File puptcrit/puptcrit.0606, message 224


From: Christopher Hudert <heyhoot-AT-mindspring.com>
Date: Wed, 14 Jun 2006 08:07:54 -0400
To: puptcrit-AT-lists.driftline.org
Subject: Re: [Puptcrit] More on Puppeteers for Young Ones


Sorry for the double post of this section, but somehow in the previous 
post the first paragraph of my reply ran together into Susan's earlier 
post and appeared to be part of that paragraph. For clarity's sake I am 
reposting only because I think there some important things in there.

Susan wrote:

>> I, too, have been puppeteering for a long time -- close to 30 years.
>> I specialize in variety shows featuring marionettes and hand
>> puppets (I also have a couple of story shows, but these don't get
>> booked as much as the variety shows).  <clip>  I do not compromise in
>> the quality of my puppeteering just because my target audience is
>> young.  I know there'll be older eyes watching as well.  I just start
>> to take offence when others in our profession think they can get away
>> with a "paid rehearsal" when performing for young kids.  It's people
>> like that who give puppeteers a bad name.

I replied:
  Susan, I find your implication here highly insulting. Are really 
saying that I give puppetry a bad name? Please tell me I am reading 
this wrong. If I am not, we either have more divergent views of our 
performances than I thought, you have never seen one of my shows, or 
you don't get my philosophy on performing. I have never "phoned in" a 
performance and I have been doing shows for over 40 years for audiences 
ranging from a few to over 10 thousand. I think that when someone is 
doing a show for an audience they should be doing the show no matter 
how many or few people are there, no matter what they may feel like 
emotionally or physically, no matter what the conditions, etc., and 
giving it the best they can no matter how large or small their part may 
be.
   Perhaps you were mislead by my reference to a "paid rehearsal." I did 
not mean to imply that the show was lesser in some way, but that your 
expectation as a performer needed to be different. A rehearsal 
audience, with some exceptions, does not give back to the performance 
in the same way that a regular audience does. Part of it has to do with 
numbers, part of it has to do with why they are there, but the dynamic 
is not and can not be the same. However, if you are getting paid to do 
the performance (and in some cases even if you are not, but that is a 
different thread), you are, IMHO, under an obligation to do a quality 
show regardless of how the audience is reacting - or in the case of a 2 
month old, not reacting. To me, if my audience is incapable of giving 
appropriate responses I am going to do the best show I can, but it is 
going to be a "paid rehearsal." Have you ever done a show for a room 
full of special needs people as your sole audience (other than their 
caretakers)? I have many times, and I have to work harder during that 
"paid rehearsal" show than at a regular show. It takes more 
concentration and different pacing and so on, but it is not  a lesser 
show in the term of my performance. It is in no way, shape, or form a 
walk through. However, they can not and will not give back the way my 
typical audience can and will, so I refer to it as a "paid rehearsal."

Hope that is clearer. 

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