Playboard *July-August 2008*
PLAYBOARD is the Newsletter of the Puppeteers of
America, Inc.
Editor: Fred Thompson * 26 Howard Avenue * New Haven, CT * 06519-2809
National Puppetry Festival ‘09
Atlanta, Georgia July 14-19, 2009
Presented by the Puppeteers of America.
International Performers Sponsored by UNIMA-USA
http://www.nationalpuppetryfestival.org
The official launch date for the festival website is September 1, 2008. Please check back often
President's Message
The Guild Connection
Eureka!!
REUM…with a View..
Have you Moved?
Board members for 2008-2009
Wayne Krefting, President; James N. (Pix) Smith, Vice President; Anna Vargas, Secretary;
Nancy Aldrich, Mary Decker, Don Kruszka, Steven Meltzer, John Scollon, Peter Zapletal.
Why are you a member of the Puppeteers of America?
That question, as always, was central to the discussions and budget planning held by the Board of Trustees this summer. As members ourselves, elected from the Puppeteers of America membership, every decision made finds its focal point in: How does the Puppeteers of America as an organization best serve its members and its goal to promote the art of puppetry?
Whether the discussions were over the size and number of regions, the budget bottom-line, membership dues, the Puppetry Store, the Audio-Visual Library, or a number of other topics, the question always before the Board was: how does this serve or affect our members. A number of exciting things are happening as a result.
A committee has been formed, chaired by Karen Backes as the Guilds and Regions Liaison to the Board, to examine how the structure of the regions is serving members. Are there too many regions? Are the existing regions configured to best serve members? Should some regions be combined? These questions and more will be addressed by the committee. Most committee members will come from present and former guild and regional officers. But if you have some thoughts, or wish to serve, please contact Karen (backespuppets[at]q.com) or Pix Smith, our new Vice President and Board contact for the committee (Pixsmith[at]puppetry.org)
The new online Puppetry Store is open for business! If you have not visited the Store lately, now is the time to drop by. Searching for items and especially online shopping is easier than ever, thanks to the hard work of our webmaster, Lindsey Briggs.
Speaking of online, Steve Abrams was recently appointed as the Web and Email Communications Officer, a role he has been unofficially filling for a number of years. Steve will oversee and coordinate the next steps in the Puppeteers of America’s online presence. To that end, a web committee is being formed to advise Steve and the Board on that process. If you are interested in serving, please contact Steve (sapuppets[at]gmail.com)
Another innovation the Puppeteers of America has been trying to promote is the electronic Playboard. To date only a couple hundred members have taken advantage of this service. Getting the Playboard electronically, saves money, saves paper, and will ultimately allow for re-formatting of the Playboard (color, online links, and so on) which print costs and medium would not allow. To encourage this change, with the coming year Playboard will go to three printed issues, plus the election issue (a total of four), and two electronic issues. Members who wish a “hard copy” of the electronic issues may contact the Membership Office. If you would like electronic issues in the future rather than the paper copies (saving the PofA print costs and postage), please let us know right away. (membership[at]puppeteers.org).
The Puppeteers of America is close to finalizing an agreement with the University of Connecticut, through the Ballard Institute Museum of Puppetry, under which UCONN would house and curate our Audio-Visual Library. This shift will improve access to the PofA audio and video archives by moving along the copying of archival footage to hard disk digital storage, by providing a searchable catalogue of that archive, and by placing the collection in a public institution with research accessibility. Ultimately, copies of our AV archives would be placed in “satellite” research institutions around North America (such as the Center for Puppetry Arts, the International Puppetry Museum, other colleges and universities) for easier research access.
These are just a few items on the Board of Trustees’ agenda this past summer seeking: How best to serve our members?
All of this comes with a cost, however. To be frank, our membership dues increasingly do not cover operating expenses. In fact, in some respects it costs more for membership than we charge. The Board, over the past years, has sought ways to save money or cut expenses, not always with success. It is difficult to cut expenses in an organization where the money is spent on service to members. Do we cut the number of Journals? Do we cut support to festivals? There is no simple solution. This year’s Board, I believe, has tried to be innovative and also sensitive to members needs. After all, we are all of us members.
The Board came to two decisions. First, reluctantly, the cost of membership dues was increased by $5 across the board, except for company/business dues which go up $10. Companies and business, as part of their “package” would get web links from the Puppeteers of America website, a handy piece of advertisement, along with the discounted festival registrations for their company members.
Secondly, the Board has initiated an Annual Capital Campaign aimed at members who are able to contribute more than membership dues. The money donated through the Annual Capital Campaign would go toward general operating expenses. These additional funds would enable us to keep actual membership dues at a level affordable by a greater cross-section of puppeteers, whether professional, hobbyist, or appreciator of the art.
