From: Christopher Hudert <heyhoot-AT-mindspring.com>
Date: Tue, 9 Mar 2010 13:23:41 -0500
To: puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org
Subject: Re: [Puptcrit] UNIMA's Encyclopedia of Puppetry



On Mar 9, 2010, at 12:27 PM, Hobey Ford wrote:

> Christopher, Paul Vincent Davis once said "Do any show you want, just
> call it Cinderella"
> (if you want to sell tickets)
>
> If you want that Citation just do "Ubu Roy", in Japanese Noh, naked,
> don't use puppets, and quote Gordon Craig alot in the promo.  But
> better get a home equity loan before you do it.   ;o)

LOL. Damn. I was planning my new show as "Cinderella vs Ubu Roy," but 
in Navi. I was sure that was going to garner not only a Citation but a 
MacArthur and a Nobel. So close, but so far. (Actually my renewed show 
this year is "The Frog Prince" and next year - probably - "Punch and 
Judy" to celebrate 40 years in puppetry with the show that first 
brought me into this crazy world.)

  In defense of UNIMA-USA and their Citations, I will say that they have 
and do give Citations to family/children's shows, though it sometimes 
seems not so often. Ironic that the Puppet Co. in Glen Echo was doing 
high quality shows for over 25 years before they got a Citation. Even 
more Ironic that when they got one, it was for "Cinderella."  Just 
kidding. They do a fantastic "Cinderella," but I their Citation was for 
"Wizard of Oz." Part of the flaw in the UNIMA-USA citation process is 
that it favors shows that tour and/or play at festivals. That is the 
way the reviewers get to see those shows and nominate them. A company 
that is mostly or all in house, local, regional, or doesn't play 
festivals has significantly less of a chance of getting a citation. 
Overall, I think they do a pretty good job of finding worthy 
individuals, productions, and companies and awarding Citations.

   I do have several "brushes with Citations."  I helped build "Oz" at 
the Puppet Co, and I do a one man adaptation of "The Magic of Hans 
Christian Andersen." (Terry Snyder created and won a Citation for the 
two person version of HCA.) I'm not lobbying for a Citation, btw, but I 
do think that a couple of the shows I do are worthy (modestly spoken of 
course.) I'm sure others feel the same way about some of their works. 
Our "Peter and the Wolf" is like no other, and "The Velveteen Rabbit" 
that I do makes people laugh, think, and cry for all of the right 
reasons. (For the record, "Velveteen" was created by Terry, and "Peter" 
by Terry and I together.) Yeah, it would be nice to be recognized by 
UNIMA-USA with a Citation of Excellence, but it's nicer to be 
recognized as excellent by audiences. I'll settle for that until I can 
have both. :o)

Christopher

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