File puptcrit/puptcrit.0710, message 79


Date: Mon, 15 Oct 2007 13:22:35 -0700
From: Dmitri Carter <dmitri-AT-nwpuppet.org>
To: <puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org>
Subject: [Puptcrit] Kuruma Ningyo


Dear everyone,

Thanks, Ed, for your review of the kuruma ningyo show.  We had the troupe at
our puppet center a few years back with a different performance (also one
comic piece and one more serious) but it seems Tsuruga Wakasanajo XI found a
way to incorporate a couple of his popular English phrases into this show
too.

Since most of the show was in Japanese, audiences were very surprised and
amused at the horse *#!* line.  We didn't know about the line in advance to
warn audiences but luckily it was mostly adults anyhow so we didn't get any
complaints.

I highly encourage puppeteers to go see this troupe if you have the chance.
They are very talented and very open to share with colleagues.  Koryu
Nishikawa VI (leader of the puppet troupe) had a little demo incorporated
into the show when here.

I saw some footage of one of their more exciting shows with two warriors on
horseback going through the waves charging at each other.  It looked really
great.  Perhaps someday that show can tour the US!

Best,

Dmitri Carter


dmitri-AT-nwpuppet.org

http://www.nwpuppet.org

Carter Family Marionettes
Northwest Puppet Center
9123 - 15th Ave. N.E.
Seattle, WA 98115

