Playboard
November - December 2007

PLAYBOARD is the Newsletter of the Puppeteers of America, Inc.
Editor: Fred Thompson * 26 Howard Avenue * New Haven, CT * 06519-2809

President's Message
Wanted: Web and Online Communications Coordinator
PofA Regional Festivals - 2008
The Guild Connection
Eureka!!!
Reum... with a view.
Membership Office

President's Message
"You Never Know Where You're Going to End Up. "

This (now) just past Thanksgiving reminded of this as family and friends gathered, some coming from many hundreds of miles away. That disarmingly simple statement was the focus of numerous conversations (and sometimes the sub-text). Anyone reading this can probably recount their own examples to prove the point, maybe even from their own life.

Life starts in one direction but for a multitude of reasons and circumstances alights on another. A young woman begins a career as a film actress and finds herself the inventor of technology crucial to modern life (Hedy Lamarr, frequency hopping, crucial to today’s cell phones among other things). A young man ventures into the study of architecture only to find that entertainment is his real “bug” (Jim Barber, ventriloquist). I played with puppets from early age but spent a significant part of my adult life in seminary and doing social work before becoming a professional puppeteer.

You never know where you’re going to end up.

What started this musing was the 70th anniversary of the Puppeteers of America this year. Quite a milestone. We had a party, our National Festival, but haven’t really celebrated this achievement.

Bringing such an assortment of characters (and such an apt word!) together and keeping such an “Arts” organization vibrant was, and is, no mean task. The first National Festival of the newly formed Puppeteers of America was held during June 1937 in Cincinnati. Seventy years on we’re still at it!

From a sea of wandering and disconnected entertainers trying to connect with each other, the Puppeteers of America has grown to encompass professionals, amateurs, craftspeople, and other lovers of this Art not only in the US, but throughout North America and around the world. The sheer variety of attendees at this past summer’s Festival attests to this kaleidoscope. Little did they know.

And we’re not done yet! The 2007 Festival had one of the largest turnouts of young puppeteers in recent memory, attesting to the vibrancy of the Art and the utility of such an organization.

Now for 75 years I would really like to see a celebration. But even more, I would like you to consider the “you never know where you’ll end up” moments in your life that brought you to this Art and this community. Look for ways to give back to this community, to serve this Art. That would be a real celebration.

Lines are open and operators are waiting for your call. You never know where you’re going to end up!

Wayne Krefting – President

Wanted: Web and Online Communications Coordinator

The Puppeteers of America is looking for a Web and Online Communications Coordinator.  The person in this position would perform the following tasks:

  1. Chair the Web and Online Communications Committee. This committee reviews current Puppeteers of America online resources, advises the Board of Trustees on the future direction of P of A web presence, sets priorities for P of A web presence, and assists in recruiting volunteers as needed.
  2. Supervise the P of A webmaster.
  3. Gather, organize, and provide content to the P of A webmaster.
  4. Serve as liaison between the P of A webmaster and:
    • Publications editors
    • Puppetry store director
    • Membership officer
    • A-V librarian
    • National & regional festival directors
    • Other P of A officers as directed by the P of A Board of Trustees
  5. Prepare an annual budget and report for the Board of Trustees.
  6. Create and send P of A email communications to the membership.
  7. Understand and follow P of A email guidelines.
  8. Work with the membership officer to ensure accurate email contact information for P of A members.
    Qualified candidates should have excellent organization and written communication skills, as well as an understanding of current web technology.

Those with knowledge of P of A procedures will be given preference.  Understanding budgetary organization is helpful.  Membership in the P of A is required.  Stipend offered.

