoots. . . Do the same skills apply to other fields?Keith Shubert - Wham Bam Puppet Slam #Asheville:i am dirt handed, under the table, and ghetto. i have never made a resume. i am sure if you live in NYC or LA a resume for a big puppet job is proper but here in north carolina, you just have to tell em you do and puppet show and most the time, yer in....Hannah Miller - Action Puppet Force #Orlando:No one has mentioned it yet, but I think calling slam production "event management" is a nice, palatable alternative when you think "producer" might complicate things... As for a performance resume: I do a similar thing to Carole; I have a section for Personal Productions, and I give a one-sentence overview of the scope of each {ex: "Original 30m marionette production with troupe of 3 performers, production sponsored by CFL ArtsFest"}. If the job calls for skills that are specific, like hand/rod work, I also put a list of bullet point summaries at the top of the resume describing jobs I've done with the most relevant skills called "Recent Achievements" or something bilious thing like that, where I list 3-4 specific challenges or performance triumphs that relate.Keith, what about when you lived in Chicago?Keith Shubert - Wham Bam Puppet Slam #Asheville:pretty much the same. for a decade i opened for rock bands in bars and clubs. i had a couple good booking guys who would basically call me up whenever they had a "weird" or "art rock " band. and 80% of the time i was a fan of the band. needless to say, i have never been able to completely support myself with my art and have always had some sort of shit job that eats up most of my time.Amy Rush - Performer-at-Large #Atlanta:You need a resume in Atlanta. Or should. I've noticed that local people list puppet slam or Xperimental Puppetry Theater (at the Center for Puppetry Arts - which is like a large-scale slam/workshop) pieces that they've performed in (not produced) and that's weird to me. Seems like a desperate move. They are listed alongside large-scale work. Or, as though they ARE large scale because the performer hasn't really done anything but little slams. I mean, if you PRODUCE a slam production/night - list it. If you've PRODUCED/DIRECTED/PAID FOR a piece in XPT at the CforPA, list it. Mine are listed under "self-produced." Some of those pieces at XPT have gone beyond XPT - to the National Festival and a local fringe festival, for example. Gotta list that. As far as listing individual, one-or-two-time puppet slam pieces in my performance resume goes, I never would, but our slams are pretty loose and fun/drunk/easy down here. And they're like 5 minutes long. It's not the same as a marionette piece you developed at the O'Neill and have traveled the country with (I can name a few folks who have done this, of course and they rock!). That's different. List that - a small cabaret piece.Honey Goodenough - Puppet Pandemic #NYC:I like Carole D'Agostino's idea of having a section about "Personal Projects" or "Self Produced" section. Would that work?... I think that's important, but it's hard to list on a resume. I find most Puppet Slam artists are self starters.I wonder, then, if a resume is the right document for showing your work? It might be that the resume should highlight and point to certain things, and a portfolio or a "list of original pieces" or "current repertory" is what you need in addition. Or a website? What is this for?Eric Brooks - Playhouse Puppet Slam #GlenEcho:Honey, your right about the "self starters" and if I had $1 for every time The Puppet Co. Playhouse positioned that I "was not a producer," well, we know how that would end ha. The PuppetCo Playhouse is more "the producer," per se, with their amazing puppet-ready venue, classy theatre/backstage and all those beautiful, full-sized velour curtains. My job is to find the right collection of pieces among the small pool of willing and/or able & available puppet artists that live here in the D.C. area.
For one of my resumes - the " arts professional" version, here is an example:Curator, Playhouse Puppetry SLAM!, 2009 - present.A showcase of vignettes aimed at mature audiences. Assembled and communicated with puppeteers, musicians, backstage crews and the Puppet Co. staff in months prior to slam as well as during the event. Sold playbill advertising. Designed posters and press graphics. Arranged and selected live music setlists. Coordinated, choreographed and co-wrote opening and closing numbers. Performed as a puppeteer and musician.• Founded slam program at the Puppet Co., curating six slams to date• Established and maintained relationships with puppetry networks throughout the East Coast• Introduced playbill advertising, generating approximately $_ per event• Organized and oversaw _ performers and crew during each event• Attracted an average of 100 audience members for each performance• Coordinated directly with The Puppet Slam Network for puppet slam grants to receive a total of _• Managed staff assistant in press-related matters, as well as in garnering, over two slams, $_ in in-kind donations• Slams reviewed and featured by DC Theatre Scene and The Gazette and The Washington Post... to agree with many of the above comments, if you are an "event manager," a "showcase coordinator" or a "curator," list that wholeheartedly.Carole D'Agostino - performer-at-large #NYC #NJ:For the record- nobody reads that. I've asked tons of hiring types- they scan for key words- they need a rod puppeteer- they scan for "rod" and "puppet". At least in NY. And It's true- most of my jobs come from recommendations and referrals. If they re asking for my resume at all, I know they have little interest in who I am as an artist- they just need to have a placeholder for me in the cattle call. More often than not, I get hired to the job- THEN they see my credientials and go- oh! You've done a lot of work! yeah- so maybe how 'bout paying me what i'm worth.Honey Goodenough - Puppet Pandemic #NYC:I was thrilled about Beau Brown's proposal of the National Puppet Slam - I think it validates the work of the Slam Artist. And the success of his Slams a the POA Festival spoke voluminous about the type of work that can be produced in 7 mins of stage time (or less).Bridget Rountree - Adult Puppet Cabaret #SanDiego:I list selected ones on my resume, especially ones that are in a well known venue like the Museum of Photographic ArtsMarsian - Puppet Slam Network Coordinator #LosAngeles:.. I think its hard to represent all the things that puppet and generative artists do in one document for all purposes and I would love to see how other people address that. I am curious what other categories people include in their puppet artist resumes. Personally, I list "Major Performance Works" (shows that usually they had a premiere and little pieces had been workshopped at slams - I write a short one line description). Then I also include "Other Performance Works" - this category could be one-off shows, shows where I performed for somebody else in a role, and occasionally a slam piece that was performed more than once that I feel was important or at a fabulous venue that I am proud ofKatie McClenahan - Beady Little Eyes Puppet Slam #Portland #OR:I agree with Marsian, you have to tailor your resume depending on the job you are applying for. I have several different resumes and would revise for each position applied to. I'll include notes harkening to producer-like qualities, but I wouldn't list every slam I'm produced on a resume for an audition. Producer = professional organizer.Hannah Miller - Action Puppet Force #Orlando:I want to second Carole's comment about jobs coming from referrals... I don't think I've actually USED my resume for anything except grant, workshop, or award applications in over 4 years. Before I began working in the arts, I worked in project management, and reviewed many resumes to fill positions on my teams. I didn't care about long boring descriptions of jobs at all... like Carole says, in general, people know what the basic responsibilities of a job are; what they're interested in are things that relate to what they need you to do or crazy, amazing success that you could possibly repeat for them.Key words and brevity were what I appreciated; not only did it tell me what I needed to know quickly, it also told me that the person applying was an effective communicator and not filled with a sense of self-importance (or have low self esteem and overcompensate for it) that might make them difficult to work with. No matter what the field you're applying for, I think that a resume with a brief section at top (3-4 bullets) that summarize your biggest accomplishments OR a short summary of your career paragraph followed by 2 lines of 3 bulleted "area of expertise" key words AND fits your career history & relevant training/education onto one page is the absolute most effective, particularly if sent with a strong cover letter.Keep in mind: you DO NOT have to explain what your responsibilities were at a previous job. A title is really, truly enough. The resume is just to get you in the door: the interview is the time to elaborate on unusual challenges you took on under those titles. Okay, super long commenting done now.Eric Brooks - Playhouse Puppet Slam #GlenEcho:I agree with Marsian, Carole and Hannah here, but the biggest snag that I run in to is that different organizations in D.C. have separate expectations of what they want to see or know about a possible candidate. Puppetry is not viewed the same way here as it is in NYC, LA, Boston and Orlando. I have found that people here WANT to know a fair amount of the minutia, even though I think that its unnecessary, too. Few people here have two clues what a puppet slam event coordinator, producer or curator is, let alone a puppet slam!
Of the 6 or 7 actual puppet operations in the DC area, they generally keep to themselves, rarely collaborate with one another (if they ever do) and are not very often placed in positions to vouch for another puppeteer or help find them work, unless they are offering work themselves...
Then there are the DC area theatres, a different puppet market. They want to include puppetry in their productions, as they should, but they "just want to find someone to build their puppets." They are not often searching for the professionals out there who know what they are doing rather, they would be content to expect a general props artisan or costumer with no prior puppet construction experience to make beautiful figures that work even more beautifully. Sometimes they succeed but then again, they often fail and in so doing, they perpetuate more bad puppetry. So it can be a challenge in this area to shine above in an area of mostly non-puppeteers in order to land steady puppet work. - Apr 18, 12Deborah Hunt, curator of Sobre La Mesa Puppet Slamand co-curator of Noche De Cabaret has been performing with masks and puppets for the last 35 years. Originally from New Zealand, she has had the privilege of performing and leading workshops in many parts of the world. For the last two decades she has lived in Puerto Rico.Marsian: How long have you performed at Puppet Slams?Deborah Hunt:In 2008 I created a project called “Sobre la mesa”, a small format puppet challenge of tiny scenes inside a labyrinth of cloth. I gave each puppeteer the same object and suggested that we each create a 4 minute scene using the object as a point of departure. Each puppeteer has his/her kiosk and space for 6 people to observe the performance. At the end of the specified time music plays and the public move to the next kiosk. As they are moving the puppeteer resets his/her piece to repeat it to the new audience entering the kiosk. This was my first slam.
M: How do your puppet slam pieces tie into the other kinds of puppetry, performance or your art-life at large?DH:Sometimes I create pieces that then become part of other larger works….so in a way the slams are also “breeding grounds” for further work. They also give me a chance to experiment with a new technique or mechanism…a personal challenge.
M: What inspired you to start hosting Sobre la Mesa and Noches de Cabaret?DH:Well, I have talked about “Sobre la mesa”…which is now in its 9thedition. Generally it happens twice a year. Noches de Cabaret is an adult slam that is part of the Titeretada, which is our celebration of World Puppetry Day…we usually have events over a 2-6 week time period. We invite other puppeteers to present short pieces for adults.M: Who exactly is “We”?DH:”We” is a committee made up of individuals or representatives of distinct groups interested in broadening the horizons for adult puppetry work (Papel Machete, Mary Anne Hopgood, Teatro Aspaviento, Y No Habia Luz and myself.)
M: How did you end up living in SanJuan?DH:My ex husband.M: I see… And what is the puppet scene like there?The puppet scene is pretty much divided into 2 groups…companies that have been working a long time through within the education system and for children’s/family audiences,…and us…a coalition of individuals and companies dedicated to performing for largely adult audiences… we host the only puppet slams in town.
M: If you were to form a puppet slam circuit near you for touring, what slams/cities would this include?DH:We live on an island in the Caribbean. So the closest place would be the Dominican Republic. We would love to create a Caribbean circuit…M: I can think a lot of people would love that.. Please keep us posted!Why are Puppet Slams important to you?DH:Here in Puerto Rico, the development of adult audiences has been extremely important to me and to my fellow collaborators. So the puppet slams are definitely a way of attracting both puppeteers and public interested in adult work. The slams give us a grand opportunity to experiment.
M: What inspires you to create a puppet slam piece?DH:The shortness of time inspires me. To create a succinct piece that adds to an evening’s intrigue gets my juices going.
