Experimental Pilot Puppet Show

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This past week I went and shared my puppets before an audience for the first time. At this wonderful property in the mountains where my good friends are caretakers of, they had alot of their extended family in town to celebrate the matriarch of the family’s 70th birthday. People from Switzerland, California, Baja, all over really!

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[Showing a double jointed maple Rainbow Trout rod puppet with mouth & tail mechanism controls to the curious children]

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I barely had any time to put together the show, I was working non stop for a couple weeks leading up to it to finish some of the puppets, build this movable fold-up stage (which still needs A LOT of design and build work before I’ll be happy with it). I was very close to canceling because I felt it would disrespect my audience to deliver them an inferior show. I wasnt able to write a script or rehearse at all – the paint on my stage was almost wet still when I packed it up, and I would say my advanced table top puppet, Gano the mushroom man, wasn’t tuned quite properly for ideal movement either. But I checked in with my friend the day before, she was encouraging, I am glad and grateful I decided to come do this for many reasons.

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[Dual camera views controlled by the computer brains inside of my pop-up performance stage]

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There were around 25 people watching, a near even split between children and adults. After an excellent dinner as the evening was setting upon us, these young girls performed a splendid traditional Mexican dance in customary attire. My performance followed them after a brief intermission, and lasted 25 minutes, where I rapid-fired different commentaries, descriptions, philosophies and insights around 12 puppets/scenes I had created or restored while I showed off their mechanics, movements, expressions, manipulations etc. I let kids play with the puppets and “behind the scenes”ed with some for another 15 minutes or so afterwards. They built a big bonfire mid-performance (Montana nights are cold year-round), and the overall vibe was awesome.

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[A naked 3 point attachment Basswood human rod puppet with head/neck and hand controls. I personally find the pure raw mechanical design of puppets more interesting than when the controls and joints are covered by clothing and such]

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I would say my hybrid variety-show performance was a success. I received a good handful of compliments from both adult and child, and even a nice gift. I don’t think I did the best job animating the puppets as I was trying them all out in the context of the stage… some of them I had only finished the day before, some of them (or their string controls) were slightly modified from being transported from my workshop to the venue. One smaller marionette had its strings too tangled to sort out to be able to even use mid performance, and I simply forgot to utilize other props and things I had prepared. I definitely way overthought everything ahead of time, and brought unnecessary extra stuff I didn’t even utilize. My caustic, critical mind wants to rip myself apart about every tiny detail and failure, but putting aside my self-hatred, I have a lot of good ideas for improvements to my flow for the future.

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[An old world marionette girl, found broken in a dusty antique shop corner, whom I repaired back to functionality. It’s likely she was originally built before my Grandma was born…]

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I learned so so so much. I wasn’t a stranger to performance arts or being in front of people, but now it’s like my mind is calibrated now for what to expect of the stresses/challenges of tiny details of putting on a show like this. Now I have a reference frame, data points, and experiential knowledge. Performing a puppet show is so very unlike the other performing arts!

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[Crisp late spring evenings in the mountains of montana, dances and puppet shows around the bonfire]

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My buddy got some shots of the set, and I also got a recording of the audience reactions, some of which I am sharing with you here. I wasnt able to focus on their reactions mid-performance but I definitely heard waves of laughter, oohs-and-ahs, and saw lots of big smiles. On the whole, my contribution seems to have enhanced the already high-vibration party, so I am glad. Such medicine to the soul!

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[Gano the Mushroom man, a table top puppet design built using traditional tongue and groove knee/elbow joints and sculpted ganoderm mushrooms]

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The following day some of us went up into the mountains and gathered wild mushrooms. I broke in my puppetry shirt using it as a basket (as we mushroom hunters often do) – and it didn’t even get dirty from the ashy, burnt soil since it was already black! Though it does have some spore prints on it now. To me, this is what life is all about. There is still so much work to do, but for now, I am ready for a break!! Cheers

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[A modest harvest of a delectable wild gourmet superfood]

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Setlist / Scenes:
-Intro & Hands primer
-Tools & blocks of wood
-Animation + camera scene
-felted wool finger puppet Bee
-Peeper
-Simple table top human puppet
-Chocolate walnut fish
-Rainbow trout
-garden snake

-simple 70 YO marionette duck
-Cedar bird
-Animatron as a glove puppet configuration
-3 pt Human rod
-Restored 90+ years old world Marionette farm girl

-Gano the mushroom man

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