Date: Wed, 28 Jan 2009 22:22:33 -0600
To: puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org
Subject: Re: [Puptcrit] Wolf in Red Riding Hood


Oh!  You're THAT Nancy!  What d'ya know!  I've picked up some good tips 
from you over the years. Thanks!
Monica

  On Jan 28, 2009, at 10:08 PM, puppetmaster-AT-puppetswithpizazz.com wrote:

> I'm from Cleveland and spend my summers is Upstate New York. Small 
> world. I write "Eureka" Nancy
> Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Monica Leo <goodfolk-AT-avalon.net>
>
> Date: Wed, 28 Jan 2009 21:55:31
> To: <puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org>
> Subject: Re: [Puptcrit] Wolf in Red Riding Hood
>
>
> What part of the Midwest are you from?  I always get the feeling that
> everyone on this list is from the Coasts.  And by the way, any of you
> on this list that live in Flyover Land:  I write the Scene Between
> column for the Puppetry Journal, and I'm always looking for material!
> Tell me what you're up to!
> Monica
>
>
> On Jan 28, 2009, at 5:36 PM, puppetmaster-AT-puppetswithpizazz.com wrote:
>
>> My version of "bagging the wolf" in RRH is fun. As the last scene
>> opens, Granny is going to bed--a Murphy bed that folds into the wall
>> and looks like a cupboard. After explaining to the children how it
>> works she climbs in. Now with every snore the bed rises up, each time
>> higher than the time before. Finally it goes so high it wakes her up
>> and she has to sleep with her head at the other end, leaning over the
>> foot board to keep it down. Of course, now that the children
>> understand the principle of the bed, they can guess what's going to
>> happen with the wolf, which brings up a good strategy in writing: if
>> the audience can figure out what's going to happen, when it does it's
>> twice as funny.
>>      And can we lighten up on trouncing conservatives? I am proud to
>> be a conservative from the Midwest. My lawn looks like a field, I
>> don't condemn folks to Hell, and I do not like generalizations lumping
>> all conservatives into stereotypical molds. That's prejudice. Nancy
>> Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Charles Taylor <cecetaylor-AT-verizon.net>
>>
>> Date: Wed, 28 Jan 2009 16:12:28
>> To: <puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org>
>> Subject: [Puptcrit] Wolf in Red Riding Hood
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Christopher,  I enjoyed your ideas regarding knocking the wolf out 
>> with
>> a frying pan. It made me laugh out loud!
>>
>> I toured an African Marionette marionette musical version of Little 
>> Red
>> Riding Hood back in the late sixties and early seventies throughout 
>> Los
>> Angeles City Schools.  It was enthusiastically received.  At that time
>> there were no shows on television for African-American children to
>> relate at least by race. That's why I decided to make my puppets black
>> since I was traveling through the South Central Area of Los Angeles.  
>> I
>> felt self concious that my shows were mostly from a white perspective.
>> Hansel and Gretel was fun but the puppets were obviously white.
>>
>> It occured to me that when a story is told verbally, the child can put
>> himself into any character, (Bittleheim's influence). But when you
>> illustrate that fairy tale with pictures, drawing, animation or
>> puppets,
>> the child is limited in his or her imagination by that representation.
>> Thus I presumptiously conspired to create a show for a black audience
>> with out any sense of coming from that community.  I struggled with 
>> the
>> sensitivity of doing the proper thing.  I did not want to offend,
>> characterize or stereotype.  It was a great challenge for me and so I
>> had to give it much thought and collaboration with Forman Brown of the
>> Yale Puppeteers.  It was fortunate that I could draw on his vast
>> talent,
>> wisdom and experience.
>>
>> I didn't know any actors or African-Americans to help with the
>> recording
>> or dialect.  Forman wisely told me not to even attempt a Southern
>> Dialect.  After all, accents don't have a race.  Many people of all
>> races have different accents he said.  Just use good actors with good
>> character  voices, meaning grandma should sound old, Red young, the
>> mother sweet and the wolf melodramatic.  It was that simple.  I am 
>> most
>> proud of that show over all others I created.
>>
>>
>> I had many other problems to resolve before recording the show.  It 
>> was
>> a two puppeteer show and I had to figure out how to handle the last
>> scene with a grandmother, wolf and Red on stage at the same time with
>> only two puppeteers. The  puppets were complex and it required one
>> puppet to a manipulator.  The wolf was as tall as a three year old
>> child.
>>
>> It wasn=92t true to the story or the moral of the tale but  we had a 
>> most
>> amusing ending.  Now, I'm so found of how we solved the problem I
>> wouldn't change it.  It is part of my history.  The grandmother, 
>> trying
>> to escape the wolf by running through the audience sat on an open 
>> trunk
>> trying to catch her breath.  She fall in, the puppeteer slams the lid
>> down  then leaves the stage to get Red.  On the sound track was a
>> muffled grandma=92s voice, beating the lid and calling out, =93Let me out!
>> Let me out.=94  The wolf leaps on top of the trunk and sang a song about
>> how it=92s terrible to be a wolf!  He hears Red knock on the door and he
>> runs, jumps in the bed and the puppeteer puts a lacy  night  cap on 
>> his
>> head.
>>
>> When Red knocks again, in his gruff grand motherly voice, he tells her
>> to come in.  Of course the usual, =93Oh grandmother what big ears you
>> have!=94 routine continues until the wolf leaps out of bed and chases 
>> Red
>> through the audience. They return to the stage, grandmother leaps out
>> of
>> the trunk and admonishes the wolf for attacking her grand daughter.
>> There has been such excitement from the audience being brought into 
>> the
>> action it makes perfect sense when the wolf cries out, =93Oh, I give 
>> up!=94
>> he sits down=94  The grandmother says, =93You mean you won=92t be a problem
>> any longer?=94  The wolf whimpers, =93No, I=92m just hungry, I want to be
>> fed,
>> I could be a really good watch dog if you want!=94 And grandmother then
>> says he can stay.  The three break into a n original rendition of A
>> Happy Happy Birthday written by Forman Brown of Turnabout Theater.  
>> The
>> three march in a circle around the clapping audience to the rhythm and
>> the puppets disappear back stage.
>>
>> Everyone=92s happy, no one actually was eaten, no animals were hurt
>> during
>> the production and I suggest you not try this at home.  For years 
>> after
>> our rehearsals, neighbors kept chanting, =93Let me Out, Let me Out!=94
>> They
>> thought I was some kind of serial monster! LOL
>>
>> Charles
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> Eulenspiegel Puppet Theatre
> 319 N. Calhoun, POB 330
> West Liberty, IA. 52776
> http://www.puppetspuppets.com
>
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>
Eulenspiegel Puppet Theatre
319 N. Calhoun, POB 330
West Liberty, IA. 52776
http://www.puppetspuppets.com

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