To: puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org
Date: Tue, 21 Apr 2009 18:06:07 -0400
Subject: Re: [Puptcrit] skill sets


Let's not forget computer expert accountant,? book keeper secretary, sound engineer, lighting designer,scenic designer. Prop designer , public relations expert
Dae H.


-----Original Message-----
From: Hobey Ford <hobeyone-AT-gmail.com>
To: puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org
Sent: Tue, 21 Apr 2009 8:27 am
Subject: [Puptcrit] skill sets



We have touched on this before but let me approach it a little
differently. I think it is interesting to think about the skill sets
each of us bring to puppetry.  There are several skills or talents
that would seem like obvious ones to have if we are the "try to be it
all" puppeteer. The ones that come to mind are:
        -performer.
        -wit.
        -expert manipulator.
        -Actor/ dramatists
        -puppet builder
                -visual asthetics
                -sculpture
                -seamstress
                -engineer/inventor
                -painter
                -woodworker
                -fabricator in plastics/silicon/etc
        -playwright/writer
        -director


Just to mention a few.  I don't know anyone who is all these things
%100.  The interesting thing is how each of us fills the gap with our
other dominant talent and how we bridge those deficiencies and come
out in the end with our unque approaches in the process.  I can point
to several deficiencies in my own skill set which should prove me
inadequate to do the work I do.  I see deficiencies in others
puppeteers which suggest the same and yet I have had success and those
others have had it as well.  Many of us hire out our weak areas to
others and yet some don't.  I should hire others with the skill I lack
but I don't always do so.  Our dominant  talents are sometimes used to
bridge over our weak areas creating something that is often unique.
Thats the thing that fascinates me.  Perhaps we could hire those areas
out to experts but in the process we might miss the opportunity to
create something unique by not doing so and letting our dominant skill
bridge the gap and in the result be unique.  My wife is a musician and
produced her first CD several years ago.  The producer brought in
studio musicians  and in the end the CD was slick but wasn't her.  At
the same time I have seen puppeteers hire out these weak areas and
maintain their authentic style while pushing their show over the top.

So I am asking:
When is it time to
 hire out the the work to an expert and when does
that create work that is not truly allowing our own talents and lack
of them to create work that is truly unique, deficiencies and all?
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_______________________________________________
List address: puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org
Admin interface: http://lists.puptcrit.org/mailman/listinfo/puptcrit
Archives: http://www.driftline.org