M: What pieces do you have in circulation at puppet slams?DH:Personally, each year in the Noches de Cabaret Puppet slam, I perform as “Mission Educativa”, a character that basically forces everyone in the audience to make a puppet.
M: Where can people contact you to perform?DH:maskhunt@gmail.comM: Where would you like to see the Puppet Slam Network in the future?DH:All over….the world
M: What advice do you have for up and coming slam artists just starting out?DH: Just do it! - Apr 17, 12Enda O. Breadon curates the Kolohe Puppet Slam in Honolulu and has worked as an actor, director, movement coach and playwright across the United States and Europe. As a teaching artist in creative drama, Enda employs both clowning and puppetry. His lifelong love of puppets has led him to include them in a number of shows that he’s written and directed. While living in Atlanta, he was mentored by Clint Thornton and Spencer Stephens, who he met at the Center for Puppetry Arts. Enda briefly studied puppetry at the University of Hawai’i.M: Is Honolulu part of a slam circuit?EB: For all practical purposes, the answer to all of that is “no.” There’s a really great, fairly new burlesque troupe here in Honolulu, Cherry Blossom Cabaret. Last October Chinatown hosted Hawai’i’s first ever fringe festival and there’s a new, unnamed clown/physical theatre workshop that is about two months old, so there’s a young art scene with a lot of chance for overlap that hasn’t fully materialized as strongly as I feel it is about to. And in fact, it was a connection through Cherry Blossom that we were able to get a new location for the slam this month. I’m told some of the Cherry Blossom dancers will make appearances in slams/cabarets on the west coast, particularly the Bay area. But most local artists don’t think in terms of circuit because this is an expensive rock fly on and off of - San Diego is as close to New York as it is to Honolulu.M: Dang!EB: And while our economy depends on it, the idea that this is place is some kind of theme park in the middle of the ocean, doesn’t encourage artistic interaction. We’ve seen a lot of people come out here, give a half-ass performance because they really just want to be on vacation and then book it out of here. Because of what we get from national performers some people here really believe we are a “less-than” destination artistically and there are others that look at what we get from the outside and have a really low aesthetic bar – it’s a cycle. That said, there have been some really great performers who have come through and some promoters doing yeoman’s work, but they are in the minority. I hope both Kolohe Puppet Slam and our fringe festival become a destination for West Coast artists and are part of encouraging local artists to start thinking in terms of a circuit and getting their work out there. But if it happens it’ll probably take some time.M: Tell us about a fabulous failure and what you've learned from it.
EB: Well, just this week I feel like I’ve experienced one of my biggest failures to date. Between what felt like the great success of the first slam in February, I ran into some problems. As I’ve said, I just directed Inspector General for TAG, a show with live actors and two different kinds of puppets that play minor characters. Literally, the night Inspector opened several of TAG’s board members complained that sock puppets have no place on the TAG stage and are “not to the quality of what we do.” The poster and all the promotional material used had the sock puppets to promote the show, but apparently that somehow got past the attention of some board members. And they apparently hadn’t talked to the Artistic Director, who’d been talking excitedly about the puppets for around six months before the show ever went into rehearsal. At this point, I must take pains to again thank Brad Powell, TAG’s Artistic Director. He went to the mat to defend both the puppets in Inspector and to defend the slam to his board. But after some of the longest days I’ve ever experienced, it was clear that it was not in the best interest of the slam or of TAG to hold a puppet slam at a theatre where there were hostile board members.M: So I guess we won’t be seeing the Lion King or Warhorse at TAG any time soon…EB: The stress and potential for unhealthy resentment abounded. But I’m trying to stay positive, I went to a hippy-ish Franciscan-nun-run elementary school. I wish TAG nothing but success in their puppet-less future.M: ::Sigh::EB: A friend and fellow artist here in Honolulu gave me a “buck up” talk the other day saying that this was a lesson about focusing on the kind of work you want to do and making your own opportunities. I guess that’s as good as a lesson as any. This is all just in the last week, maybe after a few months of reflection I’ll have a real good perspective about what the moral of this tale is.Again, if there are other curators who have walked through similar experiences please, please, pleaseemail or call me. I’d love to hear how others handled it so I can properly reflect and learn from the situation.M: Please post that on our Facebook page, a great place to dialogue with other slam organizers… Why do you think Puppet Slams are importantEB: For me, puppet slams are all about 2 things: 1) getting a chance to workshop your material and 2) experiencing the other puppeteers in your community/circuit. We all know that not every idea we have is worth pushing to a full piece, that some of the best pieces need a lot of work to get good, and that pieces are awesome as short pieces.We also all know that getting to interact with other artists fills-the-well and motivates us to do more and better work. The proverbial rising tide raises all the proverbial boats until the sailors puke over the proverbial sides.And to a much lesser degree, it gives people a chance to see artists grow through their career in the same way music fans like to talk about the difference between an early album/show and what a band is doing in their 40s. I think what Patton Oswalt is doing with the Comedians of Comedy is pretty much the same thing we’re trying to do with slams.
M: What motivates you to create a puppet slam piece?
EB: The same sick thing in my soul that got me kicked out of class almost every single day of my elementary, middle and high school career.
M: Which slam artists you are inspired by?EB: I’ve already mentioned Nicole earlier. Her ideas and enthusiasm are inspiring. My friends Gregg Van Laningham and Qate Bean have some characters they’ve been working on the Atlanta puppet slam circuit that are apparently illicit in the slams and yet they get requests to do them at the kid’s birthday parties too. So while I haven’t seen them live, the fact they have dirty puppets also performing kids’ parties is among the funniest things I’ve ever heard. They’re great writers, even though I suspect they wouldn’t use the word “writer” to describe themselves.Speaking of writers, while not puppeteers, there are two writing partners that constantly inspire me and the ideas we bounce around are starting to make it into some of my pieces. First is Joe Goltz, the funniest human being, period. He’s a musician and part of the comedy scene in Chicago. But Joe and I have been friends since elementary school and it was scripts we wrote in radio and TV class in high school that not only got me suspended but made me really want to create for life. Second is Lani Murray, who first came up with the idea of a dirty Bronte puppet piece. I don’t think I’ll ever enjoy a relationship with someone 45 years older than me that is more raunchy or fulfilling.
M: What pieces do you have in circulation to perform in puppet slams?EB: Hopefully the Bronte piece soon. I think I’m going to retire the Russian sock puppets, at least for a while. It might just bring up stressful memories of the TAG situation. I’m thinking of bringing back the dog chases from Stewart Little and making a new piece with them that has nothing to do with the book. I’d like to remount and tour a puppet version I did of Marki Shalloe’s One Hand Clapping. It’s a great short script about masturbating. And I’ve got a puppet I love that is a blue monster, with a cool way of working the hands. But I just can’t make any material stick. Maybe some day. Also, it’s not my piece, but I’d love to see Nicole’s Chucky piece get a little longer and go on tour. It is so well done.
M: Where can people contact you to perform?EB: The best thing they can do is call or email me. kolohepuppet@gmail.com or (808)457-9324. I’ll probably screen the calls, so make sure to leave a message.M: What is the future of puppet slams?EB: I would really love to see some of our young puppeteers get to work the circuit nationally and bring back here what they learn. And now that I’ve produced a slam I’d love to return to Atlanta where I was at best a fringe meteor to the puppet scene and watch the slams there with a whole new perspective. As for the future of the Puppet Slam Network, I’ll probably look like an idiot if I make any predictions.M: What advice do you have for up and coming slam artists just starting out?EB: I’d tell them to give me advice. I am making this shit up as I go and I really have no idea what I’m doing.EB: Don’t sleep with a raccoon in your bed. You are always welcome to come here and perform, I’ll do whatever I can with my meager resources to help (also contact promoter Tim Bostock). But don’t come here with a lame-ass I’m on vacation attitude. Don’t bring rabies to the islands.
M: Anything else we should know?
- Apr 17, 12Enda O. Breadon curates the Kolohe Puppet Slam in Honolulu and has worked as an actor, director, movement coach and playwright across the United States and Europe. As a teaching artist in creative drama, Enda employs both clowning and puppetry. His lifelong love of puppets has led him to include them in a number of shows that he’s written and directed. While living in Atlanta, he was mentored by Clint Thornton and Spencer Stephens, who he met at the Center for Puppetry Arts. Enda briefly studied puppetry at the University of Hawai’i.2008 Photo: Sandra PayneMarsian: So you are hosting, Kolohe Puppet Slam this month?Enda Breadon: Honestly, I regularly tell myself, “Holy crap, no one is going to show up to watch or be in this thing.” I don’t know if paralyzing self-doubt is normally part of the process for other curators, but it is for me.M: How do you find acts?EB: ..After deep philosophical arguments with myself about where to find performers and audience, I email and call everyone I know on Oahu who has any connection to puppetry. A number see a “slam” as somehow beneath them, but I’ve seen some seriously gnarly folks getting excited and stepping up either to spread the word or enter.M: Like?EB: Jeff Gere is a local puppeteer who deserves serious props (notice my hipster use of 90’s street terms, very “slam” they tell me). The biggest support the slam has gotten is from Mark Branner, professor of puppetry at UH. He’s championed the slam to his students and has us connected with the young performers that are the future of the local arts scene. I’ve been on the UH campus a couple of times badgering his students to take part, with Mark’s support.M: What inspired you to start hosting puppet slams?
EB: I am not, by any stretch of the imagination, an expert at puppetry. I had three really strong motivations for making this happen:1. Selfishly as an audience member, I wanted to make sure there were opportunities for me to see more puppetry happening;2. Through the puppetry classes at UH-Manoa there are a lot of young puppeteers here and I wanted to give all of them an opportunity to get in front of an audience and try out their material in a way that was not based getting a grade and made them feel like this was a community to stay and continue their careers;3. In Atlanta I saw how great puppet slams in were for encouraging artists to gather and share ideas. We had a few really great events serving this purpose, but I’d love to see at least 5-10 more.
M: Have you performed at other slams?
EB: Again, I feel sheepish in answering this one. Even though I lived in Atlanta for six years and worked there regularly for almost ten years, I never once performed in one of their many slams. It was always on my to-do list, but a combination of a usually pretty-busy schedule and fear kept me on the sidelines of Atlanta’s slams – mostly the latter.M: Well, there’s no time like the present…EB: I still kick myself in the butt for not using slams as a way to try out the puppets in several shows that I directed. For example, in 2008 I did a version of Stewart Little that had some two dimensional puppets that allowed us to do some really fun chase scenes. The prop designer called them “protest signs.” I thought they worked great and got good feedback, but to this day I wish I’d had an extra 3-ish hours of rehearsal time with them. I could’ve tried them out at a slam, problem solved. But I guess my head was in my okole.M: So you have been hosting your slam at The Actors’ Group in Kohole..EB: First, I think it’s important to say that the slam might not exist if it were not for the support of TAG’s Artistic Director, Brad Powell. I have directed exactly one show at TAG. About a year ago, Brad asked me to direct Inspector General, which was my very first interaction with TAG or with Brad. From the beginning it was part of my concept to have a sock puppet Greek chorus in Inspector. Because Brad and I were talking about Inspector Generaland about puppets, it was a pretty natural fit to do the first Kolohe Puppet Slam at TAG. And our sock puppets in Inspector (but not the “head puppets” we also use) got to use the slam as a way to help the puppeteers improve technique and find out what worked and didn’t work.M: Will you be having future slams at TAG?EB: Unfortunately we’ve just had to move the slam out of TAG. I’m not sure if I’ll direct at TAG again. Brad hasn’t made a specific offer, but keeps telling me he wants me back. The hulabaloo I’ll go into later has me wondering if that would be a wise decision. The great upside of the story is that ARTsmith, a venue and artist-collective, stepped up and in the space of two phone calls was really excited to give our a home to our slam this month. ARTsmith is about to do some reorganizing and in the shuffle we may be homeless again. I would love to get advice from other curators who have gone through this kind of thing.