Please consider making a contribution to the Annual Capital Campaign when you renew your membership.
Finally, I come back to my initial question, Why are you a member of the Puppeteers of America?
The question was raised in late July on ‘puptcrit,’ an email discussion list. A number of members jumped in with their reasons, many very eloquent. Of course, along with the reasons for membership, there are always questions, flaws, items and programs in need of improvement.
In the end, what I took away, and what I believe is: we belong to an organization not simply for what we can get out of it, but for what we can put into it. I like the Journal, I like the festivals, I like and use a number of services Puppeteers of America offers. Would any one of those be enough to entice membership? Perhaps.
What captured me and keeps me in the Puppeteers of America are the people. Even more, the network of people that Puppeteers of America creates and sustains. The folks you see locally or at festivals. The network of people, members all, who make things like festivals happen. Who makes things like the Journal happen. Who make things like the new initiative, “The Day of the Teaching Artist”, possible at our festivals.
These things don’t happen spontaneously. They happen for a reason: because people, members, make them happen. The electronic community that has grown up around the puppetry art is wonderful and I eagerly participate. Such communities will be an integral part of the support network for our Art moving forward. But to produce a Journal, to produce a festival takes time, energy, and money. And people to do the work. People and money. Volunteers and the funds we jointly pool for a sum greater than the parts.
That is why I belong. To put my time, my energy, and my money and resources toward advancing an art form that is important. Join me in sustaining this community.
Wayne Krefting – President
Summer is invariably a slow time for our puppetry guilds, but the regional festivals have done quite a job of taking up the slack. I can tell you from personal experience that the Great Lakes Regional, “Puppet Family Reunion”, in Indiana and Northeast/Mid-Atlantic Regional, “Capital Fireworks”, at the University of Maryland were wonderful events. Guy Thompson, Allan Stevens, Kris Higgins, and their armies of staff are to be commended for the incredible effort and creativity that went into those festivals.
• The word on the street (well, the street outside the dorm at the University of Maryland) is that the Southeast Regional, “Puppet Gumbo” was also a fabulous fest. Martha Enzman, Kathy Bolch, and Angela Beasley should be thanked next time you see them.
• As I write this, the Pacific Northwest Region’s “Rolling Regional Puppet Festival” had rolled through Portland, Oregon and Missoula, Montana, thanks to the efforts of the Columbia Association of Puppeteers and the Montana Puppet Guild respectively and was rolling on to Seattle, Washington (The Puppeteers of Puget Sound) and Victoria, British Columbia (The Puppetry Guild of Victoria).
• Summer is a wonderful excuse to get “out and about” whether that means a trip to a regional festival or something more local. The members of the Connecticut Guild of Puppetry made their annual pilgrimage to The Eugene O’Neill Theater Center (one of my favorite spots) to take in the performances of the O’Neill Puppetry Conference for their June meeting.
• The Cincinnati Area Puppetry Guild took a trip in June for a “Picnic with Tony Sarg” at Spring Grove Cemetery. The day continued with a stop at the Vent Haven Ventriloquist Museum.
• A performance field trip was an added bonus for the Columbia Association of Puppeteers in June. They took in “Bitchin’tella! The Cajun Puppet Musical,” an R-rated fractured fairytale. The field trip was in addition to their June meeting held at the home of Samantha Anne Maggio.
• Marianne and Tom Tucker opened their home to the Greater Philadelphia Area Puppetry Guild in June for a potluck supper. The evening also included short performances and show and tell.
• Dianne and Marty Boatman hosted the annual picnic of the Detroit Puppeteers Guild in July. The menu included “gourmet hotdogs” and the entertainment included Brad Lowe and Natasha Khusid performing on the Oakland County Puppetmobile. The picnic also included a “Frog Reunion” of frog puppets made in Natasha’s class at their May meeting.
• The Chicagoland Puppetry Guild had their guild picnic in July at the home of Mel and Laverne Biske, well-known as The Melikin Puppets. Their company has been going strong since 1967.
• The Greater Houston Puppetry Guild had a “summer social” (i.e. barbeque) in June at the home of David and Carol Carranza (Carranza Puppets started in 1977). The guild also did a bit of community outreach in May sponsoring a library performance by guest puppeteer Bernie Beauchamp.
• The Puppet Guild of Greater St. Louis is a model for service to the community. Thanks to tremendous success with grants they average a budget of $10,000 each year primarily for presenting puppetry programs to the public at little or no cost. Their wide range of programs each year includes sponsoring a performance series, Day of Puppetry events in November and April, puppet making booths at festivals, a membership drive, and a fundraiser.
