File puptcrit/puptcrit.0501, message 16


Date: Mon, 03 Jan 2005 19:35:29 -0800
To: puptcrit-driftline.org-AT-lists.driftline.org
From: Steve Axtell <steve-AT-axtell.com>
Subject: [Puptcrit] Mary Gragen / Flock Theater


http://www.shorepublishing.com/archive/re.aspx?re=78ea7bcc-d2a7-4dea-b76d-91f35a602721

By <mailto:s.chupaska-AT-shorepublishing.com>Stephen Chupaska
Published on 1/2/2005

New London -- Mary Gragen does a bit of everything at the Flock Theater.
She answers phones, acts and designs sets, but where she really lends a
hand, literally and figuratively, is with puppets. For the last four years,
Gragen, a native New Londoner, has been the puppeteer in residence at the
Flock, the city's longtime acting troupe. Gragen specializes in two types
of puppetry -- hand puppets and the rod operated over life-sized puppets.
She said the latter are worn by the puppeteer and are sometimes caricatures
of public figures. Gragen said over life-size puppets are often used in
political protests, doubling for world figures. "I think people
underestimate what we can do with puppets," she said while sipping coffee
at a downtown caf. "All over the world puppets are revered." She added that
in Bali, puppets have been used in morality plays for thousands of years,
and that they play an essential role in the Noh Theater in Japan. However,
she does not work with marionettes too often. "I love (them)," she said.
"But I just don't have the dexterity to work with them," she said. Gragen's
interest in puppets didn't start with a fascination with H.R. Puffinstuff
or the Muppets; in high school she was a jock, playing mostly tennis and
some softball. During her senior year at New London High in 1996, Gragen
was offered a tennis scholarship at Wheaton College, near Boston. But,
ultimately, her heart wasn't in it. "I called the coach a week before
practice," Gragen said. "I wanted to have a 'college experience' rather
than spending (all my time) on the tennis court." She first came in contact
with the Flock when she interned with them while completing her degree. "I
had a lot of fun with the internships," Gragen said, adding that she
learned virtually every aspect of the theater. She had her first on-stage
role as one of Dogberry's troupe in "Much Ado About Nothing." Also during
the internship, she met the Flock's Darren Wood, who introduced her to
puppetry. "I owe my entire career to Darren," Gragen said. "He taught me
how to make it walk, talk, and run. But he never told me I was doing
anything wrong. He helped me think through problems so I could learn it
myself." After becoming more proficient she built her first hand puppet, a
fellow named Satan. She wrote a script in which the devil auditions for a
talent show by performing "Hell" by the Squirrel Nut Zippers. "I also had
Satan pass out cookies to people," Gragen said. She also put on a condensed
version of "Hamlet" with abstract furry creatures standing in for Polonius,
Gertrude and Ophelia. After a few years, she was hired by the Vee
Corporation, producers of "Sesame Street Live," to work on a touring
Broadway-style production of the PBS animated series "Dragon Tales." Gragen
manipulated and did the voices of Giant of Nod, Princess Kidoodle, Hoppy
the Unicroaker and Quetzal the Wise Dragon Teacher. She was also named head
puppeteer for the show which she played lead on all of the puppets. Gragen
was also hired to tour with another show, "Bear in the Big Blue House,"
where she was promoted to puppet master, who oversees the choreography and
look of the puppets on the show. The tours, while a grind, offered Gragen
the opportunity to visit places she would have never gone otherwise, such
as Salina, Kan. "What's in Salina?" she asked rhetorically. "A Wal-Mart."
She also got to know the people she tours with, intimately. "It's 30-40
people co-existing together," Gragen said. "Sometimes you're sleeping on
the floor of a bus and other times you're flying on a plane." When not
working with the Flock with its three or four productions a year, Gragen
has been working on commercials. Lately, she has been thinking of getting
an agent and moving to New York, but she's still enamored with her
hometown. "It's such a weird little town," she said. "Sometimes I wish I
didn't grow up here, so I could discover it."


Steve Axtell / Axtell Expressions, Inc.
***************************************
See our new show "AxTelevision" on DVD!    http://www.axtelevision.com
Amazing Puppet Characters for over 20 years. http://www.axtell.com
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Listing)   http://www.axtell.com/ipd.html
The original content of this email or attachments is =A9 2004 Axtell
Expressions, Inc.


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