M: What was it like hosting your very first slam just a few weeks ago?EB: I co-hosted with Judy Doodee (Howdy Doodee’s former trophy wife). She was there to shill her new biography, Woodies I Have Known. Apparently, the section on Pinocchio is pretty steamy.M: I haven’t seen that title.. I guess it must be too hot for the Puppetry Store. . .EB: I wore an Aloha shirt, I guess because I believe in reinforcing stereotypes. Before the opening, I was sweating in places the FCC doesn’t like you to talk about.M: I hear botox can help with that.EB: The whole day leading up to it my wife and I were making trophies for the slam. They turned out appropriately crappy I think. The winner trophy had a sign on the back that said, “Quit looking at my ass!” The Russian sock puppets from Inspector General took second place. While not puppeteering, I interacted as part of their performance. It was later in the evening, so a lot of the nerves had worn off. But we had judges, so even though I was co-host and curator, I’ve got a little bit of defense against favoritism charges.M: Are you working on anything particular for your next slam?EB: My friend Lani Murray and I have half-written a dirty puppet piece about the Bronte sisters using Barbie puppets. We’re tentatively going to try out at the third Kolohe Puppet Slam. I’m hoping when my wife and I bring our new baby to the mainland to meet family I can also go to some slams and enter the Bronte piece. Just FYI, Lani is the funniest, dirtiest 79-year old I have ever known. On the day we met she told me, “You know the best thing about my double mastectomy is that I can go topless on Halloween.”M: It’s a real gift to be able to make your own cancer hilarious. What’s the most exotic location you’ve seen a slam?EB: While Honolulu would probably be pretty exotic to a lot of puppeteers, in comparison to here, I guess the most exotic place I’ve seen a slam/cabaret was in Dublin. My parents are from there and my cousin has worked the cabaret circuit with a really hilarious character I’ve seen her do twice. Unfortunately the second time I was watching it with my mom and my cousin’s mom. When she started her dirty ditties we all tried not to look at each other. I’m pretty sure she’s taken that character to London and Edinburgh, but not positive. I also once saw a poetry slam in Cardiff, Wales, that was really fun because the big name poets – the big draws – were mostly plastered and didn’t give a shit. One of them joked about how he’d lost a slam at a boy’s school earlier in the day because the student judges all voted for the “busty female gym teacher.”M: What’s the edgiest slam piece you have witnessed?EB: As for edgiest, it might have been our winner last time. It was a puppet that manipulated his own puppet, who had just gotten out of prison. It was really cool. The judges gave the award to Chucky, the puppet, and not to the puppeteer ultimately working them both. In the interest of full disclosure, that puppeteer was Nicole Deslauries, who designed my Russian sock puppets that got second. I only met Nicole when she expressed an interest in the slam. So you can point out how awesome she is and/or point out how the slam is already drawing people togetherM: Done! What was the worst slam you’ve been to?EB: Nothing jumps to mind as far as puppet slams. However, I was once a judge for a high school acting slam/competition that was beyond painful.M: What made it a disaster, beyond the obvious?EB: It was the complete level of bullshit from the parents and teachers. They were hostile to the judges, all of whom were professional actors doing it as a favor to the host school. Just thinking about that now is a reminder how important it is for me to keep the slam here all about having a good time. If people are getting angry emails a week later because of the results and it isn’t fun, nothing else probably matters. I won’t say the name, but it was pretty prestigious private school in Atlanta. I hope for the students’ sake the drama teacher there has grown up a little and it has rubbed off on the parents.M: Join us for part 2 of our interview with Enda O. Breadon where we talk more about the Honolulu puppet slam scene…
- Apr 10, 12LanaSchwarcz is a Melbourne-based multi-disciplinary performance artist who prefers the medium of puppetry. She is one half of the Slam Noir team and the current secretary for UNIMA-Australia. In her work, Lana straddles the line between comedy and "narrative that can challenge", all the while embracing the love of the utter stupid. Her signature piece, Minute Exhibit Boxes are one minute shows for audiences of one. She often combines character work with her puppetry in her longer stage shows, so is rarely seen in puppeteer’s hood (although she did admit to owning a couple during this interview).
Lana Schwarcz & Hamish Fletcher, 2011
Marsian: So you are hosting Slam Noir this month?Lana Schwarcz: Yes it's very exciting!! We're so happy to be the first official Slam in Australia! We had the first one in November last year, which was packed to the rafters! And we also hosted another one at the Inaugural Tarrengower Puppet Festival in Maldon.M: How did you get started?LS: I was inspired by attending the National Puppet Slam in Atlanta when I visited in 2011. I saw the great work that was created by the themed slams in the US and the strong community that it created, and I started to feel upset that we didn't have that same sense of community here in Australia.M: Is the vibe you got at the National Slam is similar to that of the Melbourne puppet community?LS: The puppet community here is very different, and we hadn't really bonded through a united sense of fun and work. It's quite amazing really how the slams, even in this short period of time, have managed to help unite a community. It's understood that the works are created for the night or are works in progress, so no one expects seamless performances, but already a few pieces have grown and developed out of the seeds of the slams and I am super proud of that.I also blame Beau Brown. Inspiration or "persuasion" - it's a fine line. Basically, he backed me into a corner, asked me whether I would prefer being fed to the fishes or strung up like a marionette, and I caved when he showed me how he had strung his last victim. Phillip Huber would have been proud, but it just made me scared. Beau Brown is Puppet Slam Mafia. Just sayin'. It's a FINE LINE BEAU!!!M: Oh Dear! Are there any other puppet slams or cabarets happening in Australia?LS: Not that I know about. I am running a rogue slam event this Thursday for Melbourne Comedy Festival called Set Up, Punch - a comedy focused slam event. It sits outside of the Slam Noir series because it will have a stage and will be lit with tech, not torchlight like the others. Plus the only theme is Comedy, which isn't really a theme, so it's a once off event for the Festival, which is happening now. I do believe another super lady is wanting to organize one in Canberra, but this has yet to eventuate. I understand that Beau blackmailed her as well, but I have no idea how he got that horse's head to Canberra.M: Did you perform at any slams when you were in the US?LS: No I WISH!!! Oh hang on. Actually, yes, I did my Minute Exhibit peep box at the O'Neill Puppet Pandemic, so I suppose then yes I have. But I'd love to come back with the new piece developed for one of the slams here, you know, so more than one person at a time can see it. If money can be raised to get me there from Melbourne, that'd be awesome. That's a hint (if you didn't get it by now)M: Rewind: your slams are torch lit?!?LS: ..Most of our slams are no tech, and we ask the audience to bring torches to light the artists. It's slightly shambolic but a really great way to present the night and the audience stays engaged and interactive. I'd love to say it was my idea, but really, it was only my idea in that I decided to steal it - from a midnight fundraising cabaret we used to do in Winnipeg Fringe. The torches actually mean that we can set up anywhere, in any found space, AND because they can be focused anywhere around the room, we can have two or three (or more) performance areas so that artists can reset while another one is playing - therefore no delay and the acts flow nicely from one to the other without the host needing to fill time. It does mean the audience misses out on the throwing of candy, but we're cool with that. Shhhhh... Don’t tell them they're missing out they still don't know.Slam Noir #Melbourne "..we ask the audience to bring torches to light the artists.."M: How do you find acts for Slam Noir?LS: Generally we ask them directly, but we also receive submissions. I have no idea, but somehow word seems to get around and acts come to us. Our last theme was dance, so our acts made shows based on that theme. Except for one or two who didn't realize we had a theme. Oops...
M: How do you define yourself as an artist and performer?LS: Oh god. I have no idea how to answer that question. I don't feel experienced enough to call myself a puppet artist, although I work with puppets. To everyone else, I am a puppeteer, because somehow it seems easier to put a label on it and leave it at that. But in truth, I have no idea what I am. I write. I perform. I make films. I make simple puppets. I make people laugh. I find venues and produce. I explore. I pretend I can do things and then I fail. I fail a lot. A LOT!!! That's the one thing I completely succeed at. But that's cool, caus I try to embrace the clown, and embracing failure is a big part of that. I am also really good at procrastinating and avoiding. Which, if you are astute, you will see I have done that really well, and completely not answered this question at all. I should have been a politician.M: Any memorable failures you’d like to share?LS: Hmmm... I think we've had a couple of pieces go longer than five minutes, and that was tough. I don't feel comfortable to name names or even describe these shows, but sometimes new pieces (which is what they are for the slams) can drag on a bit - the fat needs to be cut from them. If there is one thing I have really learned from Pam Arciero (and by gosh there were many many things learned from that Hawaiian goddess) it's that things really have to be too short to suck. So I think in the future, we really stick to that 5-minute rule. If it doesn't fit in 5 minutes, it doesn't go on. It makes the artist really think about what absolutely needs to be in there. Although sometimes that still gets ignored....M: What is the funniest, freakiest, edgiest, or weirdest slam piece you have seen?LS: Hmmm.... I think I was pretty impressed seeing Spencer Lott in Atlanta. His piece made no sense whatsoever and I *loved* that. Liz Hara is also my hero. Awesome! And Honey Goodenough's marionette just killed me.
M: Why do you think Puppet Slams are important?LS: At the last slam, I made a new piece called Sir Dancealot, especially for the Dance theme. I NEVER would have created him otherwise - as I never would have thought to explore a dance-based character. Sir Dancealot is now my new favorite piece. I love him. This would never have come about without the slam. I was worried that people wouldn't have the time to create things outside their usual work. But they have flocked to this. They MAKE the time, and it's a fun event. And did I mention completely shambolic? The slams seem almost random, although they are, of course, completely planned. They also serve to unite the community in the non-judgmental creation and viewing of new work.
