From: Widerman-AT-aol.com Date: Fri, 5 Aug 2005 01:14:15 EDT To: Marionettes-AT-yahoogroups.com, Cc: Subject: [Puptcrit] Re: [Marionettes] Discuss the St Paul Festival? Gosh, Jim, didn't anyone tell you about the secret speakeasy down the backstairs from the auditorium? Those Lutherans really know how to put up a good front. Went there between every show. All drinks were on the house, too, paid for with political payback money from inferior companies who got invited to perform at the festival. Snoozing through a few boring shows was well worth the free suds! And the entire time there was that rep from Pixar, explaining how everything would soon be digital, including performers and audiences! You just pay for the download and it plays to a virtual audience in two minutes instead of two hours! What a time saver that digital stuff is! And then there was that unbelievable sex orgy on my bus ride over to the Heart of the Beast Theater. We never even made it off the bus to see the show! Well, I'm not surprised the theater looked empty to you. . . . . . JUST KIDDING. But seriously, folks, I thought it was a great festival with very few hitches. As always, there were good shows and bad shows. I am always happy to see shows at a festival that I would not have any other opportunity to see, all in one place in one week. I prefer to judge quality for myself, and tastes vary quite a bit. In one instance, I experienced a good show and a poor show by the same company, and I was quite astounded by that. Dug Feltch, hilarious! Luckily, he had more backstage help the second evening of Pot-Pourri. I was thrilled to see the movie "Strings," and work the puppets, and see the short puppet films compiled by Heather Henson, in addition to the live shows. Although I regretted not having time to see them, I was gratified that there were other media compilations being shown, thanks to Gary Busk, including one concurrent with the puppet slam that, unfortunately, couldn't accommodate everyone. Even with extra time between some of the shows, I didn't have a chance to speak to everyone I would have liked to catch up with. Chevy's stayed open until 2:00 a.m. (the legal limit) most of the nights of the festival to service the party crowd, just across the highway from the dry campus. The guitars, banjo, mandolin, sax and singers found a place to jam. (You know who you are.) When there was a show scheduled that I had already seen, I took the opportunity to check out the Mall of America, and see consumerism run rampant. Others went to museums and visited downtown. The campus was very compact, and the dorms, theaters and food were blissfully short walks from each other, which could even be accessed indoors during the heavy rainstorm. As a performer, I was treated cordially by the staff and crew. Thank you! I'm sorry we "critters" didn't organize as well as Jim had hoped. In the future we should arrange to have an FTF (face to face) meeting, like the old AOL group did way back when (remember fope?). I had to schlep that heavy new tome by Eileen Blumenthal, I got at a discount at the festival store to read on the plane ride home, too. Glad I saw her speak and got it signed. I took some outstanding photos and my traditional video of the excellent exhibit. I finally slept for two days after I got home. Thanks for a memorable fest, and I hope we have many more to come. See you there! -Steven-> In a message dated 8/3/05 1:29:25 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, Jimsan777-AT-aol.com writes: Dear Critters & M'netters: Anyone want to discuss the good and not so good parts of the St. Paul Festival? Can we stand the criticism? I will stick my neck out! Personally, I felt there were some excellent moments, but unfortunately some very slow and disappointing shows. I thought there was too much "down" time. There was too much time between one show and the next with nothing to do. The University disallowed alcohol or adult programming, so the Puppet Slam was moved to the much-to-small space at the hotel. After each last official performance of the day, there was an hour or more with nothing to do: no drinks, not even coffee or sodas, in which to imbibe while waiting for pot pourri, which began way too late. Many left disgusted. or tired of waiting...and there were some good acts!!!! Doug Feltch did a nice job of emceeing in spite of technical difficultes. Maybe the organizers thought they would have many more registrants. I registered late and my number was 368, so at most there were probably less than 500 attendees. All could have fit into the larger of the two auditoriums, but we were divided, so there were many empty seats. I understand the problems with which organizers must contend, but I wonder if they even previewed a couple of the shows chosen? Were they "politcal pay back" invitations or was the price right, or was there another reason? All the people with whom I spoke, who had left these shows early or stayed to the bitter end, questioned why they were included. The workshops, on the other hand, seemed to cover practically all areas of interest sans digital technolgy and its aspects to puppetry. Realizing that you can't please everyone, I wonder if ANYone was pleased. To take a week out of your year to attend a festival is expensive and a time investment. I understand why people would not want to attend, as stated on this BB. There is also the "family" friendship aspect, which is a personal thing. So what are your thoughts? how can we improve Festivals in the future? What do you want included? What would it take to encourage you to participate? Or were you well pleased and think I'm out of line to even question? In the spirit of cooperation, I hope you will respond. Jim Gamble _______________________________________________ List address: puptcrit-AT-lists.driftline.org Admin interface: http://lists.driftline.org/listinfo.cgi/puptcrit-driftline.org Archives: http://www.driftline.org
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