Interested parties should submit resumes no later than January 31, 2008 to Don Kruszka, P of A Web and Online Communications liaison, at: e-mail address


PofA Regional Festivals - 2008

Southeast Region June 12-15, 2008   
Savannah, Georgia
Festival Website - www.southeastpuppetfestival.org
Festival CoDirectors:
Martha Enzmann (336) 877-5016
Angela Beasley (912) 508-2266

Great Lakes Region  June 26-29, 2008
Shipshewanna, Indiana
Festival Website - www.mousetraptheater.org
Festival Director: Guy Thompson
Mousetrap Puppet Theater
Phone: (260) 768-4968

Northeast/Mid-Atlantic Regions  July 10-13, 2008 
University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland
Festival Co-Directors:
Mid-Atlantic: Allan Stevens   (202) 234-6666
Northeast: Kris Higgins   (617) 731-6400

The Guild Connection

Where do you get your news?  Newspaper circulations continue on a slow decline.  The guild newsletters that the postman delivers are becoming fewer and farther between as well.  As I dig through my stack of “guild news” papers, it looks like most of them came off of my printer. 

Emails with news or attachments or links to websites have quietly become the most common way for guilds to communicate.  There’s a good chance that you received this issue of the Playboard through email.

  • Some guilds maintain their own email lists.  My own Twin Cities Puppeteers is in that category.  Other guilds are making use of Yahoo Groups (groups.yahoo.com).  I’m a member of six P of A Yahoo groups, five guilds and one region; the Cincinnati Area Puppetry Guild, the Puppet Guild of South Florida, the Phoenix Guild of Puppetry, the San Francisco Bay Area Puppetry Guild, the Puppeteers of Puget Sound, and the Pacific Northwest Region.  Membership on these Yahoo groups range from 16 to 87.  Large or small, it is a very handy way to communicate.  If there are other guilds using Yahoo Groups, please let me know.  It’s a very easy way for me to keep up.

  • One of the early proponents of the electronic newsletter, if memory serves, was Christopher Hudert, the editor of the National Capital Puppetry Guild’s D.C. Puppetimes, or Mr. ED (as the editor refers to himself).  The November – December issue (Vol. 43, #6, if you are keeping track) is a fun-filled, jam packed salute to Bob Brown’s 50th anniversary in puppetry.  Bob’s first professional job as a puppeteer was with Len and Patsy Piper Puppets in 1957.  Although probably coincidental, it was most appropriate that the November guild meeting was to see a performance of Len Piper’s “Pinocchio” at The Puppet Company.  This production created in the 1960s has been refurbished and adapted to The Puppet Company stage.  Len Piper, Christopher’s dad, was scheduled to discuss the original production and answer questions at the meeting.

  • Another milestone was celebrated on the other side of the country in October, as the San Francisco Bay Area Puppetry Guild celebrated Lewis Mahlmann’s 80th birthday at their meeting at Oakland’s Fairyland.  The celebration included a screening of the new DVD “The Life and Art of Lewis Mahlmann” edited by Annie Wong and Michael Flores.  If that wasn’t enough the day also included a “Foam Frenzy” hands-on workshop led by foam experts Mike Wick and Kamela Portuges plus Nick Barone explaining his foam covering techniques.

  • The Puppetry Guild of Greater New York also had a birthday cake at their September meeting.  Bernice Silver’s 94th birthday was plenty of reason to celebrate.  As an added bonus John Baronian gave a demonstration of Stop-Motion Puppet Animation using a laptop computer with an inexpensive web cam attached and a small plastic animal toy with a moving head.  That had to have been a good time.

  • October marked the 69th anniversary of the Greater Philadelphia Area Puppetry Guild.  They kicked off the fall with a September picnic.  In an effort to find a better day and time for meetings, they are considering Monday afternoon meetings to better accommodate professional puppeteers who frequently are working on weekends.

  • The Columbia Association of Puppeteers was celebrating the opening of Tears of Joy Theatre’s 35th anniversary season in October.  Janet Bradley, Managing Director of Tears of Joy Theatre, offered free opening night tickets for guild members to their newest production, “Pinocchio”.