M: Would you say in Melbourne that you are part of a slam circuit?LS: Unfortunately, Australia is huge, with no cities between the cities like you guys have in the USA or in Europe/UK. Our closest cities are a day's drive away at least, and we have only just started the slams here in Melbourne. We'd LOVE to do national tours, but funding is scarce. It's something for the future, for sure. The only way I think I personally could go on a slam tour would be in the US. Another hint.M: What are some misconceptions about the Australian puppet scene?LS: ..that we have some of the most dangerous puppet wildlife in the world.. ..that all the puppets here will kill you.. ..that's a complete myth and misconception. You only have to worry about the redback - They can hide under your chair and bite you when you least expect it. But they're easy to spot with their red backs, and the arm attached to the puppet, so you shouldn't be scared to travel here.M: Thanks for the travel advisory.. Any other misconceptions?LS: Other misconceptions - that it's a raging and huge scene. It's not. I wish it was, but it's not. It's tiny. It's also difficult to find training in - our one puppet training facility at the Victorian College of the Arts was discontinued due to some reshuffling at the university, and there is a real need for good training. . . Also, Aussies will tell you about Drop Bear puppets and how they are dangerous for a laugh. Don't believe them. A Drop Bear puppet is a Koala Puppet. They're just taking the piss.M: You've been warned! - Apr 20, 12April Puppet Slam Network Open Calls for Submissions include National Puppet Slam #Atlanta, Strung Out Puppet Cabaret #Cincinnati, PUNCH #NYC, and Puppet Rampage #FtLauderdaleNATIONAL PUPPET SLAM #AtlantaSubmission: April 8th / Performances: August 3rd-5thContact Beau BrownThe mission of the National Puppet Slam is to recognize excellence in the art of short form puppet theatre. The featured pieces were nominated by their respective slams and then curated by The Puppet Slam Network and the Center for Puppetry Arts. As the largest non-profit organization in the country dedicated to puppetry, the Center for Puppetry Arts is invested in supporting and showcasing the next generation of puppeteers. These performances showcase the beauty, ingenuity, and hilarity of Puppet Slams from all across the country.DOLLY WIGGLER CABARET #CalgarySubmission: Open / Performance: May 5thContact office@animatedobjects.caThe International Festival of Animated Objects announces a spring Dolly Wiggler Cabaret featuring short mask and puppetry performances for an adult audience at a secret location.Artists wishing to perform send a note to office@animatedobjects.ca, and we'll contact you with the details.CAFÉ CONCRET #MontrealSubmission Open / Performance: May 7thContact: cafeconcret@gmail.comCafé Concret, a Montreal-based cabaret of experimental puppetry and performing objects, is seeking proposals for short performance pieces. Café Concret is a bilingual community event for puppeteers, musicians and other artists interested in animating objects. The event is not-for-profit and artists will be paid a modest fee. Curators are looking for experimental object based performances under 15 minutes. Acts could be excerpts or complete pieces, new or works-in-progress. Please include the following information in your proposal, plus any other information you think is important: Name and contact info, Brief description, Length, Technical needs, and documentation of your piece (or past work) in the form of photo or video.STRUNG OUT PUPPET CABARET #Cincinnati
Submission: April 15th / Performances: June 2nd & 3rd
Contact: Irina NiculescuMad Slams announces Strung Out Puppet Cabaret, a puppet slam debuting on June 2nd & 3rd at the Cincinnati Fringe Festival. They are looking for short form puppetry acts for adults that feature a great diversity of puppet forms: rod puppets, humanettes, shadows, toy theatre, marionettes, animated objects, puppets combined with performing arts, films etc. Upload a video of your piece and send a weblink to inniculescu@gmail.com Requirements: Acts must be 7 min or less with a set up must that can be completed in under a minute. Assistance provided with travel expenses, lodging for up to 4 nights, passes to the Cincinnati Fringe, CD audio/projector and screen for filmsPUNCH #NYC #BROOKLYN
Submission: Open / Performances: June, August & December
contact Gretchen Van Lente Try out new material or that piece you did for class (in front of people who aren't your classmates). Get feedback on a piece that needs some work. Show a short piece developed for Puppet Playlist, at the Puppet Lab or at the O’Neill Puppetry Conference to a whole new audience! Schmooze and drink with other people who like puppets. Get an equal split of the door (guaranteed $40 at least).
PUPPET RAMPAGE # FT Lauderdale
Submission: April 18th (Audition) / Performance: May 26th
Contact: Jean MinuchinCall for Puppeteers! We have a new puppet slam coming up in Fort Lauderdale. Jim Hammond and Jean Minuchin are co-producing a slam on May 26th at World and Eye Arts Center. Looking for short form puppet theater for adults. Calling all storytellers, visual artists, performance art folks and of course puppeteers who want to try out. Try-outs are on Wednesday April 18th at 6PM. RSVP on Facebook.PUPPET MELTDOWN #ChicagoSubmission: June 1st / Performance: July 19thWe are currently looking for a wide range of short puppet pieces to showcase at this evening of performances no longer than 10 minutes and geared towards an adult audience. So if you have something hilarious, outrageous, naughty, poignant, absurd or unusual that you would like to perform, please visit our website www.seabeastpuppetry.com to download an application.
Please contact the Puppet Slam Network if you have an open call you would like posted - Apr 06, 12There’s no fooling with April when it comes to Puppet Slams and Cabarets! #SanJuan #Houston #Melbourne #KansasCity #Philadelphia #Providence #DC #Portland #Columbia #Toronto #Richmond #Asheville #GlenEcho #NYC
Sobre La Mesa Slam #SanJuanSunday April 1st at 8:00PMFriday April 6th at 8:00PMSaturday, April 7th at 8:00PMSunday, April 8th at 8:00PMTaller Teatro Y No Habia Luz1416 Avenida Ponce de Leon, Santurce, frente de la Escuela Central HighSan Juan Puerto Rico 00912(787) 365-1925$11Puppeteers create short pieces inside a labyrinth of intimate spaces based on their response to an identical object.
Bobbindoctrin's 8th Annual Puppet Slam #HoustonFriday April 6th at TBASaturday, April 7th at TBASunday, April 9th at TBABobbindoctrin's Puppet Slam returns to Houston for another vivid collection of short puppet plays.
Set Up Punch #MelbourneThursday, April 12th at 11:00PMFeaturing Randy, The Mighty Littles, Derek Rowe’s puppet band, Wes Snelling, The Soubrettes, Humple the Slam Poet and Ken the Koala. Set Up Punch is a one night Slam celebrating FUNNY puppets, especially for the Melbourne International Comedy Festival 2012.
KC Puppet Slam #KansasCityFriday, April 13th at 8:00PMSaturday, April 14th at 8:00 PMPaul Mesner Puppets Studio1006 E. Linwood Blvd.Kansas City, Missouri 64109(816) 756-3500$10Join us for the KC Puppet Slam. A puppet slam is an evening of adult-themed puppet pieces. Quirky, edgy and oh-so-naughty...You’ve never seen a puppet show like this before!
Puppet Manualfesto #PhiladelphiaSaturday, April 14th at 7:00PM & 9:00PMWalking Fish Theatre2509 Frankford AvenuePhiladelphia, Pa, 19125(215) 427-9255$12 Advance / $15 DoorCome join Puppet Manualfesto as it celebrates short-form puppetry and community, embracing a multitude of performance aesthetics. If it involves puppetry, mask work or object theatre we want to see and share it with everyone else.
Bobbindoctrin's 8th Annual Puppet Slam #HoustonSaturday, April 14th at TBASunday, April 15th at TBABobbindoctrin's Puppet Slam returns to Houston for another vivid collection of short puppet plays.
Blood From a Turnip #ProvidenceFriday, April 20th at 10:00PMVideo-ventriloquist Evan O’Television and non-motivational speaker Brian Longwell explore their relationship to puppetry together under the umbrella, “The Itching Man A/V Society Presents”.Puppet Underground Cabarets #DCFriday, April 20th at 8:00PMLa Casa Community of Christ3166 Mt Pleasant St NWWashington, DC 20010$5-$15 Sliding ScaleThis slam will feature NYC puppeteer Erin Bell’s “Do Right Belly Fire, Do Right Monkey Brain” as well as other local acts.
Beady Little Eyes #Portland #ORFriday, April 20th at 8:00PMFunhouse Lounge2432 SE 11th StreetPortland, OR 97214(503) 841-6734www.beadylittleeyes.comBeady Little Eyes to take SE Portland by storm! The theme, Heroes and Villains will evoke triumph and despair in the hearts of even the quirkiest Portlanders. $1 off admission with a superhero/villain costume.
Spork In Hand Puppet Slam #Columbia #SCFriday, April 20th at 7:00PMSaturday, April 21st at 7:00PMSpork in Hand Puppet Slam will be a celebration of Southern puppetry that is off-the-beaten-path. We hope to amaze, entertain, and inspire with two gloriously gritty evenings of experimental puppet and object theatre performances heretofore unseen in South Carolina.Feed the Birds Cabaret #TorontoThursday, April 26th at 8:00PMTallulah's Cabaret at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre12 Alexander StreetToronto, Ontario M4Y 1B4Feed the Birds brings on the love and feathers in the latest installment of their performing objects and puppetry cabaret
All The Saints Spaghetti Dinner! #RichmondSaturday, April 28th at 7:00PMOur Spaghetti Dinners act dually as a grassroots artists cabaret of puppetry, vaudeville, and good old cardboard enthusiasm while feeding the community all at a sliding scale rate. Eccentric, delicious, and the ultimate go-to for Richmond’s experimental performance scene.
Wham, Bam! Puppet Slam #AshevilleSaturday, April 28th at 9:00PMFor the National Day of Puppetry, the Wham, Bam! Puppet Slam presents a ‘Quick & Dirty Slam’! One show only! Twelve acts, five minutes each! Come witness the mayhem and madness, or even come perform yourself!Playhouse Puppetry Slam! #GlenEcho #MDSaturday, April 28th at 7:00PM & 9:00PMThe Puppet Co. Playhouse7300 MacArthur BlvdGlen Echo, MD 20812The Puppet Co. Playhouse presents its adult-friendly showcase of vignettes. Content ranges from the raunchy and risqué to the tender and tear jerking, in a fast-moving succession of both rough and polished acts with live jazz by JFQ in between.
Puppet Playlist City #NYCMonday, April 30th at 8:00PMYou've heard it through the grapevine, now join Puppet Playlist as we bring Motown to Downtown with original works of puppetry & musical interpretations by some of NYC's most exciting singer-songwriters! Let's Get It On. Program repeats Tuesday May 1st at 7:30PM and 9:30PM. - Mar 22, 12
Great Small Works Spaghetti Dinners
presents
Illocutions:
A Cabaret of Performative Poetries
With reading/performances by
Cara Benson
Lee Ann Brown
Tracie Morris
Tomas Urayoan Noel
Eugene Ostashevsky
Stephen Boyer, Ayesha Adamo, Kari Giron, Ras Osagyefo, Ben Rosenberg
read from the #OWS Poetry Anthology
and
Robert Kocik, Daria Fain and The Phoneme Choir
with Great Small Works performing Terror as Usual Episode 13
March 27, 2012 @7:30
One Arm Red
10 Jay Street, 9th Floor
DUMBO Brooklyn $15 (and yet no one is turned away) - Apr 08, 12When she's not organizing New Brew, Alissa Hunnicutt performs at puppet slams in the tri-state area. Her original show, “The Kid Inside”, has been seen at cabaret venues, Dixon Place , and at the Orlando Puppet Festival. Alissa is the resident puppeteer at Mount Sinai Kravis Children’s Hospital. She has been a featured participant at the O’Neill National Puppetry Conference and has performed at Great Small Works’ InternationalToy Theater Festival. Her short film, “Can’t Buy My Love”, was included in the Puppets on Film Festival at BAM. Alissa’s puppet theater credits include Die Hard the Puppet Musical, David Michael Friend’s EGO, Cosmic Bicycle Theater’s “Edward Lear’s Absurd-Ditties”, and the UNIMA Award-winning Kevin Augustine’s “BRIDE”.Marsian: So you are hosting, New Brew this month? I know you've performed at a lot of slams, but is this your first time hosting one?
