Playboard
*Election 2011 *
PLAYBOARD is the Newsletter of the Puppeteers of America, Inc.
Editor: Fred Thompson * 26 Howard Avenue * New Haven, CT * 06519-2809
playboard[at]puppeteers.org
The Election Issue
Nominating Committee
Pam Corcoran – Steven’s Point, Wisconsin
Nick Hubbard – Seattle, Washington
Erik Torbeck – Bar Harbor, Maine
Peter Zapletal – Jackson, Mississippi
Voting is easy – You can either use Postal Mail or E-Mail for your ballot.
POSTAL MAIL:
1.) Make your choices for the Board and mark the BALLOT.
2.) Cut out the BALLOT and place it in an envelope.
3.) Place a First Class stamp on the envelope.
4.) Write your NAME and MEMBERSHIP NUMBER on the envelope. (Your Membership # can be found on the label of any Puppetry Journal Magazine)
5.) Address the envelope to:
Puppeteers of America Elections
PO Box 128
Cedar Mountain, NC 28718
E-MAIL:
1.) Put BALLOT in the SUBJECT line.
2.) Include your name and Membership number in your E-mail (Your Membership # can be found on the label of any Puppetry Journal Magazine).
3.) List three candidates of your choice in the body of the E-mail.
4.) Send E-mail to: elections[at]puppeteers.org (please note that the [at] symbol stands for @ – we are trying to avoid SPAM)
BALLOTS MUST BE POSTMARKED BY MAY 15, 2011
All regular members – Adult (A), Company (B), College Students (U), and Special Life and Charter members (L & M), get to cast ONE Ballot.
Couples (C), Senior Couples, and Family (F) with two adults get to cast TWO Ballots.
Any reasonable copy of the Ballot is acceptable for the second vote and can be included in the same envelope.
Please note that ALL ballots are removed from the envelopes before counting
The names or numbers on the envelopes are used ONLY to verify that your membership is current.
IMPORTANT!!!! Write your name and membership number on the envelope. They will be used to validate your ballot.
Envelopes & Email’s without member’s names or numbers cannot be counted.
Your membership number can be found on the mailing label of any issue of Puppetry Journal you’ve received.
The Nominating Committee, led by Wayne Krefting, Chair, with Eric Brooks, Jean Enticknap, and Tom Tucker, has presented a slate of four excellent candidates to fill three Trustee positions on the Board.
Thanks for a job well done.
Puppeteers of America, Inc.
Board of Trustees
BALLOT – 2011
You may vote for up to three candidates.
PAM CORCORAN
NICK HUBBARD
ERIK TORBECK
PETER ZAPLETAL
Ballots must be postmarked by May 15, 2010!!!!
THE CANDIDATES
PAM CORCORAN – Steven’s Point, Wisconsin
Pam started Corcoran Puppets 28 years ago after studying puppetry with Dorlis Grubidge and Healther McPherson. In addition to building and performing shows, she conducts artist in residence programs for all ages and abilities. She has served in many capacities for the Wisconsin Puppetry Guild and was workshop coordinator for the PofA Regional 2000. Pam has helped coordinate and participated in Day of Puppetry events. She is enrolled in an Arts Business class, and is a frequent guest artist with Eulenspiegel Puppet Theatre. Pam lives with husband, Tim, and an assortment of pets.
A. What do you think is the most important issue facing Puppeteers of America right now?
I think the most important issue is community building through retaining and gaining members at a time where the lines of what is considered puppetry are expanding.
B. Which of the Puppeteers of America’s procedures or services need to be improved or changed?
It seems that in many parts of the country, the old puppetry guild model is no longer working. Including events for puppeteers around Puppet Slams and/or Day of Puppetry events is a way of bringing puppeteers together to network, share ideas and best practices, and build a sense of community, especially in areas where many puppeteers are scattered far apart. My experience is that people view “meetings” as negative; perhaps promoting informal “puppet meet-ups” would be received with more enthusiasm.