  • The Chicagoland Puppetry Guild had a special field trip planned for their November meeting.  The destination was the famous Opera in Focus Puppet Theater where they were scheduled to see a performance and get a backstage tour.

  • The Connecticut Guild of Puppetry was in field trip mode in October when they set out to see Jim Napolitano performing “Sing Along with Nappy’s Puppets”.

  • With all we keep hearing about field trips, the Twin Cities Puppeteers decided we should give it a try.  For our November meeting, we got to see Circus Minimus Puppetry (Shari Aronson and Chris Griffith) present their newest show “Minnesota Aha” as well as learn about the development of the show.  October was also a great program with Great Plains regional director and professional illustrator Steve Mark telling us about his approach to character design.

  • The Boston Area Guild of Puppetry had another great sounding program in October, a panel discussion on the topic “Why Puppets?” with guest artists including Paul Vincent Davis, Stephen and Janice Babcock, Maggie Whalen, Deborah Costine, and Teresa Moler.

  • The members of the Phoenix Guild of Puppetry were treated to a blacklight workshop in November presented by Robertson Witmer and Margaret Savas of Spyglass Theatre of Seattle.

  • The October meeting of the Puppet Guild of Long Island featured a workshop on Storytelling with Puppets presented by Marie Doran and Louis Decker.

  • The Orange County Puppetry Guild was seasonally appropriate with a “Ghost Marionette Workshop” in October.  They also saw and heard a “Show and Tell” by Evelyn Brown and Myrna Peterjohn of what they did at Puppet Fest Midwest.

  • The October meeting of the Cincinnati Area Puppetry Guild was hosted by Lisa Sider.  The menu consisted of popcorn and member contributed snacks and drinks.  The entertainment was member’s favorite short puppet videos.

  • The Los Angeles Guild of Puppetry sponsored a Shadow Puppet Building Workshop in October by expert Lynn Jeffries.

  • The Detroit Puppeteers Guild’s Fall Puppet Event in November featured Harry Berkowitz and some of his collection of Coleman Marionettes.  Rick Morse also shared information about Fay and Barbara Coleman.

  • Word has it that the Greater Houston Puppetry Guild’s annual puppetry festival in October was the biggest and best yet.  A highlight of the festival was honoring guild member Irene Ashe for her many years of service to the guild.
Well, I’ve exhausted my allotted space, so I had best close.  Remember if you are sending newsletters or emails, please send them my way.

KURT HUNTER
5918 W. 39th Street
St. Lois Park, MN 55416
E-Mail Address

EUREKA!!!

Nancy H.Sander
1250 Granger Avenue
Lakewood, OH 44107
E-Mail Address

Greetings to all who have endured the Christmas crowd and survived!  How can season come and go so fast? By the time [ most of ] you read this column holiday madness will have come and gone.  We all have our horror stories that give puppeteers a special sentiment when it comes to Christmas.  No warm fuzzies for us! No, sir! For us, Christmas is only for the tough, the survivor!

Noisy Parents:  I must have touched a sensitive spot about crowd control in my last article because several people shared their experiences. John Slevens, of Berkley, New Jersey, wrote, “I can usually tell which parents are going to talk during the show by looking to see if their kids are sitting in their lap or are with the rest of  the kids. It’s a sure bet that if you have two moms in an animated discussion before the show and both of them have their kids in their laps instead of in the audience, they will be the ones most likely to talk throughout the show.
When I do my warm up act with my dog puppet, I make a beeline directly to the ones talking and find out their names and have my dog puppet interact with them before the show. Asking them their names at this point isn’t intrusive because you’re engaging them. If they start talking during the show, the puppets will call on them by name and ask them a question. Eventually they learn to pay attention since they think you’re now watching their every move.”