Alissa Hunnicutt: I am hosting an event on March 16that Barbes in Park Slope, called New Brew: It's Better with Puppets! This is actually the third slam I've put together. The first was in 2008 called A Puppet Music Thing as part of the New York Musical TheatreFestival (I curated, performed and self produced). That was a great opportunity to expose the musical theater community to a wide variety of styles of puppetry. And in December 2009, I co-curated the first New Brew evening with puppets.M: Sounds intoxicating and musical. What exactly is New Brew?AH: New Brew is a subgroup of a company I sing with, Opera on Tap. New Brew is a Contemporary Collective of Performers/Performance Curators showcasing the work of 20th and 21st century composers. We each take a turn at curating an evening of arias and art songs by living composers. My contribution as a curator has been to bring a puppetry element to that material. It's really fun music to do because very often the composer is in the room for the show.M: So how do you incorporate puppets into these works by living composers?AH: Here's how the New Brew show works - I reached out to the NY puppetry community (through my newsletter, guild meetings, a puppetry listserve, and individual requests) to ask who would like to participate in a grab-bag puppet slam of sorts. To create a short puppetry piece for an adult audience based on a contemporary classical art song NOT of their choosing. The very brave puppeteers who answered that call have had less than a month to come up with some visual representation of songs from the repertoire of music performed at previous New Brew shows. My co-curator, Delea Shand, coordinated the line-up of songs and I assigned them to the puppeteers.M: Sounds like half the show is what happens behind the scenes.AH: It's an interesting process, because it's more like a puppet challenge since the puppeteer isn't waiting to be struck by some kind of inspiration to begin the process. They have to come up with a visual concept with no choice in the material. The show is also special because all of the music for the evening is performed live.M: What was your first puppet slam like?AH: My first puppet slam was Puppet Art Attacks as part of the Voice4Vision Festival in 2007. I had developed my first short piece that same year during my first summer attending the O'Neill National Puppetry Conference. It's a table-top, moving-mouth puppet piece called Raggedy Ann. I have a semi-costume element in that piece as the puppet represents me, so I was wearing a white pinafore and my hair in pigtails. That was the first time performing at a puppetry event in NYC, so I was really nervous. And the piece is tricky because I think it's really sad and speaks to a lot of personal truth about heartache and struggles I've been through, but often an audience thinks it's funny. It's not typical slam material since it's serious, but I was glad to get a chance to perform it again.M: I’ve seen Raggedy Ann, and it’s a mix of emotions, just like life. Now you’re also really good at mixing up the world of cabaret singing and puppets.AH: Yeah, that's kind of my thing. I came to puppetry with a background in music. I've been singing my whole life, but I never really found my own artistic voice until I took my singing and combined that with puppetry. In all my years of performing, I never had the desire to create my own work. But I have been prolific with my desire to create new puppet shows. Puppetry gave me that voice. And puppet slams gave me the stage.M: You’ve performed at a LOT of puppet slams, some further away than the tri-state area.AH: I hadn't added it up before, but since 2007, I've performed in around 35 puppet slams. In NYC we're really fortunate because there are a lot of slams, cabarets, variety shows, soirees, etc., where there are performance opportunities - some several times a year, some annual, some festivals, and some one-time special events. In addition to local performances, I've traveled to CT, NJ, MD, MA, GA, FL, and I've had a film shown in IL.M: Wow, that’s a lot of traveling, and what would you say was the freakiest, edgiest or weirdest show you’ve seen in your travels?AH: The "freakiest, edgiest, or weirdest show” would probably have been something performed at slam that isn't around anymore produced by Kate Brehm called Slutty Puppets. The theme was exactly that. Pieces that were edgy. Lindsay Abromaitis-Smith is an amazingly talented puppeteer who also has a wonderfully sick imagination and I love her work. "Funniest" is impossible to choose. I am a very lucky girl to be surrounded by really funny friends, and a late night slam really lends itself to that kind of material. Liz Hara is hilarious and her pieces are clever and well-written. Spencer Lott's last bamboo piece cracks me up!M: On the flip side, any slams that were real disasters?AH: I don't think any of them have been disastrous. Some of them have pieces that are "less successful" than others partly because it might be a less curated slam or a slam that really welcomes less experienced performers, but that's the good part about a slam.Everyone can try something out and if it doesn't really work, the audience is on to a new thing pretty quickly. Like we all say, "too short to suck."M: If you were to say you are part of a slam circuit? What would that encompass? Have you ever been on a slam tour?AH: The closest thing I've been to a slam tour is performing in Honey Goodenough's Puppet Pandemicin 2010-2011. She got a few of us to do several slams in the Northeast by loading into a couple cars and finding local housing to keep the costs as low as possible. Many of us performed in each other's pieces, so if you got the right combination of performers you could really maximize the number of pieces available to showcase. It was a lot of fun.M: Like a lot of performers I know, it seems like you have used puppet slams to help in developing full-length works.AH: When I got back from the O'Neill with Raggedy Ann, I knew I wanted to find more opportunities to perform that piece, but I didn't want to do a full show that developed that character further specifically. I'd been toying with the idea of doing my own cabaret show of songs for a long time, and this seemed like a great catalyst for that. So I said to my musical director, Steven Katz, "ok, let's do a show." And he and I began choosing songs I was drawn to sing or inspired with a puppet idea. Because my work has its inspiration come from a song, by the very nature of that the pieces are short form. And because I like to explore emotions in my performances, putting my heart and vulnerability on the stage, the work doesn't lend itself to a children's audience. Steven came up with the title song for the cabaret show "The Kid Inside" to pull all of it together. The universal inner child we all have, especially as puppeteers.M: And from what I’ve gathered, you set out on a longer process to creating a fully developed show from short pieces that you debuted at slams?AH: So over the next three years I kept the big picture in mind as I chose songs to develop as puppetry pieces.I couldn't have gotten the pieces ready without using puppet slams as my development sandbox.Knowing a slam was coming up and what goal I had set for it gave me deadlines and milestones to reach for each piece. I worked with my collaborators to explore new styles of puppetry using these short form pieces to also grow technically as a puppeteer. At the same time working with my musical director to keep the pieces on theme for what would eventually be our larger show where we knit the songs together into an evening where the emotional journey of growing up, loving, living and laughing was the through line. I'm really proud of the way it all came together.M: Tell us about a fabulous failure at a slam and what you've learned from it.AH: Mostly you learn that it's live theater and anything can happen. So think on your feet when there are technical glitches and be honest in your performance. You also learn pretty quickly what doesn't work in a slam context when you have no control over what comes before your performance.M: Why are Puppet Slams important to you?AH: Puppet slams are a great way to try out new material for the performer. Also a way for someone new to puppetry to put their toe in the water since doing a short form piece is less overwhelming (or can be). I think it's also really important to use these short pieces, and evenings of short pieces, to showcase forms of puppet theater the general theater-going audience is unfamiliar with. That's why I get most excited when the show collaborates with a non-puppet audience.I love performing for my peers, but I think it's got to be our mission to educate and expand the definition of "puppet" to the general audience whose whole exposure to puppetry has come from their television.Puppet theater is powerful and beautiful and moving and exciting and funny and different from other forms of entertainment in a really special way. I care a great deal about it.M: What inspires you to create a puppet slam piece?AH: For me it almost always starts with a song. Something that when I hear the song I "see" something, usually a moment, a single image that becomes the jumping off point visually.M: Who are some other artists on the puppet slam circuit who you are inspired by?AH: I love what Jon Levin brings to his work. He really reinvents a story when he's working with a song. As one of the forces behind Puppet Playlist, he sets a wonderful example of how to develop something within their structure. Hugo Gets Flushed, or Plenty of Fish in theSea is a piece he does using his hands painted like a fish. The movement and expression he gives that puppet is priceless.Honey Goodenough's sweet marionette pieces Handle with Care and Sweet Dreams) are beautifully thought out and touching. I am enjoying watching her develop her individual pieces with an eye for a larger theme and am looking forward to seeing her put them together into a longer program someday.WonderSpark Puppets (Z Briggs & Chad Williams) are such great writers and storytellers. They are funny and smart. Jack and the Beanstalk, Part 2 is a great example of that. They are concentrating more on their puppet company's business these days and they are sorely missed from the slam line-ups.M: What pieces do you have in circulation to perform in puppet slams?AH: Red Dress is a solo marionette piece, a moment of a woman's reflection on expectations from her youth that didn't come true. The marionette form, costume, and my costumes were designed/built by Sarah Lafferty. The piece was developed at the O'Neill with Phillip Huber.Marry Me is a toy theater piece based on a Dolly Parton bluegrass song. It's cute and funny, about how easy it is to get carried away with the excitement of the potential of a first date and first kiss. The show was designed/built by Michael Schupbach of the The Puppet Kitchen, sung to a track recorded by The Birdhive Boys, and most often with the human acting partnership of Chad Williams. Performed originally at the Great Small Works' International Toy Theater Festival.Almost Everything I Need is a solo miniature theater piece that's fairly new. Using a puppet built by David Fino. It's the story of a woman in her new apartment, alone, after a relationship ended. Feeling out of place. Taking stock of the situation. Created for the first New Brew puppet slam and will be reprised this Friday.Uninvited is a table top puppet designed/built by David Michael Friend based on a song by Groovelily from their musical Sleeping Beauty Wakes sung by the Ugly Fairy who wasn't invited to the ball...and she's pissed. The other puppeteers on that team are Honey Goodenough and Z Briggs. Uninvited debuted at Puppet Playlist's Seven Deadly Sins show.M: Where can people contact you to perform?They can find contact info on my site, www.alissahunnicutt.com to sign up for my newsletter to find out when and where I'm performing next! But at the moment I'm more interested in people contacting me to collaborate on new slam pieces that then can start hitting the stage. If you're a builder and would like a gig creating a new piece with me, let me know.M: Where would you like to see Puppet Slams and the Puppet Slam Network in the future?AH: I really appreciate what the Puppet Slam Network does with financial granting for the people who produce slams on a regular basis. I found out the hard way with my first producing experience how much money it costs to do a full slam in a theater space out of pocket when you pay your puppeteers, lighting designer, sound designer, publicity, programs, host, etc. If we want people to produce evenings of high quality theater, the financial help that the network is doing is so important.I love the communication that has opened up between slams cultivated by the Slam Network. It's a great resource for a new performer to find performance opportunities if they aren't tapped into those in their area. I hope the network continues to grow its support of the individual performer along with the producers. Offering ways to showcase their work (maybe individual pages with a simple CMS performers can use to generate a profile), and perhaps offering financial support for developing new short form puppetry is an area that could be considered.M:What advice do you have for up and coming slam artists or performers who are just starting out?AH: I think a lot of your interview subjects have suggested going to a slam if you're interested in participating in slams. I totally agree. See what other artists in your area are doing. It's inspiring. I am also a huge cheerleader for The National Puppetry Conference at The O'Neill Theater Center. Your readers hear that name a ton too, I'm sure. The participant pieces that are developed in the evenings are where a lot of the slam content comes from in my circle of peers. In a few days you are exposed to so many different methods and techniques for creating short form puppetry. Plus it's a very tight network of puppeteers who have leads on performance opportunities, become fast friends, and it has a very special place in my heart.M: Anything else we should know?AH: I have some new ideas for pieces I'd like to develop over the next year and add into The Kid Inside in order to put the show back on its feet in 2013 with some fresh material for returning audience. So you will see a lot of me as those new pieces come to life! - Mar 14, 12AdelaideWindsome is a Philadelphia based multimedia