• The Orange County Puppetry Guild had their officer installation chicken dinner in June. The gathering also featured a performance by the “Calvary Chapel Downey Straight Up Puppet Team”.
• Maybe installation dinners are a west coast thing. The Los Angeles Guild of Puppetry held their officer installation dinner in July with special guests Mallory Lewis (Shari Lewis’ daughter) and Lamb Chop.
• The San Francisco Bay Area Puppeteers’ Guild had a fascinating program in June. Wendy Morton and Carlene Cordova from Folkmanis Puppets talked about the creative end of their industry. Folkmanis has been a Bay Area company for over 30 years.
• The Cincinnati Area Puppetry Guild presented “Spaghetti and Strings” in April, a very successful event that brought in over 50 people and gained them 5 new members. Irina Niculescu came up with the idea, contributed the spaghetti and her knowledge of puppetry from around the world. Irina’s husband, John Lewandowski, and Kevin Frisch demonstrated puppets from Irina and John’s collection and Kevin brought some of his own creations.
• The Los Angeles Guild of Puppetry had a special event in July. They took in a performance of Rogue Artists Ensemble performing “The Tragical Comedy or Comical Tragedy of Mr. Punch”. There was also a discussion of Punch and Judy led by Alan Cook and a special exhibit from Alan’s International Puppetry Museum.
• The news has been slow to arrive as of late, so my supply is almost exhausted, but I should mention that the wonderful newsletter of the Puppetry Guild of Greater New York, PuppetMaster, is now being sent out electronically thanks to the efforts of editors John Baronian and Peter Lewis.
• On a closing note, I just learned that the Lone Start Puppet Guild dedicated their Day of Puppetry in April to the memories of Molly Jameson and Paul Hedgecock. That just struck me as such a very nice way to honor someone.
My stock of news is now depleted, so I’m counting on you to remedy that situation. I’d love to hear what your guild is up to.
KURT HUNTER
5918 W. 39th Street
St. Louis Park, MN 55416
huntermarionettes[at]earthlink.net
Greetings, -----------
Once again I am traveling the New York library circuit, so, again, instead of gathering tips and comments from all of you (thank you so much, all who have contributed; your tips will be used next time), I have decided to write my annual solo column to all of you who are just about to take the plunge and become a professional puppeteer. Of course, a refresher course for the rest of us is always good.
Here is the question I posed to myself: “If I could give one page of advise to a person who is just decided to enter puppetry, what would I write?” These are thoughts off the top of my head...no, wait a minute: I amend…these are the carefully pondered thoughts upon which I hang my hope, that beginning puppeteers will follow in the path of professionalism toward which I have always strived.
On Day One: I would stand by my number-one rule, my mantra: “Good enough is not good enough.” If you hear yourself saying, “That’s good enough,” it is not, nor will it ever be. Keep working until you say, “Zowie! I love it!” Otherwise, each time you bump into that “good enough” bit, it will dampen your pleasure in your performance. After all, isn’t the pleasure of the performance the reason you are willing to persue such a poorly paid job in the first place? Pushing yourself each and every time to “zowie” makes you grow.
Never Perform Without A Contract: And I do mean never even if you are doing the show for free. If you don’t have it in writing, and something goes wrong, your client will always know that it was your fault. The contract needn’t be fancy, but it must give the time, date, location and price. Send two copies and have one returned to you. Clip those contracts into a traveling book so that the contract will be at your performance and you can easily pull it out for proof.
Be Professional: When you go to a gig, be the best you can possibly be. Each and every performance should be rehearsed to beyond boredom and performed the best of your ability. We must always remember that the next Jim Henson may be sitting in the front row watching his or her very first puppet show. And, if it is a birthday party your performance may be the most wonderful event in the birthday child’s life, one that he or she will remember when in the nursing home.
Remember Your Place: You are a hired act. If you are not willing to haul your stuff in through the delivery entrance, if you are unwilling to accommodate the whims of your clients, if you insist on total parental silence, complete cooperation, disciplined children or a caged dog, perhaps you should consider another career. While you are under the contracted time at your gig, you are not an equal. Your client is your “boss” and this is your first day on the job. Act like it.
Never Miss A Show: Never. Keep a hard-copy calendar on your fridge and look at it daily. Look at it twice a day. Memorize it. If you do not show up at a library, every single library in that system will know about it. Every parent who brought a child to the library will know about it. But if you have to cancel (like the time I broke my wrist) first call your entertainer friends to see if they might fill in for you. Then call your client with abject apologies. Have the name and phone number of your suggested replacement. If your replacement charges more than you, you pay the difference. If (OMG!) you just forgot or made a clerical error, groveling is a good course of action. Then, to make up for the mistake, offer to reschedule, with no cost to the client. It doesn’t make things “all better” but it’s the best you can do. Perhaps you can smooth things over enough not to have your failure hit the e-mail.
