File puptcrit/puptcrit.0802, message 766


From: "Mark S. Segal" <segalpuppets-AT-comcast.net>
To: <puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org>
Date: Thu, 21 Feb 2008 23:37:46 -0500
Subject: Re: [Puptcrit] The risk of it all...


Sure, I'll give a rebuttal....
So what?
It doesn't keep us from producing.
It does not keep some theatre professionals from exploring the possibilites.
It doesn't stop some companies from producing great pieces of theatre 
(utilizing puppets).

I went to a theatre school and you are right they did not teach puppetry -
But ya know I wasn't taught to tap dance either.

Mark S.


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Bruce Chesse" <brucec-AT-chesseartsltd.com>
To: <puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org>
Sent: Thursday, February 21, 2008 10:36 PM
Subject: Re: [Puptcrit] The risk of it all...


Ahaaaaaaaa.Thy nail  has been hit it on the head.
Professional theater has very little respect for
puppetry.  Do any theater designers ever in their
training in theater or theater departments get an
overview of how puppetry can be a part of their
design pallet? Do professional directors have the
slightest knowledge of puppetry as a theatrical
medium? If puppetry is included in any college
curriculum it is in as part of the children's
theater department or teacher training (also a
repository for women professors as well becoming
their glass ceiling).

On the other hand Puppetry is often a department
that selfishly does not try to integrate itself
into major theater productions  but prefers to
live in isolation, not always a matter of choice
however. I have been a puppeteer since I was 13
and a professional actor as well. Yet I have met
very few theater practioners  who do not tend to
snicker when the craft of puppetry is brought up.
When puppets are to be used in a production
puppeteers are rarely brought in to advise as to
their use much less their proper incorporation
into the production. For the same reason film
scripts incorporate puppets only after the script
has been written by someone devoid of any
knowledge of what a puppet can and cannot do.
Talk to the Phil Hiuber and the puppeteers that
did the puppets for "Finding John Malkovitch.Yet
we call them "Legitimate' theater practioners. It
is an age old problem. We are 2nd class citizen
until we have to correct their gross
inadequacies.  I must out of experience look upon
"legitimate" theater's relationship to puppetry
with some degree of cynicism . Any rebutal?


Bruce Chessé


>Jon,
>
>I am perfectly aware of the use of the term. And I
>can see someone thinking that I was trying to
>be politically correct.
>
>I am not.  That "commonly accepted" term is also
>one of the perpetrators of the idea that Puppetry is
>not a legitimate Theatrical Art form.  I spent many
>years in standard theatre.  I also listened to the
>high attitude of the actors and directors toward
>puppetry, no matter what level of the Puppeteers
>performance.
>Puppetry WAS Not theatre.
>
>So please excuse me if I or any one else on a
>puppetry list might possibly take some offense at
>the term legitimate theatre in the context of
>Tim's questions.
>
>I will now bow out of this thread so you can
>start being productive.
>
>Liz
>
>--
>K. Elizabeth Evans, President & Artistic Director
>Renaissance Artist Puppet Company
>http://www.RenArtPuppetCo.com
>610-630-4259
>Company performing -AT-
>The Montgomery County Cultural Center
>208 DeKalb Street, Norristown, PA
>
>Renaissance Artist Puppet Company's
>mission is to promote excellence in puppetry as a
>Theatrical art form and as an Educational tool by incorporating
>historical and cultural diversity along with quality performance
>techniques to tell our stories.
>_______________________________________________
>List address: puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org
>Admin interface: http://lists.puptcrit.org/mailman/listinfo/puptcrit
>Archives: http://www.driftline.org

_______________________________________________
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