From: "Alan Cook" <alangregorycook-AT-msn.com> To: puptcrit-AT-lists.driftline.org Date: Fri, 23 Jun 2006 06:46:38 GMT Subject: [Puptcrit] A Spoon Puppet is a spoon is a puppet Many years ago and then some, I was at the Art Building of the Los Angeles County Fair, performing a Spoon Puppet to LeRoy Anderson's "The Stripper" music. The Spoon's outfit slowly descended revealing the wooden handle in all its non-voluptuosness. The kicker is that we got censored. A bare wood handle was too much for sensitive morality buffs. So was that neo-puppetry or just Spoon Puppetry? (The spoon had a face and yarn hair), ALAN COOK -----Original Message----- From: puptcrit-request-AT-lists.driftline.org Sent: Thursday, June 22, 2006 5:20 PM To: puptcrit-AT-lists.driftline.org Subject: puptcrit Digest, Vol 20, Issue 56 Send puptcrit mailing list submissions to puptcrit-AT-lists.driftline.org To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit http://lists.driftline.org/listinfo.cgi/puptcrit-driftline.org or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to puptcrit-request-AT-lists.driftline.org You can reach the person managing the list at puptcrit-owner-AT-lists.driftline.org When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific than "Re: Contents of puptcrit digest..." Today's Topics: 1. Re: X(=Neo?)-puppetry (mjm) 2. How to vent the spleen through puppetry (malgosia askanas) 3. Re: Americas Got Talent (EC Lindstrom) 4. Re: X(=Neo?)-puppetry (malgosia askanas) 5. Re: How to vent the spleen through puppetry (Mathieu Ren?) 6. Re: How to vent the spleen through puppetry (EC Lindstrom) 7. Re: How to vent the spleen through puppetry (Richard Johnson) 8. Re: How to vent the spleen through puppetry (Sandy Barton) 9. Animal Farm at Mum (Robert Smythe) 10. Re: X(=Neo?)-puppetry (Caro Naidin) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Message: 1 Date: Thu, 22 Jun 2006 16:00:29 -0500 From: mjm <mmoynihan-AT-wi.rr.com> Subject: Re: [Puptcrit] X(=Neo?)-puppetry To: puptcrit-AT-lists.driftline.org Message-ID: <23c78672320c888e5bf294eab631e59b-AT-wi.rr.com> I'm now very neo-confused. Is this neo? http://tinyurl.com/z3zrf mjm On Jun 22, 2006, at 11:26 AM, Widerman-AT-aol.com wrote: > > Before I become confused by how I categorize my forms of Puppetry, my > way of > understanding object puppets implies the use of ordinary objects > manipulated > as entertainment. Any performance employing the use of kitchen spoons > or > other silverware, as in all the examples below, would to me, by > definition be > object puppetry. > > A spoon is a household object, and employing it as a puppet creates a > very > different significance than the fabrication of a puppet that > represents a > spoon, which I would think of as a more traditional form of Puppetry. > "Lion King" > masks and puppets are clearly not found object puppets, but were > created > specifically for that production. Are they "neo"? Someone will have to > define > that for me. > > -Steven-> > > > In a message dated 6/22/2006 10:59:24 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time, > ma-AT-panix.com writes: > > Dear Stephen, > > This is not quite what I am trying to get at. Maybe it will help if > I outline some hypothetical puppet shows that we can use as examples: > > 1. This is a puppet show about the Royal House of England. All the > puppets are pieces of silverware, and the Queen is played by a soup > spoon. The puppets are operated so as to create in the audience a > maximum forgetfulness that what they is viewing is a bunch of spoons, > forks and knives. You can say this is trad puppetry. > > 2. This is a puppet show about the Royal Family of Dishland. In > Dishland, the ruling dynasty is the Silverware Dynasty, and the > current Queen is Queen Soupspoon. Here, the audience is aware that > they are viewing silverware, but the silverware is anthropomorphized > - the story is told as if objects could live normal human lives, and > the puppets (i.e. the silverware) are operated so as to make this > believable. This, too, is trad puppetry. > > 3. This is an object performance about the goings-on within the > Royal House of England. There is a narrator narrating events, and > illustrating them by manipulating various objects. A spoon with a > wig is used to "stand in" for the Queen. No attempt is made to > create any illusion, and the "puppets" are used the way little > movable pin-ups on a map might be used to illustrate a narrative > about troop movements in a military campaign. This is, broadly > speaking, in the same category of puppetry as your "Lion King" > example - if you disagree, maybe we should treat the "Lion King" > example as a separate one. > > 4. This