From: Michael Dowell <moodooguru-AT-gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 5 Dec 2008 05:20:21 -0800
To: puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org
Subject: Re: [Puptcrit] A destiny that shapes our ends


This is a great post, Mathieu & Rolande. It's wonderful to hear about  
people's different paths to puppetry. I'm interested to read other  
people's stories as well. Let's all keep sharing!

Here is my two bits:

Growing up, I loved watching "The Muppet Show". It was always  
exciting, unpredictable and fun. I didn't care for the musical  
numbers at the time, but especially loved "Pigs in Space". At the  
time, it never occurred to me that I would be interested in creating  
puppet shows.

Fortunately, I got a chance to attend a high school for the  
performing arts where I majored in Theatre performance for 4 years.  
This invaluable experience had a huge impact on my life and future  
happiness. Typically students stayed after school until late at night  
rehearsing shows. Our instructors expected us to demonstrate a high  
degree of professionalism. Audience expectations were high since the  
school had a strong reputation and people paid to see the shows. The  
school also had a New Plays festival where I got to write, direct and  
perform my own plays. Looking back, I would say that this was an  
ideal introduction to performing theatre.

After high school, I attended CalArts as a character animation major.  
One afternoon, Frank Oz came to provide a performance for our  
department in an intimate 99-seat theatre. He brought Grover, Piggy,  
Cookie, etc. I have never seen an audience tear over with joy like  
that. It was incredibly moving. He reached out into a deep, childhood  
place inside of everyone and there was not a dry eye in the house. I  
remember having the thought: "This is very important. I need to  
remember this experience." I still didn't imagine myself doing puppet  
shows, I was just about to graduate and become an animator for prime  
time television.

For years I did hand-drawn animation on shows like Futurama, Dilbert,  
and for Chiodo Brothers on a show for Disney TV. Never felt  
completely satisfied - the audience connection was missing. I wanted  
to do live performances with lots of wild, imaginative characters.  
But the path was not obvious at the time. It took about two years and  
lots of questioning to discover that I needed to do puppetry.

Meanwhile, a roommate had made some hand and rod puppets for a show  
he had sort of 'thrown together" at CalArts. I liked his character  
designs and wanted to create personalities for the characters and  
make up a fun show. Somehow we talked ourselves into doing a  
performance at the Los Angeles Children's Museum. In our youthful  
folly, we told the museum director we had this great show, which we  
had to scramble to create. I was very happy with the work we did. But  
the partnership did not last, so I decided I would have to create my  
own puppets.

The big shift happened after Sept. 11. There was so much fear in the  
air. I took a walk outside and streets were deserted - people were  
locked away in their homes. Like many, I felt a huge feeling of  
hopelessness and grief. And I wondered what could one person do to  
help overcome this fear? I had been searching for something to give,  
and had been unable to know how to proceed in realizing my dream. In  
some way, the fear galvanized an understanding in me that I could use  
this opportunity to do something helpful for my society and the  
world. All at once, I realized that the antidote for fear is joy and  
laughter, and children would be the best people to work with to  
create healing. Once I understood this, I was able to move forward  
and create Moodoo Puppets.

Spent six months building puppets - I'm thankful to the Chiodo  
Brothers for showing me how to go about the process. From a  
Craigslist ad, I was joined by an Emmy award-winning puppeteer who  
had worked as Mr. Moose on the new Captain Kangaroo. He trained our  
group in puppetry, but more importantly, he showed me how to train  
others. When we did our first performance, the response was this huge  
wall of laughter. A very solid thing. There were about 200 kids  
packed into a little room at KidSpace Children's Museum and it was  
exactly what I wanted. Very satisfying. I am fortunate because I  
don't take the work for granted - I realize that I'm very lucky to  
have found joy in doing puppet shows.

So, that's my story.

Who else wants to share?



On Dec 4, 2008, at 8:43 PM, Mathieu René wrote:

> Rolande asked:
>>> Are there born puppeteers, I wonder?
>
>
> I think there are.
> I'm not yet considering myself a fully grown puppeteer, but at  
> least for the
> part of "puppetry person", I'm certain I was destined to be one.
>
> Everything artistic and technical I've ever learned before even  
> thinking
> that Puppetry was an actual career, pointed me to be a puppet artist.
>
> -I was named after a Gerry Anderson puppet character (that spy  
> puppet named
> Matthew that lived in a suitcase). My parents watched that show.  
> And since
> Matthew is a biblical name, it also made my grandmother happy.
>
> -I grew up on TV puppetry, both local shows (many) and some from  
> the USA. I
> watched Sesame Street even though I didn't understand the language.  
> I was
> hooked on Labyrinth the first time I saw it, although I don't think I
> understood the story fully. The movie was translated, but not the  
> songs. I
> must have watched it many hundred times! I converted the kids in my
> neighborhood to it too, organising playings of the soundtrack  
> (dubbed from
> the movie, which is much better than the official reccorded  
> soundtrack) in
> my garage, so we could dance to it. Not one of us understood  
> english, but we
> knew the words, howver distorted we made them.  I only saw The Dark  
> Crystal
> when I was a teenager, it wasn't that popular a movie in my TV  
> area. I loved
> it too. The Storyteller was a favorite of mine, but I rarely got to  
> see it,
> and only the same episode over and over again, it was one of those  
> shows
> that never gets scheduled fully, kind of used to fill in some  
> blanks.  I
> loved Blizzard Island (by Terry Angus), a miniseries with "muppet  
> types".
> Despite all these influences, I never considered that Puppetree  
> could be an
> actual career.
> I kept being distracted by the details, never fully seing the picture!
>
> -I never finished a 3D art project when I was a kid or teenager. I  
> had no
> proper training available in any basics (not even mixing plaster or  
> proper
> hammering of nails), so I failed miserably, yet I kept at it, by some
> mysterious need. I learned a lot about what not to do, that way. I  
> learned a
> lot of basics about a lot of techniques. I couln't concentrate on  
> any single
> one of them, I needed them all, so I was frustrated at not being  
> able to
> justify being so spread out. Eventually, I had one success, then  
> another.
> The first fully finished 3D art piece was a marionnette, which  
> actually
> became fully complete when I realised he was actually perfect as a  
> tabletop.
>
> -I started showing a consistent interest in puppets about the time  
> internet
> became available in my area for home use. That was the revelation.  
> So much
> info was available, so many colleagues!
> There was Puptcrit! At the same "era", I went to a used bookstore,  
> where the
> only book that caught my attention was a catalogue from a puppet  
> exhibition
> at the Civilisation Museum, which spanned the local History of  
> Puppetry in
> Quebec. It was quite a revelation that we indeed had had and still had
> Puppetry here!
>
> -All those various techniques that I just had to learn and use,  
> became my
> toolbox to build puppets, once I finally finished one and realized  
> THAT was
> my bliss. For once, I could finally bring most techniques together  
> to make a
> single piece! And I never felt anything so wonderful from something  
> I had
> created.
> Not a painting, not a drawing, even ever came close.
>
> -Puppetry improves my life in all ways. I'm more outgoing, daring,  
> creative,
> and even became a good cook, by some weird transference of  
> abilities from
> the studio.
>
> I'll stop now, because I'm too curious to see what others know  
> about being
> destined to be a Puppet person...
>
>
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