We understand that Peter Sellars has a huge passion for puppets and we hope to have him on the show to talk about it. There are also the muppets, Avenue Q, the fantastic works that were featured in “Being John Malkovich”- – even the mangy Henrietta Pussycat has her charm.
Puppets and the art of puppeteering is no doubt rich with metaphors and life lessons too. We want this to be an interesting and eclectic show—another candidate for our Passion Thursdays. Who do you want to hear from? Do you get into puppets or do they creep you out? Please post your thoughts here.
Check out http://www.theshadowmakers.com/ Wendy Morton is a first rate very well known puppet designer and director. She did the shadow puppets featured in the the new Bose show. Passion she has in spades and she is articulate. She is currently ( next week I think) teaching a workshop at Amherst College.
http://www.hensonfoundation.org might be useful to you.
[[Note: Around the Green Room (what we call the OS office) I sometimes get funny looks from people as I describe my assorted Providence cohorts, most of whom are artists, and many of whom are pretty out there. That's my disclaimer for this post.]]
I think the way the mainstream feels about puppetry can be summed up by two things: 1) John Cusak’s character in Being John Malkevich (ie, pathetic loser with delusions of artistic grandeur) and 2) the muppets. awesome, but strictly kids stuff.
My experience with puppet artists, many of whom I’m lucky enough to call friends, has convinced me that puppets don’t have to be kids stuff and puppeteers are, well, pretty rad. There’s something inherently creepy and disconcerting about puppets. They are, as Freud might say, uncanny. And the best puppet artists I’ve seen use these element to their advantage.
I’m thinking of Vermont’s Bread & Puppet, which produces some of the country’s finest political theater, puppet or no; Blood from a Turnip, Rhode Island’s only late-night puppet salon; Miss Pussycat, the wife of avant guade New Orleans organist Quintron; and Providence’s own Xander Marro, who makes long-armed punk girl puppets that star in her wonderfully weird and grainy 16mm films.
The finest puppet show I’ve ever seen was staged by my pals Max Bean and B. Shur (you may not have heard of them now, but trust me, one day you will). The plot centered around a man and a woman (small hand operated marionettes) on their first date, talking about the tricky negotiations of any relationship, which sometimes resemble combat more than anything else. Interspersed with the scenes of conversation were scenes of an ancient battle of epic proportions: the great sperm whale against the giant squid. The whale and squid puppets were each twenty feet long, and required three people to operate. Two wore the body, and then on the squid, one manipulated the tentacles. The people powered puppets danced and circled around each other, like two medieval sumo wrestlers fighting to the death, to the soundtrack of Japanese No music. (oh-WAAAAAAA, ooooooOH!) It was like Kabuke theater. It was like the greatest metaphor for a relationship ever. It was completely epic. It was art. It was all done with puppets.
Since then I know B. has spent several months in Tennessee, touring with a puppet troupe. I also know he aspires to make puppets that only work underwater, with joints made of sponges. I hope he does it someday.
As Boston’s senior Punch & Judy Professor–for the last quarter-century or so–let me provide some info on the local scene. The Boston Area Guid of Puppetry, Chapter #9 of the Puppeteers of America, has been active here for more than fifty years. Our home base is the Puppet Showplace Theatre in Brookline Village, right across from the Village T-stop on the greenline. There are shows for young audiences fifty weeks a year. The Guild Website is http://www.puppetsbostonguild.org and should be updated soon with a report on the biennial national festival just held in Minneapolis. The Showplace, a seperate non-profir is http://www.puppetshowplace,org. There’ve been various shows and evening seminars for adults; such programs are under review, and a fall schedule will be announced around the middle of September. We maintain contact with New Englands two major puppetry resources; the program at UConn and the annual conference at the Eugene Oneill Center. There are also lots of friends in New York and Philadelphia. About half the nations puppeteers are in the BoWash corridor.
And of course there’s Bread and Puppet, a national treasure who can be depended upon for at least one annual visit. They seem to have settled on the renovated Durrell Hall at the Camb YMCA (across from City Hall) as their favorite local venue, though they’ve also used The Camb YWCA and Old South recently. The Boston Area’s most successful people and puppet company is Underground Railway, still resident in Arlington while they try to get their new Central Square venue open. They have performed with the BSO, tour New England schools with large scale shows, including one written by Melinda Lopez, and featured exquiste designs by muralist David Fichter. The Guild counts thirty local puppet troupes (some with only one performer). They’re currently working on continuing the late night Puppet Slams featuring puppets for mature audience willing to be challenged. The whale & squid mentioned above once appreared at such an event hosted by Underground in Arlington.
Then there’s Sandglass, Eric Bass’ company in Putney Vermont, with a small theater, a respected summer educational program, and international recognition. Crabgrass, the work of Bonny Hall & Jamie Keithline, has relocated to nearby Brattlebore, which is also now the home of David Syrotiak’s National Marionette Theatre. Across New England, internationally knoiwn Figures of Speech in Freeport Maine, is the artistic expression of Carol and John Farrell. It should be noted that both couples graduated from the early days of the UConn program, which is now run by Bart P. Roccoberton, a respected puppet educator worldwide.