You Are Not The Star: The puppets are. If you do it right, your audiences will never remember your name or your face, but they will remember the character that you created for them. I am glad when I am called “The Puppet Lady” but my puppet is called by name. And the best audience statement of all: “When I was a kid, there was this lady who brought puppets to our school, and she had this squirrel named “Nutso.” I loved that squirrel. Do you know her?” (That was me!)
Partnerships: This is a financial one. If at all possible, work alone. Kathy Piper, great solo performer of Columbus, Ohio, gave me the best advice on this subject: clients don’t pay for the people; they pay for the show. Partnerships might work, but you will have to do twice as many shows to make the same amount as a solo performer.”
I agree with most of what Kathy says. The part I dispute is “Partnerships might work” So unless you are married to each other, go it alone. And if you do partner, have all the financial stuff worked out in writing before the first show. Otherwise you have an almost guaranteed loss of a friendship.
What are your ideas? What advice would you give? Write, phone, e-mail. And if you do use e-mail, label it “Eureka.” I recently found out that my spam blocker was blocking “performance.” So let me hear from you. Nancy
Nancy H.Sander
1250 Granger Avenue
Lakewood, OH 44107
puppetmaster[at]puppetswithpizazz.com
The summer flies by and I received one description of one festival and that was Shipshewana Festival. I wanted to go just because I think that’s a great name. The Amish atmosphere seemed to intrigue the attendees. Everyone was pleased with Guy Thompson’s Mousetrap Theatre. The shows were of high quality and the workshops superb.
I had my puppet infusion for the year at Puppet Fest Mid-West. It was a joy. I finally got to see Gayle Schluter (formally of Cricklewood Path ) now living in Colorado. We thought we would see each other, but Colorado is a big state. I was in a 101 class taught by Lynne Jennings of San Diego. I took the class because Nancy Fawcett of Florida made a beautiful plastic Bunraku puppet and made it do things puppets can’t do. I now have one in my possession and can hardly wait until it comes to life. Directors Peter and Debbie Allan took great care of everyone and we had a fantastic time.
New shows this summer. Annabel Griffiths, Detroit, premiered her new “Billy Goats Gruff.” It is a musical with simple lyrics and fun music.
Amy Weinstein and Matt Leonard of UConn recently presented their new work , “Babui.”
Beg borrow or write for one of Paul Mesner’s season brochures. It is a real keeper.
Detroit Institute of Arts is hosting a series of films by Jim Henson including “Muppet History 101,” “The Tube,” “Youth ’68” and “Time Piece.” There will also be “Muppet Fairytales” and “A Better World” – episodes from “Fraggle Rock” and “The Songs of the Cloud Forest”
Hats off to Concerned Citizens for Humanity in Connecticut. They have just finished their ninth year teaching children about HIV/Aids with puppets.
Great news! The Tanglewood Marionettes have received a Citation Nomination for their “Dragon King”
Joel Parks of Oregon got a nice write up in the Statesman Journal (OR) on his “Trails, Tails and Company” show.
This summer, under the guidance of Lynn Poe, Washington, DC, is doing a series of three workshops at Glenn Echo Park (home of The Puppet Co.).
Wayne Martin always keeps me posted on his whereabouts and he seems be working the Boston area this summer. This fall audiences can see his Sherrie the Wash lady & Slider Bull Frog marionettes in the motion picture “The Woman “staring Annette Bening and Meg Ryan.
Hey, Guillermo (Will) from Puerto Rico. I’m waiting for you to fill my mailbox like you said.
I’m not sure people in doctors offices have a sense of humor. I was reading Bob Nathanson’s “...Doll Wiggler” and I couldn’t stop laughing. People keep looking at me and frowning. I love the book , it is great . Believe me if you have done puppets you WILL laugh. You can’t help it.
I received wonderful news from Colorado Springs.
David Simpich wrote to let me know that he and Debbie are creating a “Diorama” museum to honor his parents 54 years of doll making. As a part of the museum David is reestablishing his marionette theatre there which will seat 75 and will be open all year round. David indicates the he will be doing some of the past shows and working on new ones as well. I am thrilled. He hopes to open in December with “Christmas carol.”
So much for now – write and let me know what you did all summer. Stay cool – it’s cool to be puppeteer. M’El
M’El Reum
827 Milwaukee Street
Denver, CO 80206
puppetreum[at]estreet.com
FAX (303) 393 – 1367
Please let the Membership Office know of changes in your contact information.
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Puppeteers of America
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