tel:  206 523 2579
fax:  206 523 8078


> From: puptcrit-request-AT-puptcrit.org
> Reply-To: puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org
> Date: Sat, 13 Oct 2007 12:00:01 -0400
> To: puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org
> Subject: puptcrit Digest, Vol 36, Issue 14
> 
> Send puptcrit mailing list submissions to
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> When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific
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> 
> 
> Today's Topics:
> 
> 1. Kuruma Ningyo at Williams College (Ed Atkeson)
> 2. Re: Clay and Paper call for Night of Dread workshop helpers
> and Night of Dread (Bill Jones)
> 3. Re: Clay and Paper call for Night of Dread workshop helpers
> and Night of Dread (Kathleen David)
> 4. Inuit finger puppets (NANCYSTAUB-AT-aol.com)
> 5. finger puppets (NANCYSTAUB-AT-aol.com)
> 6. Re: finger puppets (Angusson-AT-aol.com)
> 7. Re: finger puppets (Jim Menke)
> 8. Re: Kuruma Ningyo at Williams College (RaraBird-AT-aol.com)
> 9. Re: Kuruma Ningyo at Williams College (Ed Atkeson)
> 
> 
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> Message: 1
> Date: Fri, 12 Oct 2007 17:27:17 -0400
> From: Ed Atkeson <edatkeson-AT-earthlink.net>
> Subject: [Puptcrit] Kuruma Ningyo at Williams College
> To: Puptcrit <puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org>
> Message-ID: <770B3092-F246-428F-9A1D-D33B70B3F70A-AT-earthlink.net>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; delsp=yes; format=flowed
> 
> I went to see the Shinnai Narrative Singing and Kuruma Ningyo
> Puppetry at Williams College in Massachusetts last week. It was
> called "Laughter and Tears from Old Japan."
> 
> It was in a small theatre on campus, sold out. About 150 people. They
> did two shows, one short and somber one-puppet classic called "snow,"
> and a longer funny piece called "Yaji and Kita." A 200 year old knee
> slapper.
> 
> The biggest star of the evening was the Shinnai singer. He sang all
> the dialog using different voices, sometimes throwing in bits of
> English which was a crowd pleaser. Especially words like "my balls"
> and "horse shit." According to the program, this style of singing is
> from the 1700s and the early works of the genre were mostly Romeo and
> Juliet style double suicides as these stories had the richness of
> romance and tragedy combined.
> 
> Each puppet was controlled by a single puppeteer. Bunraku is with
> three puppeteers, they explained, and Kuruma Ningyo was with one. The
> puppeteer would sit on a little wheeled box which freed his feet to
> control the feet of the puppet. Worked pretty well, I'd never seen
> anything like it. The puppeteers could scoot around pretty quickly.
> Two shamisen players accompanied the singer, a good show!
> 
> The singer was a living national treasure (Bearer of Intangible
> Cultural Property).
> 
> That's my report. I thought the comedy came across better than the
> tragedy, but I didn't have a very good seat. There was no stage, no
> special lighting, it was sort of like seeing something at a state
> fair. Imagine a show like this set in sumptuous surroundings in an
> urban pleasure district of the Edo period, the "floating world." It
> could be just incredible.
> best,
> Ed A
> 
> 
> ------------------------------
> 
> Message: 2
> Date: Fri, 12 Oct 2007 14:39:29 -0700
> From: Bill Jones <wsjones-AT-basingstoke.org>
> Subject: Re: [Puptcrit] Clay and Paper call for Night of Dread
> workshop helpers and Night of Dread
> To: puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org
> Message-ID: <p06240802c33599efc692-AT-[4.243.170.217]>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" ; format="flowed"
> 
> ...and where the *&-AT-# might you be?????
> 
> 
> ------------------------------
> 
> Message: 3
> Date: Fri, 12 Oct 2007 17:48:49 -0400
> From: Kathleen David <kathodavid-AT-mac.com>
> Subject: Re: [Puptcrit] Clay and Paper call for Night of Dread
> workshop helpers and Night of Dread
> To: puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org
> Message-ID: <7EA2C868-F8D6-477D-9DC3-FF6E9E4F2FFB-AT-mac.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed
> 
> Clay and Paper Theatre
> 163 Concord Avenue
> Toronto Ontario Canada
> 
> Which is a ferpeice for me to drive to help *grin*
> Kath in New Yawk
> 
> On Oct 12, 2007, at 5:39 PM, Bill Jones wrote:
> 
>> ...and where the *&-AT-# might you be?????
>> _______________________________________________
>> List address: puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org
>> Admin interface: http://lists.puptcrit.org/mailman/listinfo/puptcrit
>> Archives: http://www.driftline.org
> 
> 
> 
> ------------------------------
> 
> Message: 4
> Date: Fri, 12 Oct 2007 21:14:00 EDT
> From: NANCYSTAUB-AT-aol.com
> Subject: [Puptcrit] Inuit finger puppets
> To: puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org
> Message-ID: <d03.1d5c4150.344175d8-AT-aol.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"
> 
> Yup'ik women dance with finger masks. I have read that they generally are
> simply decorative to enhance the dance movements of the hands. A Yup'ik
> artist,  
> Onchuna McIntyre, informed me there is one pair that might be defined as
> puppets, the sun and the moon. We talked about the thin line of what is a
> puppet. I understood that the sun and the moon finger masks are imbued with
> spirit, 
> but others are not.
> 
> Inuit has been used to describe a large number of Native Americans,  formerly
> known as Eskimos,of a certain language group, but I understand  that the
> Yup'ik  are no longer described as Inuit. I an not sure if  any other language
> group of North America other than the Yup'ik use finger  masks.See:
> 
> 
> Fienup-Riordan, Ann.  The  Living Tradition of Yup?ik Masks. Trans. Marie
> Meade. 
> Seattle: U of Washington P, 1996.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ************************************** See what's new at http://www.aol.com
> 
> 
> ------------------------------
> 
> Message: 5
> Date: Fri, 12 Oct 2007 21:39:26 EDT
> From: NANCYSTAUB-AT-aol.com
> Subject: [Puptcrit] finger puppets
> To: puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org
> Message-ID: <c98.1e2517dd.34417bce-AT-aol.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"
> 
> Mollie Falkenstein, formerly a ballet dancer who became a Ziegfield Follies
> girl, performed with finger puppets. We have an excellent example, her dancer
> ,in the Center for Puppetry Arts Museum. See our virtual museum web site
> _http://www.puppet.org/museum/VeWebsite/index.htm_
> (http://www.puppet.org/museum/VeWebsite/index.htm)
> 
> There was an American night club performer who played with finger  puppets on
> a tray hung around his neck such as cigarette girls wore. He went  from table
> to table. I think his first name was Herb? I remember one of his  finger
> puppets with a smoking cigarette in his mouth. Alan, Jim Gamble, Steve,  help