Another Method:  Elaine Woodall, of Allantown, Pennsylvania, wrote: “On the subject of noisy, restless audiences, I want to tell you what I did one year. I was one act of several at a large Halloween party at a school. I was on a stage and the audience was all standing (no chairs) on the floor in front of me.  They had been “wound up” by the previous act, whatever it was, so as I stepped up to start my show, I knew that no way could I work my marionettes (to their quiet music) without quieting the audience down first.So I said something like, “I’m testing the microphone.  If you can hear my voice, please raise your hand.”  People in the first row or two or three raised their hands (and also stopped talking).  People in the next few rows stopped talking, wondering what was going on, I guess.  I kept repeating my request to raise their hands, in a normal tone of voice, not shouting.  And little by little, hands were raised farther and farther back and little by little, the whole audience became quiet.”

Great YouTube View:  Jane Gottschalk, of Okemos, Michigan, called me to tell me I just had to watch a video clip on YouTube. She was so right. Log onto Jerome Murat on the YouTube and experience excellence!

YouTube:  This looks like a load of fun. I received an e-mail message announcing a puppet version of “YouTube.” I am pasting the whole thing as I received it; they say it better than I: “A Puppet Version Of “YouTube” Is Here! This time by creating a Puppet version of the popular YouTube website. http://www.puppetmadness.com The site is open for anyone involved with the art of puppetry, and http://www.puppetmadness.com welcomes any original videos pertaining to Puppet building, puppet shows, puppet vlogs, tips, tricks or anything else. The site is not limited to only puppets either, we also welcome Ventriloquists, shadow puppets, oobie, and more. Categories for videos include: Puppet Videos, Puppet Building (How To), Puppet Music Videos, Puppet Vlogs , and Misc Puppet Stuff.

www.puppetmadness.com has a very simple goal:  to provide the puppet community a place to spotlight their puppet videos as well as a place for them to come and be inspired, learn and network with others in their field.

Newcomers to the world of puppetry will also find the site both informative and entertaining. 

All people who upload their videos will retain 100% ownership and rights to their videos, we ask only that you do not upload copyrighted materials, and that you only upload puppet related videos. If a member uploads a copyrighted video IE The Muppets, Sesame Street, etc. the video will be removed. (We are currently in talks to acquire the rights to display such videos from the copyright holders). The site like the rest of our network is 100% free so sign up today and share your talents with the world!

Currently we accept videos in the following formats: .avi, .asf, .mov, mpg, .mpg2, .mp4, and .wmv Feel free to upload any video under 10 minutes in length.

Puppetmadness requires a lot of bandwidth to stay up and running and this is made possible by the help of our sponsors, if you are interested in becoming a sponsor, and advertising on the first and only video sharing site for the puppet community feel free to visit our advertising section located at: http://www.puppetmadness.com/advertise.html

And now for some miscellaneous: 
Quickie Costuming:  Carol Carranza, of Houston, Texas, wrote, “I had a naked marionette I wanted to display when a local news camera crew came out for an interview. So, I put a toddler’s shirt on it (red-and-white stripes) and drew in the waist with a red dog collar (which was too small for the new dog any way!) and it made a really cute outfit in no time! It shows up nicely in the video on our web site.

Pattern Preservation:  Joyce Berty, of Parma, Ohio, said that she was always mislaying a piece of pattern; either that, or wearing it out. So she cut out her patterns in a lightweight luan, drilled a hole in the edge and now hangs all the patterns up on her pegboard.

Trucking:  Ollie de Priest, of Indiana, writes, “Carry door stops in pocket, purse or briefcase. We carry four.  Check out doors to and from performance site. Door stop these doors on you way back to car or van.  Saves time hoping someone will help you by holding the door open. And always ask to see more than one way into performance site.  We have found out as we are about tostruggle out the same way we came in, that right behind us was another entrance, no steps.  We learned this the hard way.”

So let me know what works for you.  Be sure that, if you e-mail me, mark the subject line, “Eureka” or you might get deleted. Also, as Bill Riley says, “Name and town, name and town if you wish to opine.” Keep in touch!                                                
Nancy

REUM…with a view.

