File puptcrit/puptcrit.0711, message 109


From: "Ann Legunn" <vtpuppet-AT-starband.net>
To: <puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org>
Date: Tue, 20 Nov 2007 04:50:16 -0500
Subject: Re: [Puptcrit] My first Puppet Tour


Thank you Mathieu...

 

Puppeteers it's probably early but if you are looking for a job next Fall we
would love to hear from you. We will tour The Legend of Sleepy Hollow using
shadow puppets then rehearse and open Caps for Sale with marionettes, hand
puppets, more shadows, table top puppets etc...teaching diversity with
diverse puppet styles. Resumes welcome! 

 

Ann Legunn -AT- the PuppeTree Inc.

 

-----Original Message-----
From: puptcrit-bounces-AT-puptcrit.org [mailto:puptcrit-bounces-AT-puptcrit.org]
On Behalf Of Mathieu René
Sent: Tuesday, November 20, 2007 2:46 AM
To: puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org
Subject: [Puptcrit] My first Puppet Tour

 

Hi all.

 

I am back in Montreal, after nearly two months away (in the USA), on my
first tour as a puppeteer.

It also happens to be my first foray out of Canada, so it was doubly
exciting.

 

I'd leave for another tour tomorrow if I had the opportunity.

Need a motivated puppeteer who can also repair/make puppets/give workshops?

 

Some details:

First, I have to say how grateful I am to Ann Legunn, Director of The
PuppeTree, who invited me to perform, taking a big risk considering I had
very little stage experience as a puppeteer (two two-week intensive
puppeteering workshops). She and her husband Joel welcomed us in their
Vermont home and were generous with their time and resources. 

 

I enjoyed this touring thing a lot. I did not know wether or not I would,
but I was very willing to try my best at it.

It was surprisingly easy to get used to the "sleeping away" aspect of
touring. The motel rooms were comfortable. Now I want a bed like they have
in every room (Red Roof Inn). 

 

We were touring by car, hauling a closed trailer containing the show. The
riding part was very interesting. Sometimes a bit long, but more often then
not, the changing scenery was fascinating to me, and the music or
conversations kept us mostly sane.

The many vibrant colors of the fall season in Vermont, New Hampshire,
Connecticut, New-Jersey, Massacusets and New-York will stay with me forever.
I did not imagine any part of the USA to be so green for such wide expanses
of land. I'm sure there is more variety of climates, but for now, I've only
seen New England States, impressed already. It must be glorious in the
summer!

 

 

Us three performers each have strong emotional personalities, and are quite
different in tastes and experiences. We got along immediately on the first
day, but of course, as we spent every minute of every touring day together,
frictions occured a few times, but we solved them quickly by liberal
applications of "leave-it-be-for-now", "can we talk about this" and "Sorry.
How about some *insert snack name here*".

 

Learning a first show in a week was a challenge for me, but I finally got it
on time. We messed up a few times during performance, but thanks to the
magic of collaboration, it rarely showed as a mistake for the public. After
a particularly hard show, I learned a valuable lesson: if you do a BIG
mistake, don't beat yourself up over it and melt into appology mode, it will
break the beat of the show. Just go on. Chances are, the public won't even
have noticed. And if you do panic, it WILL show. Lesson learned.

 

Giving it your ALL isn't always easy, especially when you are performing in
front of just a few people, instead of a crowd.

By some strange booking-timing thing, on Halloween day, we ended up
performing for about 7 people in a library , which became 5 with only one
child present when we came to take a bow. It was a good performance I think,
but the heart was not completely into it, as the public's reaction was not
as thrilling as usual. What kind of an idea is it to book a show at the very
moment when kids have to leave to go trick or treat?. The show went on, no
matter what, and I'm proud we did it right under the curcumstances.

 

The show was The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, done in shadow puppets, using the
press-screen approach with some instances of overhead projector, using
transparencies. I had never manipulated such types of puppets before, but
with a lot of trying, and watching  and taking advice from Fred, the
experienced puppeteer of our group, I quickly learned to have fun with it.
That is quite a change from years ago, when I thought shadow puppets could
not be my kind of thing. Now, I love it, and would love to make my own
shadow show someday.

 

I love every step of the touring lifetyle (including setup and striking,
strangely enough), but of course, my favorite is the performance itself,
followed in close second by the interaction with the public, during question
period, or when we gave workshops. 

I'm told an on-and-off two month tour is not really the real test (try 9
months full-time, said Fred), but it's one of those things I already know I
like. Same feeling I had when I first started painting, same I had with my
first finished puppet. 

 

I liked meeting people of all backgrounds and experiences. My collegues and
I were certainly different from each other. It was a blast to learn and
perform with these two: Fred the puppeteer and Chelsea the dancer.

 

Some audience members had never seen a  puppet show before, as we performed
often in small towns in rural areas.  

It was rewarding to see the sparks of interest and curiosity in their eyes
after the show, when they came to see how it was done, and how perhaps they
could make their own.

 

I enjoyed meeting collegues from Puptcrit as well. First I met Steven Hollow
when we performed at the Baird. I wished we had had more time to talk!
Should you ever need to eat in his town, ask Steven, he'll give you a verbal
menu of the best venues.

There was another Puptcritter there that night, but sorry, I forgot your
name! I only remember names of people I had two conversations with, and we
only had one brief one. Then later, Brad Shur came to take a papermache
workshop with us at the PuppeTree headquarters, which was also an
opportunity to design puppets for an upcoming show.  People, mister Shur is
a fun fella with great skills, I would not hesitate to contact him for
building your shows if I were you. I'd certainly like to work with him
again. 

 

I said it before, but I'll repeat it: I love touring. So much to see, to
learn, to meet, to exchange, to live, to grow.

 

 

Tonight my cold appartment in Montreal is a hard return to another kind of
reality.

A reality where job/contract searching is already in motion, bureaucracy has
to be dealt with, and big studio changes are mandatory. Somewhow my visions
and priorities have been changed by the trip, and this means a drastic
re-organisation of space. That first solo show I've been meaning to build is
itching to come out, although I have no idea what topic to tackle yet. All I
know is that once I really start the motion, it will be quite a ride. A ride
to more roads.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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