is a theater piece about the Queen of England, involving > live actors and puppetry. The Queen is at the dinner table eating > her soup, when the soup-spoon falls into her lap and immediately > starts taking root there. Now the Queen has a soup spoon growing out > of her. Soon the spoon sprouts other spoons, and the Queen's body is > partly taken over by this alien inanimate life. One might say that > the spoon has now become Queen of England, but in a very different > way than in any of the preceding examples. This is the kind of > thing that I was calling X-puppetry. Daniel is right, I think, to > connect it to Surrealism, although I think these kinds of themes also > make their appearance before Surrealism - for example, in Romanticism. > > -m > > >> Dear Malgosia, >> Let me get this straight. Are you saying that the difference >> between >> neo- and traditional puppetry is whether or not the focus is on the >> illusion of life in the performing object? >> If that is the case than one of the best examples of the neo- genre >> is >> Taymor's "Lion King." The Lion Heads worn on top of the actors heads >> are neo- because they merely imply "lion-ess" (or is it "lionocity") >> while not literally portraying an illusion of a living lion. On the >> other hand, the shadow puppet lions from the same show are in >> strictly >> trad mode. >> I think Jurkowski spelled out some of these ideas in his writings. He >> talks a great deal about the way puppet "signs" have changed over >> time, >> and he identifies the death of the illusion of life in the puppet as >> a >> characteristic of contemporary Western puppetry. >> Stephen > > > > > _______________________________________________ > List address: puptcrit-AT-lists.driftline.org > Admin interface: > http://lists.driftline.org/listinfo.cgi/puptcrit-driftline.org > Archives: http://www.driftline.org > > "Do not impose on others what you yourself do not desire." ? Confucius "I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand." Confucius ------------------------------ Message: 2 Date: Thu, 22 Jun 2006 18:47:19 -0400 (EDT) From: "malgosia askanas" <ma-AT-panix.com> Subject: [Puptcrit] How to vent the spleen through puppetry To: puptcrit-AT-driftline.org Message-ID: <200606222247.k5MMlJd07945-AT-panix1.panix.com> I received the following wonderful suggestion from Gregory MacNaughton: These Puptcrit spats make me think of the Taiwanese puppeteers I have had the fortune to meet and with whom I have studied. Taiwan of course is a rather condensed geographic location which at one time had hundreds of puppet companies competing against one another. Puppeteers would frequently have spats and arguments but they would not vent their spleen in conversation but in a puppet show. I wonder if we could challenge everyone on the list that if they have something provocative (or rude or insulting) that they want to say to someone on the list, they should create a short piece, film it and post it to us all watch. That way we can have our petty disagreemnts but they would always be related to puppetry. Instead of trading obnoxious baiting and petty insults, let's encourage eachother to deveolp some chops. There is no way we can stop being petty but at least we could be creative about it. - Gregory ------------------------------ Message: 3 Date: Thu, 22 Jun 2006 15:59:27 -0700 (PDT) From: "EC Lindstrom" <elndstrm-AT-halcyon.com> Subject: Re: [Puptcrit] Americas Got Talent To: puptcrit-AT-lists.driftline.org Message-ID: <29100.207.66.172.131.1151017167.squirrel-AT-mail4.halcyon.com> Congrats both to Steve and Kevin (if He' s on this list, otherwise, well, maybe these congratulatory particles will reach him wherever he is right now). Eric L. > Kevin Johnson, ventriloquist from LegoLand did a > great job on America's Got Talent tonight. He > used our Cockatoo and Bird Arm Illusion, and > another Buzzard puppet. Go Kevin! > > Ax > > Steve Axtell > Axtell Expressions, Inc. > **************************************** > <http://www.axtell.com>Amazing Puppet Characters Web Site > New show "<http://www.axtelevision.com>AxTelevision" on DVD > International <http://www.axtell.com/performers.html>Performer's Directory > The original content of this email or attachments is ? Axtell Expressions, > Inc. > _______________________________________________ > List address: puptcrit-AT-lists.driftline.org > Admin interface: > http://lists.driftline.org/listinfo.cgi/puptcrit-driftline.org > Archives: http://www.driftline.org > ------------------------------ Message: 4 Date: Thu, 22 Jun 2006 19:01:56 -0400 (EDT) From: "malgosia askanas" <ma-AT-panix.com> Subject: Re: [Puptcrit] X(=Neo?)