C. What specific new projects might Pupppeteers of America pursue, or which ongoing projects need more emphasis?
Encouraging universities to offer courses in puppetry, preferably as interdisciplinary classes, and promoting the courses to theater, art, and education majors, would bring a constant source of new puppeteers and ideas in a wide array of puppetry related fields. Some ideas for implementing an awareness of the potential of puppetry could include local guilds hosting a Day of Puppetry and/or Puppet Slam on campuses, and requesting and suggesting touring puppet performances.
D. What special abilities or skills are you able to bring to the job of Trustee?
I understand and embrace the fact that experimenting with new forms and supporting and celebrating the historic forms of puppetry are all a part of a continuum of an evolving art form. My long experience of teaching puppetry to people of all ages and abilities has taught me how to take complex tasks and break them down into small, simple steps. I am a good listener. I emphatically support the concept of compromise and seeking common ground.
E. In the next few years, which is the single most important service Pupeeteers of America needs to provide for puppeteers?
I think that continuing to build and support a sense of community among puppeteers is the most important service. Puppeteers learn from each other – by watching performances, by teaching and taking workshops, by asking questions and sharing answers, by discussing everything from artistic sensibilities to marketing strategies. Exploring ways to revitalize guilds and keeping National and Regional Festivals affordable and relevant will play a great role in this, as well as seeking other opportunities for puppeteers to connect.
NICK HUBBARD – Seattle, Washington
Nick Hubbard is a Seattle, Washington-based performance artist who creates images with shadow theater and puppetry. After joining the Puppeteers of Puget Sound in 2008, he quickly became involved in projects with locally infamous puppet-builder Brian Kooser, emerging playwright Wes Andrews, and Jean Enticknap’s hard-working Thistle Theatre. He studied at the Theater of Shadows in Germany early in 2009, and then signed on to become the Artistic Director for the 2010 Northwest Regional Puppet Festival, an acknowledged success. Between reading comic books and practicing amateur herpetology, Nick hopes to learn from other artists and build a stronger puppetry community in the Northwest.
A. What do you think is the most important issue facing Puppeteers of America right now?
Participation/engagement. As a younger member, connected to many different arts communities in Seattle and beyond, I observe and hear that there is a lack of representation from new members–from non-veteran-puppeteers. These could be artists of color, interdisciplinary artists, younger artists, who are looking for the PofA to become more relevant to them.
B. Which of the Puppeteers of America’s procedures or services need to be improved or changed?
When I look at the current model for festivals, I see room for improvement. Access is hugely limited, and for many people (both audience and puppeteers) these are the only opportunities to network, hang out with friends, see diverse performances, and learn from skilled puppeteers. Some solutions might be rethinking how we fund, structure, and market festivals or figuring out how to have more events of different types, some for a focused few and some for the public at large.
C. What specific new projects might Pupppeteers of America pursue, or which ongoing projects need more emphasis?
a) Puppetry for social justice. PofA has the networking capacity to organize more visible community-building initiatives that utilize our unique skills as puppeteers in contexts from civil action to criminal rehabilitation.
b) Puppetry awareness. Many individual puppeteers are struggling to educate their communities and artistic colleagues about the art of puppetry. A concerted effort by the PofA could help foster understanding, cross-pollination, and respect beyond the stereotyped images of puppetry.
c) Passing on the art of puppetry. Festivals and guild meetings offer some space for experienced puppeteers to pass on their knowledge, the PofA could do more to ensure that lessons learned are shared with emerging artists. This could look like more workshops, a network of apprenticeships, or online tutorials available to PofA members.
D. What special abilities or skills are you able to bring to the job of Trustee?
I believe that my youth is one special ability. I bring fresh perspective, humility, an eagerness to learn from my elders and the potential to devote many years of service to PofA. I collaborate well and know how to find ways to achieve success for the parts and the whole.
E. In the next few years, which is the single most important service Pupeeteers of America needs to provide for puppeteers?
Access. This is something the PofA already does, and can do more. Access for professionals & for the public. Access to resources, access to opportunities, access to each other.
