File puptcrit/puptcrit.0606, message 432


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

   

Driftline Main Page

 

Display software: ArchTracker © Malgosia Askanas, 2000-2005