Well here we are rapidly hurrying into 2008.  Every year things move a little faster and my body moves a little slower.
I received quite a few e-mails this month, but no one decided to become a contributing member. Does anyone read the column? It’s hard for me to believe no one has any thing to say. Puppeteers always have something to say. Well the offer is still open, just drop me a line.   In the mean time, the puppet world is well and active.

- Professor Freshwater  (aka) Diane Rains of  Hudson, Wisconsin sent me an e-mail of the new Worldwide Friends of Punch and Judy. They  now have their own blog.

- Puppetry Madness in Virginia wrote telling me that they are starting a new site for puppets and puppet related bits for videos. It is like a YouTube for puppets. Check it out at www.puppetmadness.com. [See EUREKA!! for more info.]

- I received two letters that made my day. The first from Phillip Huber, of Cookeville, Tennesee, with a picture taken in a class we took together in Tennessee. Jerry Hartnet of Lanark Village, Florida taught the class and there were people like Fred Cowen of Lebanon, Indiana and Nancy Laverick  of Gastonia, North Carolina in the class with us. The Festivals have always been filled with great memories. 

- My second letter was from Michael Horner  in Kansas City, Missouri. Michael was in our Nappy Shadow class [Jim Napolitano of North Haven, Connecticut] at the Mid-West Fest. He works with  Paul Mesner of Kansas City, Kansas. At the moment they are doing “Streg Nona” with rods no less. They really have time on their hands so along with everything else they are gearing up for a “Hansel and Gretel “ opera that debuts in April. 

PUPPETS ARE alive and well.

- Allynn Gooen in  Chestnut Ridge, New York  keeps me up dated on the Gooen activities. He sent a marvelous picture of wife Annie’s gig at Longwood Gardens.

- Joann McMillian has joined the Puppetry Arts Institute in Kansas City as an artist in residence. She has two instant projects: a new show “Oregon or Bust” and working with some of Robert Smith’s marionettes. Out in Arizona, where they are always busy, Jeff Dunham is doing sold out shows at the Celebrity Theatre and Phoenix Guild member Glenda Bonin was featured at a regional storytellers Festival.

- For number of years Allelu Kurtin of Hyde Park, New York has conducted “Meet the Artist” sessions at the National Festivals.  Bob Nathanson and Elise Handelman of Coconut Creek, Florida recently turned the tables on Allelu and asked her the questions. It was fun and informative for everyone.

- Steven Widerman of Huntington, New York, did an incredible job with a festival in Long Island. They had slams. shows, panelists. and Muppets.

- The Washington DC area guild devoted its entire issue of DC Puppetimes this past month to Bob Brown of Oakton, Virginia.  It was a wonderful offering of funny stories and personal events that he and Judy have experienced over the years. Congratulations to Bob and Judy on 50 years of outstanding puppetry.

- Larry Hunt in Bethelehem, Conn. was recently commissioned to sculpt a mask for Terry Fator of Mesquite, Texas. the winner of “America’s Got Talent”.

 - Jonathan Slaff in New York sent me information about the Third Annual Voice 4 Vision held in NY November 29 to December 9 by Theater for the City. The Festival was co-curated by Jane Catherine Shaw and Sarah Provost. They offered four new shows and an evening of puppets on film and a puppet slam as well. Jonathan said Bread and Puppet Theater performed  “The Divine Reality” at the Theatre for  the City.  

- Tracey Conners’ Michelee Puppets are doing wondrous thing in Orlando, Florida. Her show “Rescuing the Ruby Reef “takes students on an imaginary dive and they learn how to help preserve the environment. The puppets are beautiful fish and the children can even touch the life like dolphin and manta ray puppets.

 Hope everyone has a wonderful holiday season and a great 2008-year ahead.
Let me know what you are doing in the puppet world.

M’El Reum
827 Milwaukee Street
Denver, CO 80206
E-Mail Address
FAX (303) 393 – 1367

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