ERIK TORBECK – Bar Harbor, Maine
Erik Torbeck lives in the frozen tundra of Bar Harbor, Maine. He is in a puppet company with his brother and sister called the Frogtown Mountain Puppeteers. They have been performing together for the past 10 years with their own handmade puppets. Erik has served on the Board of Trustees for one year, and would be returning for his second term.
A. What do you think is the most important issue facing Puppeteers of America right now?
I would imagine it is the recruitment of new members.
B. Which of the Puppeteers of America’s procedures or services need to be improved or changed?
The first two things that come to mind when I think of PofA are the Puppetry Journal, and the festivals, which always seem to be running fairly smoothly from my point of view. I have heard from a few puppet venues that they wish festivals were a little more “user friendly” for them. I have wondered also if the festivals could be a little more accessible to the public, but not having thought this through, maybe it’s not feasible. I understand there were some scholarships available to festivals in past years that were not even applied for, so maybe a better outreach program to younger puppeteers is needed so they are aware of what the PofA has to offer.
C. What specific new projects might Pupppeteers of America pursue, or which ongoing projects need more emphasis?
I would think that any sort of outreach programs would always be good, because somewhere there is always going to be some lonely puppeteer wishing something like the POA existed, and is completely unaware that it does. I’m sure having the website makes it a lot easier now, then it was in pre-internet days. Perhaps POA could become more involved with venues, or helping puppeteers find work.
D. What special abilities or skills are you able to bring to the job of Trustee?
X-ray vision.
E. In the next few years, which is the single most important service Pupeeteers of America needs to provide for puppeteers?
I would say to provide an effective networking base for puppeteers and puppet enthusiasts to contact each other and share ideas.
PETER ZAPLETAL – Jackson, Mississippi
Artistic Director for Puppet Arts Theatre, Peter Zapletal, graduated with a Master’s Degree in Puppetry from the Academy of the Performing Arts in Prague. In 1970 he appeared at the National Festival of PofA and soon afterwards he moved to Jackson, Mississippi, where he joined the local PBS station as a puppeteer in residence. During the next 32 years he created many instructional and special programs with and without puppets. His instructional programs were seen in classrooms across the United States and special programs, from “Beauty and the Beast,” to “Steadfast Tin Soldier” with Burl Ives, to “Bolero” (a ballet special) were broadcast by PBS. He also directed two shows at the Millsaps College: “Hansel & Gretel” and an original play, “The Golem.” Presently he is serving as Secretary for the Board of Trustees of PofA.
A. What do you think is the most important issue facing Puppeteers of America right now?
The most important issue facing our organization is the number of members that is not as high as we would like to see it. There are many puppeteers outside of our organization who do not realize that PofA is an organization of record and we need to figure out ways to get them to join us.
B. Which of the Puppeteers of America’s procedures or services need to be improved or changed?
The whole world is changing and moving from paper to electronic communication. PofA must move in that direction, too. And we started to make those moves during this year.
C. What specific new projects might Pupppeteers of America pursue, or which ongoing projects need more emphasis?
By the time you read these lines, there may be a new look to our website released. Our membership database is also moving to the internet and some of the archived material may be there soon.
D. What special abilities or skills are you able to bring to the job of Trustee?
I think my strengths are my managerial skills that I honed as a director of production for a PBS television station in Jackson, Mississippi. and of course, as the manager for my touring company, Puppet Arts Theatre. I proved my skills as the artistic director for three PofA National Festivals in 1977, 1978 and 1985 in addition of being an artistic coordinator for the World Puppetry Festival in Washington, D.C., in 1980.
E. In the next few years, which is the single most important service Pupeeteers of America needs to provide for puppeteers?
For 75 years PofA existed mostly from the dues paid by the members. We cannot afford to be raising the dues so we need to find other sources of income. There is a great demand for the dollars offered by various foundations, but to be successful, we need to have professional management. These funds will allow us to build a larger website for communication and be able to respond to the needs of the members and nonmembers as well. For example, each member has most probably a collection of our Puppetry Journals and Eureka articles. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to have a database of the information available in these publications on the website that you could search?
Playboard 