The puppets arrived yesterday from China. I was so tired when I got home after rehearsal that I didn’t write it up. So, I’ll try to hit what yesterday and today were like. Yesterday: The puppet is beautiful, with a bright lively face and a vibrant costume. It’s a curious blend of old and new […]
Rehearsing with the Peter puppet Read More »
I know a number of you are coming into town for Comicon. Why not take a break from all that industry stuff and come see a show? I’m puppeteering Peter in Peter and the Wolf. Sergei Prokofiev’s classic Peter and the Wolf is re-imagined by Mabou Mines co-artistic director Terry O’Reilly and Jane Catherine Shaw
Come see Peter and the Wolf Read More »
One of the actors at opening night of Rainbow Kiss gave everyone a bookmark with this quote. I thought it appropriate for anyone in the arts, not just performers. There is a vitality, a life force, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and there is only one of you in all time.
Martha Graham quote Read More »
Found via PuppetVision
Why I hate riding the subway with puppets Read More »
This is a banner weekend. I’ve just been cast as Peter in Peter and the Wolf. It’s a workshop production put on in joint collaboration with Terry OReilly, a long time member of Mabou Mines, and a Chinese puppet company– Guangxi Puppet Art Troupe with live music performed by Matrix Music. Performances are April 18,
Cast in Peter and the Wolf Read More »
This is a beautifully manipulated short with a paper puppet. Now, I have to say that though I think this is really well done, it disappointed me. Let’s sum up. Puppet comes to life. Discovers world. Discovers that it is a puppet. Dies. I was really excited when the video started, because it is beautifully
A paper puppet meets a certain end Read More »
The intarwebs use the word sockpuppet to mean someone who has created a character for the purpose of supporting his or her arguments by pretending to be someone else. Let’s take a look at that term, shall we? Most puppets fall into five basic categories broken down by the method in which they are manipulated.
This is one of my favorite Sesame Street videos. The song totally sticks in my head. Plus, at 1.01, if you watch the lower right corner of the screen, Jim Henson’s head flashes for a moment. First time I’ve seen that.
Ladysmith Black Mambazo and Kermit Read More »
PuppetVision Blog pointed out that Cookie Monster was on NPR yesterday. There’s a long tradition of puppet characters appearing on radio, but we are lucky that the wise folk at NPR also made a short video of Cookie answering the famous Proust Questionnaire. You can listen to the whole interview at the same link. “C”
Cookie Monster on NPR Read More »
Bill Schafer, at Subterranean Press, realized that he wanted to send out one other Coraline thank you. We couldn’t do another doll, because we had said that there would only be three of them. So I suggested a Coraline mask. I started by scaling up the pattern from the doll. Basically, I scanned the small
Well, the director wasn’t keen on the helmets because he wants to preserve the uniqueness of Athena’s helm and feels that it will be less special if everyone gets one. I argued that since the play is supposed to use things that come off of the Odysseus’s ship, that helms make a good deal of
Thumbnails for the Odyssey Read More »
I’m designing props and masks for The Odyssey Experience for McCarter Theatre’s education department. Here are the drawings I’m sending up to them for review. The idea is that rather than masks, each character has a helm which they wear, to signify which character they are. Athena has her classic helm, which I want to
The Odyssey Experience Read More »
This article covers so many of the things I geek out on. Old books? Check. This issue of The Gentleman’s Magazine came out in 1852. Puppets? Check. MADAME DE PUYSIEUX was a witty and vivacious lady. Among her recorded sayings is one that exceedingly well suits us for the nonce. “I would rather,” she said,
1852 Article on Puppetry Read More »
The goal of this project was to make a self-illuminated boat for the opening of the Tempest. It needs to be sturdy enough to tour, but also needed to match the materials in the rest of the design, which were fairly industrial. We first made patterns of stiff paper to find the shape of the
Tempest build, the boat photos Read More »
Things I’ve said, or friends have said at work lately. Where did I put my lady belly? Catch the fish eyes! How many bird kebabs do you want? I think the crocodile is going to eat us alive My skull is supposed to arrive tomorrow. RiteAid is the mother-lode of Emilys I’ve lost my arm
The latest things said at work Read More »