File puptcrit/puptcrit.0902, message 22


Date: Sun, 1 Feb 2009 18:06:00 -0500
From: Hobey Ford <hobeyone-AT-gmail.com>
To: puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org
Subject: Re: [Puptcrit] [bagop] banjo playing puppeteer


Very cool story.  I am excited for David Stephens. This is aperfect job for him.
Thanks Liz

On Sun, Feb 1, 2009 at 8:35 AM,  <sarahm45-AT-aol.com> wrote:
> Wonderful, Liz!  Thank you!  Sarah
>
>
> Sarah Lamstein
> www.sarahlamstein.com
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Elizabeth Freeman <lindentree85-AT-comcast.net>
> To: BAGOP <bagop-AT-yahoogroups.com>; Puptcrit <puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org>
> Sent: Sun, 1 Feb 2009 7:59 am
> Subject: [bagop] banjo playing puppeteer
>
>
>
>  From  CSMonitor,    I was linked to it from www.angiesbanjo.com
> eb. 2009 issue of Silver Strings  ( a magazine for banjo players)   liz
> The cramped and creative world of the puppeteer
> Anney McKilligan is one four people who operate 22 puppets =96
> ncluding squirrels, woodchucks, and possums =96 at a stage production
> n Connecticut.
> y Jennifer Miller | Correspondent / January 2, 2009 edition
>
> uppeteer Anney McKilligan buttons the coat of Yancy Woodchuck, a
> uppet she created that takes three people to operate.
> Anney McKilligan lies in a coffin-like box beneath a fabricated car
> hat's rumbling across the stage of the Goodspeed Opera House here.
> he manipulates a paddle between her thighs, a lever next to her leg,
> nd three sets of rods with her hands. Part mechanic, part artist,
> he uses the tools to animate the "actors" in the car above =96 five
> aucous and uncannily lifelike puppets.
> The audience seems to appreciate her work even though they don't know
> ho she is or what she's doing: It laughs loudly at the sniggering
> easel and water-spitting catfish. But Ms. McKilligan is growing
> ncreasingly uncomfortable. Her tiny compartmen
> t is dark and cramped.
> orse, white smoke, meant to depict exhaust, has begun filling her
> idden lair.
> "With puppeteers, there's a whole other story going on behind the
> cenes," says McKilligan. "Nobody knows what you're going through."
> Welcome to the creative but invisible world of the puppeteer. This is
> ot your parents' puppet show: It's not a matter of putting your hand
> n a sock or dangling a toy soldier from a string.
> Like acting, puppeteering is a stylized, demanding, and
> rofessionally competitive art form. One puppeteer in this stage
> roduction has a masters degree in his craft. Hundreds of people
> uditioned for just a handful of slots. The few fortunate enough to
> et hired sit on their knees for hours during a production, creating
> haracters out of inanimate objects.
> In the process, they are contributing to an artistic tradition that
> as helped redefine our notions of comedy, often evokes memories of
> hildhood, and, more than anything, fuels our imagination. "There's a
> art of you that knows the puppet isn't real, but there's a part of
> our heart that wants to believe that it is," says Tyler Bunch, the
> uppet captain of the Goodspeed production. "All the puppet does is
> pen and close its mouth, but you could swear you saw it smile."
> =95=95=95
> At 33, McKilligan never thought she'd be wearing a Cookie Monster
> carf. She is one=2
> 0of four professional puppeteers working in the
> tage production of Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas, a musical
> riginally written for television by the late puppet pioneer and
> uppet icon Jim Henson. McKilligan never intended to be a puppeteer.
> hen again, neither did Henson. He came to puppeteering accidentally,
> n 1956, as a way to break into television.
> McKilligan wanted to be an actress and studied acting and design at
> ew York University. After college, she grew discouraged trying to
> reak into theater. Puppetry helped her get work. McKilligan excelled
> s a character actor, but she was too young to get cast in roles that
> nspired her. "When you're a puppeteer, you can be an old lady when
> ou're 30 and nobody knows the difference," she says.
> McKilligan worked first as a puppet wrangler (a puppet caretaker) for
> tage productions. She then became a freelance builder and puppeteer
> or the Henson Company. Her office was in the Henson Workshop in
> anhattan, which houses many of the characters used on Sesame Street.
> he loved the materials available to her in the shop =96 yards of
> uppet fur, a drawer filled with eyeballs, spools of brightly colored
> abrics.
> Her first job for Emmet Otter was building Yancy Woodchuck, a 44-
> nch, full-body puppet. Bringing Yancy to life was a particularly
> hallenging assignment: He had to appear to be free standing, and he
> ad to play the banjo. "Being a performer was impo
> rtant when I was
> uilding Yancy," says McKilligan, "because I had to understand how I
> as going to operate him. A lot of puppets have practical hands =96
> uppeteers wearing gloves with moving fingers =96 but playing a banjo
> s really specific."
> Yancy's scene requires three puppeteers to manipulate his arms, legs,
> nd head. McKilligan's design lets puppeteer and musician David
> tephens slip his arms through holes in Yancy's wrists and into
> pecial gloves that are fur on top, spandex underneath, and have
> anjo picks sewn into the fingers.
> Mr. Stephens has Yancy play an old-time song called "Barbeque" on the