There’s a lot of puppetry in new England, including a large contingent who work in the New York scene, including longtime Muppeteers, nascent experimentalists, and experienced hands of all sorts. As far as Peter Sellars goes, his final Harvard/Radcliffe Summer Theatre show, the entire Ring Cycle in two and one half hours, probably the best thing he ever did as an undergraduate, featured Fafnir the Dragon made from platic trash bags, so Siegfried could hack the beast to bits, two Giants made from burlap suspended from the flys knocking the stiffing–literally– out of each other, the dwarf made from sponges with clothespin whiskers, and Valkeries which were gallon milk jugs on long poles with kitchen utensils for helmet decorations and long Mylar capes who “ho-yah-ta-ho-ed” up and down the aisles.
So let’s talk.
Someone beat me to suggesting one of my passions!
I am the co-editor of a newsletter, Puppet Master, for The Puppetry Guild of Greater New York. I’d like to add on Profwill’s description of the New Engaland guild scene….puppetry guilds flourish all across america and you can find one close to you at http://www.puppeteers.org/ website for the Puppeteers Of America (POA). You don’t have to be a professional to join, dues are reasonable
I got into puppetry after my daughter was born, it started with night time storytelling of Beauty and the Beast which evolved into my own telling and subsequent writing of a puppet play version of the telling. My daughter and I spent weekends at The Puppet Playhouse, run by Peter Lewis at Manhattan’s Asphalt Green.
It is so easy to wax on about puppetry. We find it all over the place: on tv from Fred Rogers powerfully simple puppets (ask Betty Aberland to speak about it she is amazing)…Gregg the Bunny (recently revived on late night cable)… to film with Team Ameirica. You will find kids building Puppets in afterschool programs across the country all year long. People perform adult puppetry in cabaret (sp?). In any event… Puppetery permiates our culture and all cultures.
Bravo… this will be a great follow up to Knitting!
The Puppet Playhouse, at Asphalt Green, which I coordinate, is a Saturdays-only theater for children and their families. The current season runs from Sat., Sept. 10, 2005, through Sat., April 8, 2006. We are the only venue in NYC that offers a different puppet show, each week. Perf’s. at 10:30 AM, 12 Noon and 1:30 PM. The NYC Puppetry scene is a lively one, with young “puppetistas” arriving from all over, to contribute their talents to productions at Manhattan’s P.S. 122, and Brooklyn’s Arts at St. Ann’s, among others. Many new shows preview at Jane Henson’s Carriage House.
Robin, don’t forget the early history of the Muppets, when they were on late night shows, and what have you.
Hello,
As one whose knowledge about puppetry is pretty much limited to what
I’ve seen on PBS I’m grateful to learn about this other side of the puppet universe.
Is anyone out there a Shari Lewis fan?
Those who grew up with TV puppetry, and ventriloquism, are all Shari Lewis fans. Her last show, a Canadian product, was just rady for its next step up when cancer took here. Her trio, led by Lambchop of course was one of the signature puppet casts.
We also just lost Paul Winchell, whose Jerry Mahoney and Knucklehead Smiff were also signature creations. There are no puppeteesr on today’s small screen to match them.
And now for something completely different. Ask the Collidge Corner Cinema when they’re going to show “The Lady from Sockholm”, a short feature length mystery film done using well-made sock puppets.
Make sure to re-read the first bit of Philip Roth’s “Sabbath Theater” for a wicked profile of a puppeteer (or a profile of a wicked puppeteer.)
I love puppets. My favorite puppets are the Muppets. If I want to laugh and unwind after a long day, I pop in Muppet Treasure Island. It is my favorite by far. My kids and I can sit and watch this movie, sing all the songs, and still laugh at what we know is coming and I’m surprised when I see or hear something I didn’t before. My husbands thinking of sending me to a Muppets anonymous group :O) I would like to hear from those who inherited this legacy from Jim Henson. Who is doing Kermits voice? Have any of the writers moved on or are they still enjoying there trade? I’d like to hear an interview with Frank Oz if he’s still around.
Steve Whitmire was Jim’s longtime backup “Kermiteer” and has carried on. Not enough of the writing team survives, which explains the mess recently broadcast as “The Muppet Wizard of Oz” Frank Oz moved on from the Muppets years ago. He seems to have decided that he’d had enough puppeteering, he was born into a family of puppeteers in San Francisco. The first year of The Muppet Show is available on DVD. The influence of the Muppet world exends to the annual Puppetry conference at the Eugene O’Neill, to the cast of “Avenue Q” and “Between the Lions” just to mention the tip of the berg.
Thanks profwill. I was wondering why that Muppet Wizard of Oz wasn’t what I expected. Are there no writers out there who could bring the Muppets back to their former selves?
It’s the producer who’s more of the problem.