Date: Thu, 1 Jan 2009 16:09:22 -0500
To: puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org
Subject: Re: [Puptcrit] Fire


Yes now I remember! upstaged by a tv monitor no less.  And wasn't the
other show the one by the Belgian group?  I think they placed a safety
light on the stage for that scene and let us sit through what would
have been the fire scene.  Were there others as well?  Well now I want
to see Slovenly Peter with the deleted scenes, and you know there  are
others.

On Thu, Jan 1, 2009 at 3:47 PM, Preston Foerder <preston-AT-pfpuppetry.com> wrote:
> Having been at the center of the situation at the San Francisco Festival, I
> thought I'd chime in here. (Hobey, I'm insulted that you didn't remember.)
> In my show "Slovenly Peter", I have a puppet that is made to be set on fire.
> The stories are children's cautionary tales from mid-19th century Germany.
> Theatrically, I thought it was important to have the actual catastrophes
> that befall the children happen to the puppets (it's a show for adults).
> One story is about a little girl who plays with matches and sets herself on
> fire. The puppet is a simple rod puppet, with a body based on a juggler's
> torch and dressed in flash paper.  The puppet, visibly manipulated, lights a
> match which touches her flash paper dress which goes up and sets off the
> torch which is doused in bbq lighter fluid. The flaming puppet runs around
> (being chased by her kitten attempting to put her out) before being put into
> a backstage bucket of water.  I have never burned down any theaters although
> I occasionally lose the hair on my knuckles. Prior to the performance in San
> Francisco, I was contacted by the theater, asking for the number of my
> pyrotechnician's license. I told them that I would give it to them if I had
> one, and that they were welcome to have a pyrotechnician there in the wings
> with a fire extinguisher at the ready. They said that they would get back to
> me. At the festival, Mike Oznowicz, the festival director, came up to me and
> said that they the college really didn't want me to do the fire, but that we
> could say that he had been looking for me to tell me this and couldn't find
> me and that we never had this conversation.  The next day Mike came up to me
> and said, "Remember that conversation we never had, well, we had it." He had
> chased the fire regulations all the way up to the city fire chief and they
> weren't budging.  On top of this they were going to be watching me and if I
> used the fire they were going to shut down the whole festival. Apparently,
> San Francisco is very touchy about fire since the whole city burned down.
> Everyone at the festival had heard about the situation.  People I didn't
> know were coming up to me to ask if I was going to do the fire.  At the
> performance, I had the MC make an announcement, "As many of you may have
> heard, due to local fire regulations, we have had to make slight changes to
> the show.  We hope that you won't notice." In the show, between scenes, I
> visibly slowly and purposely change the sets. When the story of the girl and
> the matches came up, I removed the previous set, placed a TV monitor on the
> stage, and played that section of the show on video. The video monitor got
> applause.
>
> On a sidenote, changing to my Biopsychology Ph.D student hat,
> neuroscientifically speaking, there is no difference between seeing
> reflected light and direct light.  Light waves are light waves.  They are
> transduced by the rods and cones in the retina into neural impulses in
> exactly the same way.  They may be perceived differently in the brain. I
> would not be surprised if there was a feature detector, a neuron tuned to
> fire (sic) to a particular stimulus, for fire, being that fire is a danger
> and we become fascinated by it (I have an entire theory of puppetry based on
> feature detectors which I have discussed here before).  But there is no
> difference in actually sensing the different types of light.
>
> Preston Foerder
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: puptcrit-bounces-AT-puptcrit.org [mailto:puptcrit-bounces-AT-puptcrit.org]
> On Behalf Of Hobey Ford
> Sent: Thursday, January 01, 2009 1:22 PM
> To: puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org
> Subject: Re: [Puptcrit] Fire
>
> I have featured fire in my shows but always simulations of fire.  The
> fire prop which they sell at Spencers gift shops works very nicely and
> Rosco  makes a very realistic candle prop operated by battery.  I used
> to make my own fire prop with fan and silver thin milar with a fire
> colored gel on a small spot light.  Another nice trick for fire light
> is to use a fan on a piece of gold milar with a spot focused on the
> slightly waving milar.  The light is reflected back on the set or
> shadow screen simulating the jumping illumination you get from a real
> torch.  Disney's Pirate ride had a similar trick of placing a large
> sheet of clear plastic inside a window at an angle.  Fan and orange
> light were placed below and as the plastic moves it sends up the
> illusion of flames.  The nice thing about it was that you see through
> the plastic as well at the animatronic pirate standing inside the
> window.  I think using real fire in a puppet show calls to much
> attention to the fact that it is real fire and the possibility of
> danger.  The acception perhaps is The Center for Puppetry Arts and
> John Ludwigs piece called "Fire" which I didn't see but have heard
> wonderful descriptions of.  The people who saw spoke of the very real
> feeling of danger in the show, which was the point I suppose.  I would
> love to have seen it.  They were extraordinarily careful with their
> very special effect.  I think I recall that they were required to have
> a fireman in the wings.  Does anyone know?  I also recall at the San
> Franscisco Festival there were a couple of shows that had to pull
> their fire from the show because of fire marshall regulations.  I also
> recall people being upset about those rules, but I the Bankok tragedy
> certainly points out the danger of fire and fireworks (which seems
> very absurd being indooors)  You will remember the Rhode Island Night
> club fire which was another case of indoor fireworks igniting the
> ceiling.  As for the Burning Man gathering in Nevada, It is on my list
> of things to try and see.  Didn't the huge burning man sculpture get
> torched early this year by an over eager participant?
>
> On Thu, Jan 1, 2009 at 11:50 AM, Michael Moynihan <mmoynihan-AT-wi.rr.com>
> wrote:
>> When I was running a theatre company we had performers who would
>> juggle flaming torches, eat/spit fire & spin fire, sometimes while on
>> stilts. We made and used puppets, but never incorporated fire puppets.
>>
>> Of course most performances were outside.
>>
>> A friend and multi talented performer, musician, costumer &
>> photographer, who I worked with & goes by the name of PHOENIX
>> FIRESTARTER is at THE BURNING MAN festival every year. She is on the
>> crew that sets it up before and returns the dessert to its original
>> state after the celebration. She is a fire performer. I've seen
>> pictures and videos and live cams of the annual event. I'd bet there
>> are artist created fire breathing dragons and various fire puppets
>> there.
>>
>> Just found this image
>> http://tinyurl.com/752ulf
>>
>> and this vid
>> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXasuPMnysg
>>
>>
>> m j moynihan
>> milwaukee usa
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