-puppetry To: puptcrit-AT-lists.driftline.org Message-ID: <200606222301.k5MN1uH15873-AT-panix1.panix.com> Steven, as far as I am concerned, I don't think that the distinction you're making can really be maintained. If I make a spoon especially for the performance and make it look just like a piece of silverware, why would this be a different kind of puppetry than if I buy the spoon in a kitchen store? What if I paint a face on my bought spoon? Put a dress on it? Attach arms and legs to it? At what point would my act stop being one kind of puppetry and start being another? Me, I think the important thing is how the object is used in performance, not how it was manufactured or acquired. If it is used the way a puppet would traditionally be used, it's traditional puppetry. But we could agree to disagree. -m > Before I become confused by how I categorize my forms of Puppetry, my way of > understanding object puppets implies the use of ordinary objects manipulated > as entertainment. Any performance employing the use of kitchen spoons or > other silverware, as in all the examples below, would to me, by definition be > object puppetry. > > A spoon is a household object, and employing it as a puppet creates a very > different significance than the fabrication of a puppet that represents a > spoon, which I would think of as a more traditional form of Puppetry. "Lion King" > masks and puppets are clearly not found object puppets, but were created > specifically for that production. Are they "neo"? Someone will have to define > that for me. > > -Steven-> > > > In a message dated 6/22/2006 10:59:24 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time, > ma-AT-panix.com writes: > > Dear Stephen, > > This is not quite what I am trying to get at. Maybe it will help if > I outline some hypothetical puppet shows that we can use as examples: > > 1. This is a puppet show about the Royal House of England. All the > puppets are pieces of silverware, and the Queen is played by a soup > spoon. The puppets are operated so as to create in the audience a > maximum forgetfulness that what they is viewing is a bunch of spoons, > forks and knives. You can say this is trad puppetry. > > 2. This is a puppet show about the Royal Family of Dishland. In > Dishland, the ruling dynasty is the Silverware Dynasty, and the > current Queen is Queen Soupspoon. Here, the audience is aware that > they are viewing silverware, but the silverware is anthropomorphized > - the story is told as if objects could live normal human lives, and > the puppets (i.e. the silverware) are operated so as to make this > believable. This, too, is trad puppetry. > > 3. This is an object performance about the goings-on within the > Royal House of England. There is a narrator narrating events, and > illustrating them by manipulating various objects. A spoon with a > wig is used to "stand in" for the Queen. No attempt is made to > create any illusion, and the "puppets" are used the way little > movable pin-ups on a map might be used to illustrate a narrative > about troop movements in a military campaign. This is, broadly > speaking, in the same category of puppetry as your "Lion King" > example - if you disagree, maybe we should treat the "Lion King" > example as a separate one. > > 4. This is a theater piece about the Queen of England, involving > live actors and puppetry. The Queen is at the dinner table eating > her soup, when the soup-spoon falls into her lap and immediately > starts taking root there. Now the Queen has a soup spoon growing out > of her. Soon the spoon sprouts other spoons, and the Queen's body is > partly taken over by this alien inanimate life. One might say that > the spoon has now become Queen of England, but in a very different > way than in any of the preceding examples. This is the kind of > thing that I was calling X-puppetry. Daniel is right, I think, to > connect it to Surrealism, although I think these kinds of themes also > make their appearance before Surrealism - for example, in Romanticism. > > -m > > > >Dear Malgosia, > > Let me get this straight. Are you saying that the difference between > >neo- and traditional puppetry is whether or not the focus is on the > >illusion of life in the performing object? > >If that is the case than one of the best examples of the neo- genre is > >Taymor's "Lion King." The Lion Heads worn on top of the actors heads > >are neo- because they merely imply "lion-ess" (or is it "lionocity") > >while not literally portraying an illusion of a living lion. On the > >other hand, the shadow puppet lions from the same show are in strictly > >trad mode. > >I think Jurkowski spelled out some of these ideas in his writings. He > >talks a great deal about the