fabulist, artist, and organizer, who performs under the moniker, Geppetta. Her puppet shows and film, which she describes as “dark and whimsical”, have been featured nationally with Fresh Meat Productions, Heels on Wheels Glitter Roadshow, and Painted Bride Art Center's Lets Make a Ruckus Festival. She has led workshops on gender studies, multimedia art, and social activism at James Madison and Harvard Law.The Light Bearer's Nightmare, Puppet Slamwich #Baltimore, Photo: Bill Haas 2011Marsian: You are a performance enigma! Is it Adelaide? A(dee)laide? or Geppetta?AW: Ha! I think my name situation makes more sense in my head then to anyone else. My name is Adelaide though most know me as simply ‘dee’ - thus A(dee)laide. I do enjoy Adelaide as is though, it sounds very proper and charming.M: What was the genesis of Geppetta? Is it like an alter ego for you?AW: I started using Geppetta a few years ago when I was touring the Southeast with my friend Evan Greer, who is a musician. I wanted to make it clear that I was a puppeteer (and a badass queer feminist puppeteer at that). Since then, Geppetta has sort of become her own puppet. She doesn’t act like I do when I’m off stage - I just crawl inside her skin once in awhile. Its probably for the best, she is high maintenance.M: Tell us about your art practice and how you ended up performing at Puppet Slams.AW: I would say multimedia storytelling is the foundation of what I do. I work with stories and experimental memoir that utilize fairy tale and fable motifs and occult symbolism. Most often my work has themes of complex emotions, such as depression, trauma, and grief, and the surreal effects that can have on the body and mind. I like there to be laughter and tears.M: From magic to melancholy, it sounds like an emo rollercoaster!AW: I think that’s reflective of why fairy tales and fables are written to begin with, to process hard and complex realities with whimsy and fantasy. My background is in visual arts though and I spend the most time sewing together puppets and painting on tiny faces. As far as performance, I produce short form theater that features puppetry, narrative, and live music. That model works well for Puppet Slams.M: Can you recall your very first slam experience?AW: I first heard about Slams while living in Boston years ago. I was interested but didn’t quite have the nerve yet, so I stuck to performing in living rooms and street corners for a while.M: Um, it takes more nerve to be a street performer, but back to that first puppet cabaret…AW: The first puppet cabaret I did was right when I moved to Philadelphia with Puppet Uprising at the Rotunda. I had to park the U-Haul and head straight there - it was a scramble. I did a little cardboard piece about two gay lovers lost at sea with my friend playing harmonica. One lover had his limbs bitten off by a shark. I think that was the only time I did that piece. Since then, Puppet Uprising Cabarets have a special place in my heart because I have grown a lot as a performer there and had the opportunity to curate a couple shows.M: I hope it wasn’t autobiographical… Which Puppet Slams have you performed at?AW: I have performed at Puppet Slams around the Northeast including Brookline Puppet Showplace’s Slam, PuppetSlamwich at Black Cherry in Baltimore, and Blood From a Turnip in Providence plus a couple others. Most of these in the last year or so.M: I used to host Blood from a Turnip with Vanessa!AW: Last fall I had the opportunity to be a featured artist with Blood from a Turnip on one of their solo artist nights. I must say. David and Vanessa are probably the most accommodating people I have worked with. It was a great experience to perform a bunch of work and hold the spotlight. I did miss the diversity and hectic nature of Slams and group performances.M: I love when you get to see short glimpses of different artists’ visions in the same evening and when you are performing in a slam how you never really know who you will be performing with.AW: My parents came to a puppet Slam in Boston. It was the same night as War Sheep, a parody on War Horse by Broderick Jones, which involves a sheep getting blown up and made out with. That was a bit freaky/interesting for them.M: I’ve heard that you tour a lot in odd places.AW: I have booked tours with performers and musicians where we perform at bars and cafes and basements and spaces generally not accustomed to puppetry. While I like subverting those kinds of spaces in favor of performance art, it is also very nurturing to perform at Puppet Slams that are better equipped for puppetry and just get it a bit more. Though bars probably provide more juicy details on account of the free drinks. You’d be amazed at the number of people who have never seen a buzzed puppeteer on stage before. It's astounding… I would love to do cross country Puppet Slam jaunt. It sounds dreamy for both my sick organizational fetish and as a performer who has wanderlust in her blood.M: Tell us about a fabulous failure at a slam and what you've learned from it.AW: I think I count on failure or at least making mistakes to some degree. A lot of my stories are very wordy, more poetic than funny, and I often forget my lines, though if I can quip with the audience its okay. A lot of mistakes graduate into being essential parts of the show. Recently, I lit my hair on fire during a performance at a crowded loft. That wasn’t at a Slam, though I think it would have gone over better if it had been.M: I love it! That’s so Michael Jackson of you and educational at the same time!AW: Maybe? Its probably best if I keep that part cut out of the show.M: How have you evolved through Puppet Slams?AW: In the past I have mostly performed with other queer artists and musicians or through LGBTQ organizations, which I love to do and will always do, but I wanted to begin performing in settings that pertained to my craft more than my identity. I don’t feel as though I have a wide grasp of the world of contemporary puppetry. Slams have been most of my exposure to that world. This felt rather intimidating at first though Puppet Slams have been so accessible and open to a wide range of styles and backgrounds. I have performed alongside seasoned puppeteers and with people who just felt like making a show that weekend. If I feel weird or different I am in good company.Slams are like magnets for innovative weirdness.M: Why do you think Puppet Slams are important?AW: It’s been a great place to experiment and network. Maintaining a space in puppetry for the adult imagination is really important as well. Though anytime I use adult and puppetry in the same sentence people just think sexy puppets. Of course its sexy puppets! (though mostly not). Mostly I want grown-ups or anyone who feels they are too old for puppets to get excited about a cardboard box versus a Hollywood film, which does all the work for you.M: Which performers on the slam circuits are you inspired by?AW: To some extent, I get inspired by most everyone at Puppet Slams - if not by their performance then by their puppets. Most often I want to get dorky about how a puppet moves since my technical skills are limited.Some folks I have seen or have performed with a few times are RPM Puppet Conspiracy, who are a Vermont-based troupe. One time I was caught up in some puppet-related woe about metaphor and movement and stupid things and then went to a show by RPM about a space sanitation worker and a talking telephone and a cat with a mustache. It was brilliantly silly and still conveyed a message about over consumption and American consumerism. It was a great reminder not to over-think things, which is a debilitating problem I have.I recently performed Das Wunderkammer Kabaret at the Cosmic Bicycle Puppet Theater in New York and shared the bill with the Ragdoll Engine, who I also performed with in Philly once before. The group features clown and puppeteer, Aly Perry with accompaniment by banjo player, Cody Fosbrook, and master looper, Karl Scholz. They had sexy puppets! and also sad puppets and puppets you couldn’t quite understand. I enjoy performances where afterwards you feel captivated though also a bit confused.Beth Nixon is a Philly favorite who is as much a character actor as puppeteer. Her and Sarah Lowry of Missoula Oblongata recently performed Below and Beyond, a cheeky and fantastical response to the fracking debate in Pennsylvania. They will be touring around in May.M: What slam pieces do you have in circulation?AW: I have been performing segments from BEWARE DISEMBODIED PHENOMENAS!,which is comprised of three darker fables. One is about the queen of a thrift store who finds Medusa’s brass hands. The other is about a narcissistic dandy haunted by a girlish ghost, and the last is a murder mystery that involves a train hopper and giant dead squid. The stories are allusions to classic myths in contemporary fable settings and have a lot to do with fear and xenophobia. Also I think they are pretty funny.M: Anything in development?AW: A shorter version of a longer piece entitled, Three Daemon Serenade, which is a collaboration with experimental folk musician, Elliott Harvey. It's about tea and owls and out-of-body experiences. That’s the piece where I lit my hair on fire. Its under control now. I promise.M: And when you are not lighting your hair on fire, where can people contact you to perform?AW: I can be contacted at stitchingtentacles@gmail.com. You can also join my e-mail list here: http://www.stitchingtentacles.com/socialnets.htmlM: What advice do you have for up and coming slam performers who are just starting out?AW: The best advice I was given was from writer/performer Ryka Aoki, while I was on the Tranny Roadshow. She said something along the lines of if you are nervous you need to channel that energy into the performance. The best performances I have done are when I want to pee my pants a little.M: What’s coming up for you?AW: This April I will be touring with the Heels on Wheels Glitter Roadshow across the Northeast. Heels on Wheels is a group of queer performance artists that features a raucous, thought-provoking line-up of multi-media, literary and performing arts, music, puppetry, participatory art. Its not only puppets but its a very animated show for sure!
- Mar 14, 12When she’s not clowning around as a children’s party entertainer, or cheering up kids as a pediatric clown, Honey Goodenough produces PuppetPandemic, a touring showcase of works developed at the O’Neill National Puppetry Conference. Since 2009 Puppet Pandemic has raised funds for alumni scholarships at the conference. Honey has a BA in Theater and Dance with a focus in costume design and technology from the University of Texas, and a Masters in Educational Theater from NYU. Currently, she is a NYC Teaching Artist, developing literacy based puppetry programs for Shadow Box Theater.Handle with Care, Puppet Pandemic NYC 2010, Photo Credit: Richard TermineMarsian: When did you start performing in Puppet Slams?HG: My first official puppet slam was in 2008, at CoLab’s Puppet Slamproduced by Mary Gragen Rodgers. But, with the help of Matthew Leonard, I debuted my first original piece called BJ Tucker’s Freak Show at the Margo Rose Scholarship Fundraiser, hosted by the CT Guild of puppetry in 2005.M: Tell us about one of the acts you have developed at puppet slams?HG: Most of the pieces I currently tour were originally developed at the O’Neill National Puppetry Conference. But the slam piece I like to perform most of all was developed with Marta Mozelle MacRostie, specifically for Jon Levin and Josh Luxenburg’s Puppet Playlist in NYC. Its called Nothing Compares to You, the story of a girl suffering from a heart-break and is seduced by ice cream. [Seen on this link under Cream]M: What inspired you to start Puppet Pandemic?HG: Puppet Pandemic is based on the idea that Puppetry is an infectious art form. It is also a fundraiser for the O’Neill National Puppetry Conference Alumni Scholarship. I was inspired to start Puppet Pandemic because I attended the 2009 O’Neill National Puppetry Conference, and that year the shows sold out early. I was shocked that so many puppeteers were driving 4 hours from NYC to see a show of peers and then couldn’t get seats. So, I thought, Lets bring the show to NYC! Once I began contemplating the finances, I thought it might be more beneficial to everyone to use the funds for a scholarship to attend the O’Neill to produce more work. So basically, the mission is to produce art in order to fund more art!M: Who have you partnered with and where have you toured?HG: I’m constantly surprised by the support this movement has inspired. With the help of many friends from the PSN, I have partnered with other Slams to tour Puppet Pandemic:Puppet Pandemic (NYC) - October 2009 & September 2010PuppetShowplace Slam (Brookline) with Roxie Myrum - January 2010 &November 2011Puppet Co.Playhouse (Glen Echo, MD) with Eric Brooks – March & October 2010, October 2011AustinPuppet Incident with Caroline Reck & Connor Hopkins - March 2011Puppet Pandemic (Philadelphia) with Martina Plag - November 2011Many other slam producers have been willing to host fundraisers in conjunction with their own Puppet Slams including Beau Brown of The Puckin’ Fuppet Show in Atlanta, Katie McClenahan’s of Beady Little Eyes in Portland, Mary Gragen Rogers of CoLAB Puppet Slam in New Jersey, Hannah Miller of Action Puppet Force in Orlando, and Madison Crips of The Wham Bam Puppet Slam in Asheville.M: That’s quite a list! And in such a short period of time! What cities will Pandemic spread to next?HG: I hope to partner with Puppet Slamwichin Baltimore, and I hope to go to Minneapolis, Chicago, and Portland. But, in order to tour I need a contact person in the prospective city who will help me organize our tech, travel, and housing. If anyone is interested in helping me organize a new tour or fundraiser, please contact me at Puppetpandemic@gmail.comM: What are some of the acts that have traveled with you on the Pandemic circuit?HG: Carole D'Agostino Object Theater Time, Carole takes objects from the audience and invents and performs a story with them on the spot. It’s very exciting to hear the audience’s reactions to some of Carole’ s re-interpretations of their common everyday objects. Its like everyone shares the same huge a-ha moment.Alissa Hunnicutt is a conservatory trained singer, and it is always to pleasure to see her blend her love of singing and puppetry together to create a auditory and visually stunning pieces like Uninvited and Red Dress.