> anjo strapped across the puppet's chest. A black backdrop and
> pecial lighting makes the black-clad puppeteers nearly invisible.
> Puppets get away with ridiculous things," says McKilligan of her
> anjo playing woodchuck. "But we've created a whole world, so
> verybody buys into it."
> Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas is the first Henson production ever
> o be adapted for the stage. Originally a children's book, it tells
> he story of a single mother and her son who find emotional and
> piritual wealth in the midst of poverty. In 1977, Henson turned
> mmet into an all-puppet TV musical. The current production, which
> pened Dec. 7 and runs through Jan. 4, 2009, includes a cast of 16
> uman actors dressed in elaborate animal costumes, as well as the
> our20puppeteers who operate 22 puppets.
> Competition for the four slots was intense. Those selected not only
> ad to puppeteer, but act and sing. Many of the actors and the
> irector came from Broadway. Grammy-winner Paul Williams wrote the
> usic and lyrics. Brian Henson, Jim Henson's son and co-executive
> irector of the Henson Company, produced the show.
> =95=95=95
> The Goodspeed theater is not designed for puppet-heavy productions.
> he puppeteers are hidden in the orchestra pit and dress in black.
> The orchestra sits backstage.) Still, many patrons in the balcony
> an see them work.
> The puppeteers hold the figures over their heads while sitting high
> n their knees (they all wear knee pads). Because they operate so
> any different characters, they scramble back and forth =96 at times
> ooking like they're playing Twister.
> "I'm a squirrel, then a rabbit, then a squirrel, then a possum," says
> cKilligan. "The actors' journey through the play makes sense.
> hereas my role is doing 20 different things that don't."
> One benefit to being hidden is that McKilligan was able to keep a
> cheat sheet" of her character lineup handy for the first few shows.
> he downside is that she has bruises from bumping into metal beams
> upporting the stage =96 black-and-blue proof of an old puppeteer
> dage: If it doesn't hurt, you're not doing it right.
> In some scenes, when McKilligan operates the catfi
> sh through a
> rapdoor in the stage, she has no visibility. "In rehearsal we use a
> irror," she says. "But you really should be able to do it with your
> yes closed =96 with muscle memory."
> Eye focus and jaw movement are vital to making a puppet come alive.
> ts mouth must move in sync with the dialogue =96 a difficult skill
> one by manipulating the lower jaw while the upper jaw remains
> tationary. McKilligan tries to achieve the illusion by thinking
> bout the puppet as herself. Though hidden in the pit, she displays
> he same elation, sadness, and silliness on her face that the
> reatures are experiencing.
> Being hidden makes it easier for her to be dramatic. One of her
> haracters, Penelope Possum, sounds like Granny Clampett from the
> Beverly Hillbillies." Her squeaky voice and comic one-liners have
> he audience rollicking. "Having the puppet on your hand frees you,"
> cKilligan says. "It's not Anney making these crazy choices, but the
> nimals. I feel less foolish because the puppets have to be larger
> han life."
> It's this exaggeration that makes us laugh at puppets, especially
> nes with well-known mannerisms. "Everybody knows the Muppet nod and
> he Muppet walk," says Mr. Bunch.
> uppets are making a modest come back. FAO Schwartz recently opened a
> esign-your-own Muppet workshop in New York, and NBC aired a new
> uppet Christmas special.
> But that doesn't20necessarily mean more work for puppeteers, most of
> hom are freelancers. To expand, McKilligan and two colleagues are
> ow designing puppets for TV commercials. "Puppetry is an all
> ncompassing art form =96 writing, directing, performing, building,"
> ays McKilligan. "And you can carry it all around in one suitcase."
> ( More backstory articles )
> . Deborah Tonkin | 01.02.09
> Thank you for this article! It brought me right back to my childhood
> nd my love of puppets and marionettes (some of which were bought at
> AO Schwartz and some handmade). I remember going to some puppet
> lasses or clinics in grade school. I felt a little out of place as
> he lone Christian at the local Jewish Community Center, but the
> uppets drew me in.
> Sesame Street came out when I was a child but I was really too old
> or it (I thought) but I loved watching it for the muppets. Then of
> ourse I was so excited when The Muppet Show came out and it
> egitimized my interest. I loved the television specials and listened
> o records and tapes of them over and over so that my sister and I
> ould recite the entire show on long car trips we sometimes took as a
> amily. One favorite was the Frog Prince which I can still remember
> ertain parts quite well like the song, "I'm Nineteen" sung in
> ackbirds (I mean backwards). What was a joy to me must have driven
> y mother crazy at times!
> . Wendy Makins | 01.02.09
> Great
> story=96I wish I could see the show! Was it video taped? I'm
> urprised there are only four puppeteers for so many puppets
> . Claire Helene Bevan | 01.04.09
> Thank you for teaching me about this fascinating world and talent I
> new nothing about!! You captured Anney McKilligan's passion and
> xcitement so perfectly. I was hooked!
>
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