way puppet "signs" have changed over time, > >and he identifies the death of the illusion of life in the puppet as a > >characteristic of contemporary Western puppetry. > >Stephen > > > > > _______________________________________________ > List address: puptcrit-AT-lists.driftline.org > Admin interface: http://lists.driftline.org/listinfo.cgi/puptcrit-driftline.org > Archives: http://www.driftline.org > ------------------------------ Message: 5 Date: Thu, 22 Jun 2006 19:13:20 -0400 From: Mathieu Ren? <creaturiste-AT-magma.ca> Subject: Re: [Puptcrit] How to vent the spleen through puppetry To: <puptcrit-AT-lists.driftline.org> Message-ID: <000601c69651$7504bd00$9d34f3c7-AT-critter1> reply-type=original I agree! -paraphrasing the Mayor, in the Nightmare Before Christmas: "What a splendid Idea, This [idea] sounds fun! I fully Endorse it! Let's Try it at once!" I can't wait to see such honest shows! Mathieu Ren? Cr?aturiste Marionnettes, Masques, Etcetera... Puppets, Masks, Etcetera... www.creaturiste.com creaturiste-AT-magma.ca (514) 274-8027 ------------------------------ Message: 6 Date: Thu, 22 Jun 2006 16:05:37 -0700 (PDT) From: "EC Lindstrom" <elndstrm-AT-halcyon.com> Subject: Re: [Puptcrit] How to vent the spleen through puppetry To: puptcrit-AT-lists.driftline.org Message-ID: <29700.207.66.172.131.1151017537.squirrel-AT-mail4.halcyon.com> Actually, that sounds like a marvelous way to handle these things, though I'd be scared to see what might happen if Royal De Luxe took this approach. . . Eric L. > I received the following wonderful suggestion from Gregory MacNaughton: > > These Puptcrit spats make me think of the Taiwanese puppeteers I have had > the > fortune to meet and with whom I have studied. Taiwan of course is a rather > condensed geographic location which at one time had hundreds of puppet > companies > competing against one another. Puppeteers would frequently have spats and > arguments but they would not vent their spleen in conversation but in a > puppet > show. I wonder if we could challenge everyone on the list that if they > have > something provocative (or rude or insulting) that they want to say to > someone > on the list, they should create a short piece, film it and post it to us > all > watch. That way we can have our petty disagreemnts but they would always > be > related to puppetry. Instead of trading obnoxious baiting and petty > insults, let's encourage eachother to deveolp some chops. There is no way > we > can stop being petty but at least we could be creative about it. - Gregory > _______________________________________________ > List address: puptcrit-AT-lists.driftline.org > Admin interface: > http://lists.driftline.org/listinfo.cgi/puptcrit-driftline.org > Archives: http://www.driftline.org > ------------------------------ Message: 7 Date: Thu, 22 Jun 2006 19:40:18 -0400 From: "Richard Johnson" <djdick-AT-georgiasouthern.edu> Subject: Re: [Puptcrit] How to vent the spleen through puppetry To: <puptcrit-AT-lists.driftline.org> Message-ID: <000a01c69655$389938b0$7400a8c0-AT-rbjpc> Hurrah!!!!! Huzzah!!! And things like that!!!! Richard B. Johnson, Husband, Father, Grandfather, Actor, Director, Puppeteer, Playwright, Teacher,Writer, Thingmaker, Mormon, Person, Fool. I sometimes think that the last persona is the most important- and most valuable. Http://www.PuppenRich.com Http://three-score-and-ten-ormore.blogspot.com -----Original Message----- From: puptcrit-bounces-AT-lists.driftline.org [mailto:puptcrit-bounces-AT-lists.driftline.org] On Behalf Of malgosia askanas Sent: Thursday, June 22, 2006 6:47 PM To: puptcrit-AT-driftline.org Subject: [Puptcrit] How to vent the spleen through puppetry I received the following wonderful suggestion from Gregory MacNaughton: These Puptcrit spats make me think of the Taiwanese puppeteers I have had the fortune to meet and with whom I have studied. Taiwan of course is a rather condensed geographic location which at one time had hundreds of puppet companies competing against one another. Puppeteers would frequently have spats and arguments but they would not vent their spleen in conversation but in a puppet show. I wonder if we could challenge everyone on the list that if they have something provocative (or rude or insulting) that they want to say to someone on the list, they should create a short piece, film it and post it to us all watch. That way we can have our petty disagreemnts but they would always be related to puppetry. Instead of trading obnoxious baiting and petty insults, let's encourage eachother to deveolp some chops. There is no way we can stop being petty but at least we could be creative about it. - Gregory _______________________________________________ List address: puptcrit-AT-lists.driftline.org Admin interface: http://lists.driftline.org/listinfo.cgi/puptcrit-driftline.org Archives: http://www.driftline.org ------------------------------ Message: 8 Date: Thu, 22 Jun 2006 19:46:21 -0400 From: Sandy Barton <sandbar-AT-wowway.com> Subject: Re: [Puptcrit] How to vent the spleen through puppetry To: puptcrit-AT-lists.driftline.org Message-ID: <449B2BCD.5060704-AT-wowway.com> Genius!! This idea would develop our skills in so many areas. Sandy > I wonder if we could challenge everyone on the list that if they have >something provocative (or rude or insulting) that they want to say to someone >on the list, they should create a short piece, film it and post it to us all >watch. > > > ------------------------------ Message: 9 Date: Thu, 22 Jun 2006 20:05:05 -0400 From: Robert Smythe <robert-AT-mumpuppet.org> Subject: [Puptcrit] Animal Farm at Mum To: "puptcrit-AT-lists.driftline.org" <puptcrit-AT-lists.driftline.org> Message-ID: <C0C0A871.8388%robert-AT-mumpuppet.org> Philadelphia, PA--The Philadelphia Theatre Initiative (PTI) today announced that Mum Puppettheatre has been awarded $80,000 to create and produce an adaptation of George Orwell?s Animal Farm using an ensemble of five artists under the guidance of Artistic Director Robert Smythe and Playwright Andrew Periale. Over two years, through specific training, intense workshop periods, and public presentations, this group will develop a physical vocabulary of masks, puppetry, and space unique to this ensemble and project. The project will culminate in a fully realized world premiere during the spring of Election Year 2008. The grant is for a two year development period and will provide the resources required to stimulate artistic development and to create theatre of the highest standards. With this grant, the program seeks to enhance the cultural life of the community and to further establish Philadelphia as one of the country?s leading theatre centers. ?We are proud to support such original and ambitious work for the benefit of Philadelphia-area theatre audiences,? said Marian A. Godfrey, director of Culture and Civic Initiatives at The Pew Charitable Trusts. ?This innovative project helps expand the range of high quality theatrical programming available to the local arts community while contributing exemplary work to the national theatre field as well.? ?PTI grants are awarded on a highly competitive basis following a thorough review of proposed projects,? said Fran Kumin, director of the Philadelphia Theatre Initiative. The grants are determined by a diverse panel of theatre professionals selected for their expertise and their breadth of knowledge in the nonprofit professional theatre. In addition to studying the applications, throughout the theatre season, these busy theatre professionals come to Philadelphia to review performances, meet with local theatre leaders and become familiar with the theatre community. In making decisions, panelists considered several criteria including the importance, complexity and originality of the proposed project and the degree to which it signals artistic advancement for the applicant; the completeness and clarity of the application; the quality of the artists involved and the historic quality of the applicant?s work as evaluated throughout the season. Projects also were considered for their ability to have a significant impact on the applicant?s artistic development, on the audience served and on the field of theatre both regionally and nationally. ------------------------------ Message: 10 Date: Thu, 22 Jun 2006 20:20:35 -0400 (EDT) From: Caro Naidin <ursulica29-AT-yahoo.ca> Subject: Re: [Puptcrit] X(=Neo?)-puppetry To: puptcrit-AT-lists.driftline.org Message-ID: <20060623002035.25580.qmail-AT-web53715.mail.yahoo.com> Dear mjm, Although neo-puppetry is a completely unknown notion to me, the video that you posted doesn't seem to have anything in common with any form of puppetry; there's no animate object on that stage, but children singing and dancing. Regards, C. --------------------------------- All new Yahoo! Mail - --------------------------------- Get a sneak peak at messages with a handy reading pane. ------------------------------ _______________________________________________ List address: puptcrit-AT-lists.driftline.org Admin interface: http://lists.driftline.org/listinfo.cgi/puptcrit-driftline.org Archives: http://www.driftline.org End of puptcrit Digest, Vol 20, Issue 56 **************************************** _______________________________________________ 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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