In Z Briggs’ Dumb Lovers, Z not only performs this beautiful puppetry piece without the use of puppets, but she also demonstrates the amount focus it takes to create two independent characters through one puppeteer.M: How much money have you raised for scholarships?HG: In 2010 we raised $2,500 or the equivalent of 7 scholarships. In 2011 we raised $5,500 or the equivalent of 9 scholarships. If you want to donate to the 2012 scholarships, you can donate online through Flock Theatre.M: What is your goal with fundraising for scholarships?HG: My goal is to inspire other alumni of the O’Neill to consider ways they can give back to their community. It can be challenging for artists to find time and the funds to follow their passion and produce their art, while working a day job. I’d like to remove as many financial hurdles as possible.There is no clear path as to how to become a puppeteer and learn about the art of puppetry, but the O’Neill National Puppetry Conference has been an important part of my artistic process and the crux of my puppetry community. It is my goal to raise as much as possible each year. I haven’t made any official announcements about the scholarship funds this year, but I hope we can award at least 7 scholarships. That would mean we would have awarded 23 scholarships in just 3 years. That’s one more scholarship that there have been years of the conference!M: How do you see what happens at the O'Neill Puppetry Conference being relevant to Puppet Pandemic and the Puppet Slam Network?HG: The O’Neill Puppetry Conference has a component that is called “participant pieces” for works 3 minutes or less. It’s a great place to work with other creatively powered professionals. If you need a singer, a director, a writer, or a musician, you and just ask for it and someone will help you. It’s an artists dream!M: Where do you see Puppet Pandemic in the next few years?HG: Currently, Puppet Pandemic is in search of a new home in NYC. I would love for La Mama ETC to invite us to perform in their theater. Pandemic is an ensemble of very dynamic puppetry pieces, produced by young artists. I think the concept of Puppet Pandemic is something Ellen Stewart would be proud to support.M: What do you think of the current crop of slam names? Puppet Pandemic sounds infectious like a disease. Austin Puppet Incident sounds like they have a problem with the police. Puppet Meltdown has nuclear disaster connotations. Puppet Rampage - Do they have anger issues? My favorite name this year, King Friday’s Dungeon less apocalyptic and more kinky - sounds like Mr. Rogers + S&M.HG: I love it! I chose Puppet Pandemic because I wanted a name that had the word puppetry in it, but didn’t sound like it was for children. I think these names have a similar vibe. The names promise an intense puppetry experience.Alissa Hunnicutt with Honey Goodenough & Kate Katz - Puppet Art Attacks, Photo courtesy of Honey GoodenoughM: Any advice to future slam organizers or slam organizers who are just starting?HG: Above all, be good to your performers. There can be a lot of stress related to producing an event, but if you want people to continue to work with you it must be worthwhile for the performers. We have to support this art form, from the ground up! So work hard, be kind, and have fun!M: Anything else you’d like to tell the readers of our blog?HG:I would like to thank the Puppet Slam Network for supporting this movement. It’s not only helping support our artists on a micro level, but also making it possible to connect with other artists and producers who believe in the same principals. I think of puppet slams as more than just one show, but a rather a collection of shows that the audience gets to see in one sitting. I think the format really appeals to today’s audience. And it can give wings to young artists who are learning how to create full-length works.I am always trying to think of innovative ways to fund raise, and looking for donations for our raffles and silent auctions. If anyone has any suggestions, please contact me at: Puppetpandemic@gmail.com - Mar 10, 12Spring Ahead with PSN where there’s a puppet slam at the end of every rainbow and adult puppet shows are blooming in spots around the globe like #Phoenix, #Chicago, #Brookline, #Australia, #Brooklyn, #Providence, #Baltimore, and #SanJuan.Getting Lucky Puppet Slam #PhoenixFriday March 2nd at 8:00PMSaturday March 3rd at 8:00PMGreat Arizona Puppet Theatre302 W. Latham StreetPhoenix, Arizona 85003(602) 262-2050Slam Specific Website$8 Advance/ $10 DoorArizona's quirkiest, edgiest puppeteers come together for some raunchy FUN! Independent performers do short pieces, which are usually funny and always adult! Puppet Slam nights at the Great Arizona Puppet Theater are for guests 18 and over.Nasty, Brutish & Short: a Puppet Cabaret #ChicagoMonday, March 5th at 7:30PMLinks Hall3435 N SheffieldChicago, IL 60657(773)281-0824Join Nasty Brutish & Short, where performers create risky new work and share it with an audience for the first time!Puppet Showplace Slam #BrooklineSaturday March 10th at 8:00PMPuppet Showplace Theatre32 Station StreetBrookline, MA 02445(617)731-6400$15 General /$13 StudentOnce again PST stays open late to bring you the finest in "grown up" puppet entertainment. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll go home googly-eyed. March's slam features David Stephens, Evan O’Television, and Jana Zeller.Slam Noir – The Sock Hop #Maldon #Victoria #AustraliaSunday, March 11th at 9:00PMUniting Church HallFountain StMaldon, VIC 3463$10Slam Noir’s Sock Hop sets puppets loose on the “dance-floor” for the Tarrengower Puppet festival (2 hours from Melbourne). Featuring some of Australia's finest puppeteers and lit only by torchlight, the works explore dance as real, metaphoric, abstract, and imaginary.New Brew: It’s Better with Puppets #Brooklyn #ParkSlopeFriday, March 16th at 8:00PMBarbes376 9th Street at 6th AvenueBrooklyn, NY 11215(718) 965-9177Free-$10 Suggested DonationNew Brew Co-curators Delea Shand and Alissa Hunnicutt have put together an evening where they set out to prove that as awesome as contemporary classical art songs are, they would be *way* better with puppets (‘cause, pretty much everything is)!Blood From a Turnip #ProvidenceFriday, March 16th at 10:00PMthe Black Box at 95 Empire95 Empire StreetProvidence, RI 02903(401)831-9327$7 / Free with RISD IDSince the day Blood from a Turnip began in February of 1997, BfaT, as the salon is affectionately called, has offered professional puppeteers and those new to the art form an opportunity to present big stories, in miniature.Puppet Slamwich! #BaltimoreSaturday, March 17th at 7:00PM & 9:30PMBlack Cherry Puppet Theater1115 Hollins StreetBaltimore, MD 21223410-752-7272$7This month’s Slamwich is a Horseradish Surprise, sure to bring tears to your eyes! Performers from Philly, DC, and Baltimore include Kevin Sherry, Rebecca Nagle, Pilar Diaz & Adam Endres, Wit’s End and PuppeTyranny!Titeretada: Noches de Cabaret Puppet Slam #SanJuanFriday, March 23rd at 8:00PMSaturday, March 24th at 8:00PMTaller Teatro Y No Habia Luz1416 Avenida Ponce de Leon, Santurce, frente de la Escuela Central HighSan Juan, Puerto Rico 00912(787) 365-1925$11We invite puppeteers to present short pieces of adult puppetry over the course of 2 nights during The Titeretada, our yearly celebration of World Puppetry Day.Great Small Works Spaghetti Dinner #BrooklynTuesday, March 27th at 7:30 PMOne Arm Red10 Jay Street, 9th floorBrooklyn, NY 11201$15Get ready for plenty of pasta with Great Small Works Spaghetti Dinner, curated by Caroline Crumpacker and Roberto Rossi. Performers include: Lee Ann Brown, Tracie Morris, Eugene Ostashevsky, The Poets Assembly from #OWS and Great Small Works.Sobre La Mesa Slam #SanJuanFriday, March 30th at 8:00PMSaturday, March 31st at 8:00PMTaller Teatro Y No Habia Luz1416 Avenida Ponce de Leon, Santurce, frente de la Escuela Central HighSan Juan Puerto Rico 00912(787) 365-1925$11Puppeteers create short pieces inside a labyrinth of intimate spaces based on their response to an identical object.
- Mar 09, 12From Feed the Birds Cabaret in Toronto:
Dear dear fine feathered friends,
It is that time of the season again when Quality Slippers decides to rent out a venue, do a short scramble, and put on the next installment of Feed the Birds (a performing objects & puppetry cabaret)...We are currently seeking proposals for new acts!
WHAT: Feed the Birds IV
WHEN: April 26th, 2012, 8:00pm
WHERE: Tallulah's Cabaret at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre, 12 Alexander St, Toronto, Ontario
WE NEED: Puppeteers, interpretive dancers, script writers, talking, watermelons, performance artists, clowns, storytellers, lawn flamingos, that like to polka, overhead projectors, animations, puppet films and YOU.
Please, send all proposals including title of act, approximate running time (please note that we are not currently accepting submissions of more then 15 minutes in length), medium, group or artist name,
synopsis of act and history of development, along with any support material to feedthebirdscabaret@gmail.comfeedthebirdscabaret@gmail.com by April 1st.
You will be notified of acceptance one week after the submission deadline. Please also note that there are significant production costs associated with running the event, but that if we do make any profit,
we are more than happy to share.
And, as usual - FREE GRILLED CHEESE SANDWICHES WITH THE SHOW!
Hope to see you there!
Love & Feathers,
Quality Slippers Productions
www.qualityslippers.ca - Mar 10, 12Roxanna (Roxie) Myhrum is the Artistic Director at Puppet Showplace Theatre (PST) where she curates year-round programming for adult and family audiences, including six Puppet ShowplaceSlams each year. She regularly provides support, guidance, snacks, and firm-but-loving critique to Boston's community of emerging puppetry artists. When not working at PST, Roxie is a freelance theatre and opera director and puppet coach in the Greater Boston Area.
2001, Photo: Rachel Krowe
Marsian: Hi Roxie! First off, who does your hair?
Roxie: Wait, what? I have the world's most boring hair, often hidden under a hat. When I went temporarily insane and got bangs I cut them myself. Your hair is much more interesting, Marsian.
M: Flattery will get you everywhere with me! (dramatic pause) So you are the artistic director of the Showplace.R: Two years and three months of glory!
M: How does the puppetry for adults at your slams fit in to your regular programming for kids (or not)?R: I hate the term Adult Puppetry. PST has a history of using Puppets at Night as a way to indicate that a certain event is not part of our regularly scheduled familyor kids programming, which takes place in the mornings and early afternoon. Most of our kid audience is in bed when our slam starts. The audience for the slams is pretty age-diverse, though, including many people who are older adults as well as students and even some teenagers. Occasionally there are people who come expecting something super raunchy who are disappointed, but I guess I'm OK with that.M: We all have a cross to bear..