> me 
> out. I could not find him in McPharlin's book. I found one PJ photo of
> several 
> teenage girls in black tights with finger puppets with no caption!
> 
> No idea of origins of finger puppets. Good research project. Asia, Africa,
> Europe?
> 
> Nancy
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ************************************** See what's new at http://www.aol.com
> 
> 
> ------------------------------
> 
> Message: 6
> Date: Fri, 12 Oct 2007 22:24:00 EDT
> From: Angusson-AT-aol.com
> Subject: Re: [Puptcrit] finger puppets
> To: NANCYSTAUB-AT-aol.com, puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org
> Message-ID: <ccb.1cfbac12.34418640-AT-aol.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="ISO-8859-1"
> 
> Nancy, et al:
> 
> I wondered when the name of Herb Scheffel would turn up in this discussion.
> He did a ballet dancer finger puppet and others. I was a kid at my first PofA
> festival (1953) where he was also. I think he was a PofA president at one
> time. 
> 
> 
> Best,
> Fred Thompson
> 
>> Mollie Falkenstein, formerly a ballet dancer who became a Ziegfield
>> Follies?
>> girl, performed with finger puppets. We have an excellent example, her
>> dancer?
>> ,in the Center for Puppetry Arts Museum. See our virtual museum web site
>> _http://www.puppet.org/museum/VeWebsite/index.htm_
>> (http://www.puppet.org/museum/VeWebsite/index.htm)
>> 
>> There was an American night club performer who played with finger? puppets
>> on
>> a tray hung around his neck such as cigarette girls wore. He went? from
>> table
>> to table. I think his first name was Herb? I remember one of his? finger
>> puppets with a smoking cigarette in his mouth. Alan, Jim Gamble, Steve,?
>> help me
>> out. I could not find him in McPharlin's book. I found one PJ photo of?
>> several
>> teenage girls in black tights with finger puppets with no caption!
>> 
>> No idea of origins of finger puppets. Good research project. Asia, Africa,?
>> Europe?
>> 
>> Nancy
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> ************************************** See what's new at http://www.aol.com
>> _______________________________________________
>> List address: puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org
>> Admin interface: http://lists.puptcrit.org/mailman/listinfo/puptcrit
>> Archives: http://www.driftline.org
>> 
>> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> **************************************
> See what's new at http://www.aol.com
> 
> 
> ------------------------------
> 
> Message: 7
> Date: Sat, 13 Oct 2007 00:03:36 -0400
> From: "Jim Menke" <jim99jr-AT-gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [Puptcrit] finger puppets
> To: puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org
> Message-ID:
> <c9c142e70710122103h2bc4b1ddg320dcda63057b0b2-AT-mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
> 
> I believe the person was Herb Scheffel. Sadly he committed suicide and had
> surrounded himself with his finger puppets.
> 
> On 10/12/07, Angusson-AT-aol.com <Angusson-AT-aol.com> wrote:
>> 
>> Nancy, et al:
>> 
>> I wondered when the name of Herb Scheffel would turn up in this
>> discussion.
>> He did a ballet dancer finger puppet and others. I was a kid at my first
>> PofA
>> festival (1953) where he was also. I think he was a PofA president at one
>> time.
>> 
>> 
>> Best,
>> Fred Thompson
>> 
>>> Mollie Falkenstein, formerly a ballet dancer who became a Ziegfield
>>> Follies
>>> girl, performed with finger puppets. We have an excellent example, her
>>> dancer
>>> ,in the Center for Puppetry Arts Museum. See our virtual museum web site
>>> _http://www.puppet.org/museum/VeWebsite/index.htm_
>>> (http://www.puppet.org/museum/VeWebsite/index.htm)
>>> 
>>> There was an American night club performer who played with finger
>> puppets
>>> on
>>> a tray hung around his neck such as cigarette girls wore. He went from
>>> table
>>> to table. I think his first name was Herb? I remember one of his finger
>>> puppets with a smoking cigarette in his mouth. Alan, Jim Gamble, Steve,
>>> help me
>>> out. I could not find him in McPharlin's book. I found one PJ photo of
>>> several
>>> teenage girls in black tights with finger puppets with no caption!
>>> 
>>> No idea of origins of finger puppets. Good research project. Asia,
>> Africa,
>>> Europe?
>>> 
>>> Nancy
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> ************************************** See what's new at
>> http://www.aol.com
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> List address: puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org
>>> Admin interface: http://lists.puptcrit.org/mailman/listinfo/puptcrit
>>> Archives: http://www.driftline.org
>>> 
>>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> **************************************
>> See what's new at http://www.aol.com
>> _______________________________________________
>> List address: puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org
>> Admin interface: http://lists.puptcrit.org/mailman/listinfo/puptcrit
>> Archives: http://www.driftline.org
>> 
> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> JIM MENKE PUPPETS
> open your mind
> fantasies unwind
> 
> 
> ------------------------------
> 
> Message: 8
> Date: Sat, 13 Oct 2007 01:53:22 EDT
> From: RaraBird-AT-aol.com
> Subject: Re: [Puptcrit] Kuruma Ningyo at Williams College
> To: puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org
> Message-ID: <c6b.19dde43f.3441b752-AT-aol.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"
> 
> Where is WIlliams College?   I would like to see that show, are they coming
> anywhere near LA?
> 
> Laura
> 
> 
> **************************************
> See what's new at
> http://www.aol.com
> 
> 
> ------------------------------
> 
> Message: 9
> Date: Sat, 13 Oct 2007 08:23:46 -0400
> From: Ed Atkeson <edatkeson-AT-earthlink.net>
> Subject: Re: [Puptcrit] Kuruma Ningyo at Williams College
> To: puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org
> Message-ID: <50BC0442-4D99-47EB-BA30-EC032E0E076A-AT-earthlink.net>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; delsp=yes; format=flowed
> 
>>>> Where is WIlliams College?   I would like to see that show, are
> they coming anywhere near LA?
> ------------------
> Laura,
> Williams is in western Massachusetts.
> Here is the tour schedule:
> http://www.shinnai-usa.org/schedule.shtml
> 
> Today and tomorrow they will be at Hanford CA
> St Louis MO on October 17-21
> 
> Only four stops in the US tour.
> best,
> Ed
> 
> 
> ------------------------------
> 
> _______________________________________________
> List address: puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org
> Admin interface: http://lists.puptcrit.org/mailman/listinfo/puptcrit
> Archives: http://www.driftline.org
> 
> End of puptcrit Digest, Vol 36, Issue 14
> ****************************************

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