R: Generally I'd say our slam content is pretty much PG-13rather than X-rated (although not always). I saw some of the best puppetry of my life when I was a young teenager at a puppet slam in my hometown of Springfield, MA. I was glad that the slam felt like an adult event but was still accessible to me as a kid. That's something I want to replicate for our audiences at PST.
M: You are one of three puppet artists I know of who have graduated from Harvard! What was the puppet scene like there?R: There wasn't much of a puppet scene - some people did a production of Little Shop of Horrors, which was pretty good (I think they rented the plant) and I once got asked to "consult" (that's a very Harvard thing) on a puppet production of Macbeth, which was pretty bad from its conception and there wasn't much I could do. I called Fred Thompson when I directed a production of Gilbert and Sullivan's "Yeomen of the Guard" because I wanted a raven puppet and he helped me out.
Julie Taymor is a graduate of the ART, which is sort of like Harvard, and Cheryl Henson is a Yale Grad. Are those the other people you meant?M: One is the president of UNIMA and the other is the co-CEO of a movie studio. Just curious if you knew any other Ivy Leaguers in Puppetry..R: There are lots of other Ivy League folks in puppetry -John Bell (UCONN) did his dissertation at Columbia, Annie Evans (Sesame Street writer) went to Brown, Jen Bodde (who used to work at the Center for Puppetry Arts Education Department) is a Yale Grad. I'm sure there are others. Maybe we should try to have a very exclusive table at the next PofA Festival!
M: Or a support group! I want you to regress back to your very first puppet slam experience.
R: As a puppeteer, I mostly work on other people's stuff, or work as a director, or work as a host. My first slam performance experience was when I was 16 and I was showing a piece I made called The Litterbug featuring a puppet I made out of trash. I have never been so terrified in my life: to have responsibility for every single element of a show AND to perform while under a black hood? Terrifying.
M: Where have the slam pieces you have had a hand in traveled to?
R: A piece that I coached was in the National Puppet Slam (Michelle Finston) and I was super proud to be there, although I wish Beau Brown had thrown me more candy. But really Sandglass should take the credit for instigating that piece.
M: You travel to a lot of slams, just to watch and look for acts. What have you been to recently?
R: I had a very trippy experience at the UCONN Puppet Slam that was part of the conference on performing objects in the 21st century. There was a guy who set things on fire in his piece, and the tech people apparently didn't know about this and freaked out and stopped his show part way through. There were some great pieces, one terrible piece, and it all ended with Erminio's dancing latex monsters. Trippy.M: I hosted that one! I too was shocked that Michael Sommers was suddenly lighting things on fire on stage. Its wild what happens when you host or organize a slam..
R: I enjoy hosting a bit, but mostly I enjoy watching slams. The amazing Jon LIttle (Little's Creatures) had actually taken on the responsibility of curating and hosting the slams while PST was still looking for an Artistic Director, and he did a great job. He stayed on as host (and as the closing act!) for a little over a year after that, but he was happy to pass on the headache of coordinating acts. To be honest, producing slams is a unique kind of hell.M: Tell me about it! No really, tell me about it..R: You have to convince people to perform for not very much money and beg them not to walk out on you the week of the performance. You have 3 hours to tech between 7 and 10 acts. You need to figure out how to cover all of the tech-transitions. And you have to deal with an audience who will love some things and hate others. It's a very manic process. But when it works, it's awesome.
M: Would you say you are part of a slam circuit?
R: We're near Providence, RI where Blood From a Turnip takes place…M: Yes, when I was curating BfaT with Vanessa Gilbert, I organized the very first Slamtastic Puppet Mini-Tour between Perishable Theatre and PST and it sounds like you continue to have many of your events on the same weekend to encourage touring… What other cities are you close to that have puppet slams?R: ..We're reasonably close to UCONN and Hartford. The slam circuit is a goal of ours, but it's still in development. We have definitely shared many performers with BFAT, and each year people do their slam on Friday and ours on Saturday. What makes our slam unique? We're in a dedicated and historical puppet theatre, so it helps to frame the evening as a puppetry event (rather than an adult event or a comedy improve event or as an evening of experimental theatre).
M: Many performers, including myself, have used slams as a way to develop short portions of larger shows..
R: We have excerpted from full-length shows. Sometimes we ask the family performer to do part of their shows, or we use slams as a way to try out a scene from a longer piece. We did this a lot for Brad Shur's show The Magic Soup and Other Stories.
M: Tell us about a fabulous failure at a slam and what you've learned from it.
R: I once put together a slam with a lot of artists who typically did shows in all different styles of puppetry, but somehow I overlooked the fact that the pieces they wanted to do for the slam were all shadow puppet acts. Oops. After that I implemented a more thorough tech form. We also once had a speaker fall on an audience member. Now we warn people who sit in the front row.M: And the moral of the story would be to have audience sign sworn affidavits before they leave… If you were to sign an affidavit about why puppet slams are important, what would it say?
R: I think they let people see so much about the art form all in one night. They learn about different styles of puppetry, they see how an individual artist creates a piece unique to their vision, and they can experience art that is improvised or do-it-yourself or in progress alongside art that is mature, polished, and complete.I think "slam" is a great word to describe this: a puppet slam is a high-impact event.
M: Do you have any upcoming slams you plan on performing at or organizing?
R: There is always another slam. There is one [this] Saturday [March 10th]. There will be another one in two months. Oy vey.
M: What inspires you to create a puppet slam piece?R: I most often give feedback to other people who get inspired by all sorts of things to make slam pieces. Sometimes they have a puppet but nothing for it to perform so they need to write a piece for it. At PST we have a semi-regular meeting called "Incubator" where people can try out new work and develop it with their peers.
M: Who are some other artists on the puppet slam circuit that inspired you?R: BonnieDuncan [of Snappy Dance Theatre] is my hero. When she was pregnant with twins, she called me up and said "hey, there's this slam piece I want to do that I can only do while pregnant," and she showed up with this amazing puppet face festooned on her belly and did a puppet burlesque act. She has also teamed up recently with Puppet Master Jake to make some amazing shows (If you give a mouse a cookie he'll come back from the dead and eat your brains; and Keep off the Grass).
Michelle Finston has performed in several of our recent slams. She's a great interdisciplinary artist who stumbled into puppetry one day and found herself at home. She has trained hard since then and has taken some great risks as a performer, and she has been very successful--she represented us at the P of A Festival, and she won the Connecticut Guild's Who Wants to Be a Puppeteer? contest.
I have to give a shout out to our slam tech, Allie Herryman. Allie is my rock: without her, all would fail. The same goes for Brad Shur, our Artist in Residence. Both of them do so much to support the production side of our slam. On top of all that, they are amazing creative artists, and they make and share new work on a regular basis.
I am also really proud of all the adult students who have taken classes at PST and then used their newfound skills to create slam pieces. They are very brave!M: What is the future of puppet slams?R: I see more collaboration between puppeteers and musicians. Puppet Playlist did this successfully, and many of our regular performers are musicians themselves or are tapped into the musician community. And puppet shows are infinitely better with live music.
M: What advice do you have for up and coming slam artists or performers who are just starting out?R: Document your work! It's a pain in the ass, but it's well worth it--if a curator can see you looking awesome and rocking it out at one slam, they'll want you to do the same at their venue. Also, see lots of work! It's easy to get stuck in the studio or to be swamped by your own projects. You'll grow as an artist by getting out more! - Mar 09, 12Jessica's work has been seen at the Austin Puppet Incident, Toy Theatre After Dark Festival in Minneapolis, the National Slam in Atlanta, Puppet Playlist in NYC, and Nasty, Brutish & Short Puppet Cabaret(NB&S) in Chicago. She co-curates NB&S and serves on the Artistic Direction Committee for PuppetFestival (r)Evolution.
2012, photo: Marielle Solan (at Puppet Playlist) Marsian: What was your entry into the world of Puppet Slams?Jessica Simon: I'm pretty new to slams - I've only been involved for about a year. My friends Dan and Lizi performed my piece The Talleys at the first NB&S in March of last year. I was excited to revisit my participant piece from the O'Neill Puppetry Conference.
M: What cities have you performed in Puppet Slams in?
JS: I’ve performed at slams in Chicago, New York, Atlanta, Minneapolis, and Austin. I got a bruise on my head from a flying piece of chocolate at the National Slam in Atlanta...
M: What lead you to become a Slam curator? What would you say is distinctive about Nasty Brutish and Short?
JS: I sort of inherited my spot with Nasty, Brutish & Short. Seth Bockley and Julia Miller curated the first one and before the second one in the fall Julia asked if I'd like to help out because Seth had a lot of other projects on his plate. One thing that I've been particularly interested in trying to make happen at each one is having an out of town guest artist. We've hosted artists from Minneapolis, Indianapolis, and I'm super excited that we have not one, but three visiting artists from Kansas City and Brooklyn for our upcoming show March 5th! I'm grateful to the Puppet Slam Network for helping us make that happen.
M: Where would you say you are in a Puppet Slam Circuit?
JS: I know there are a couple that happen in Minneapolis, but I don't think that constitutes a circuit...M: Yes! There’s actually two in Minneapolis: Forthe Love of Puppets and Full Moon Puppet Cabaret. I have also recently learned that St. Paul started hosting one as well.
JS: Super!
Why do you think Puppet Slams are important? What gap are they filling that is not filled by other forms of puppetry? Who cares?
JS: I think slams are a great way to introduce audiences to many different styles of puppetry and get them to realize that it's not just kid stuff. Also, it helps audiences develop their palate. If there is a short piece that sucks, maybe they'll learn that the piece itself was bad, not that all puppetry is bad. Does that makes sense?M: Puppets don’t suck… People do!JS: Also, I think Beau said this before, it is a good kick in the pants for artists. Having a deadline forces you to work on that idea you've been kicking around in your head.
M: Do you have any upcoming slams you plan on performing at or organizing?
JS: Our next cabaret is March 5th!M: Well stay tuned to our calendar to find out more details (sign up here)! . . .Jessica, what actually motivates you to create a puppet slam piece?
JS: I have a little notebook where I jot down ideas and that's where a lot of those ideas die.... having that slam deadline is an excuse try some of them out.
M: So sad when ideas die… Now who would you say on the circuit is killer?
JS: I'm inspired by (and a bit jealous of) Connor Hopkins and Carolin Reck down in Austin [hosts of Austin Puppet Incident]. Not only are they creating awesome long-form work, but they've created a great little puppetry community that works together creating short pieces for their slams. From what I understand they host regular open shop nights and anyone who wants to can come in try something out. I'd love to have a regular workshop time for people to collaborate. There is somewhat of a community here in Chicago, and it's growing [with Puppet Meltdown], but I'd love to mix it up even more and have a dedicated time and place for people to come together.
M: What pieces do you have in circulation to perform in puppet slams? And where can people reach you if they want to ask you to perform?JS: The Talleysis a 2 person tabletop piece that follows the changes in the lives of a couple and Mustachioed Pistachio is about a nut that has his mustache stolen. I can be reached at jess.simon@gmail.com.
M: Where do you want to see the Puppet Slam Network in the Future?
JS: Like I said before, I'm grateful to the Slam Network for providing opportunities for artists travel, myself included. I'd love to see that continue and expand.
M: What advice do you have for up-and-coming slam performers?
JS: Try and see a lot of stuff, talk to people after shows, ask veterans to do something with you.
