From: NUJE73A-AT-prodigy.com (MR MARK S SEGAL)
Date: Wed,  7 Apr 1999 09:08:13, -0500
Subject: Re: PUPT: Critical Discussions


-- [ From: Mark S. Segal * EMC.Ver #2.5.3 ] --

What attracted me to puppetry initially was that I saw it as the supreme
theatre art. That every other art form fed into it, and could be
utilized by it in some fashion. The suspension of reality was completely
different. We did not have to agree as an audience that the characters
we would see before us were what they pretended to be, rather they just
were.
In the pursuit of a living, there was the period of time when I was
doing birthday shows. At first (as a young performer) I hated it. But
then I realized that here was an audience (an important one, because as
performers in that situation we might just be responsible for being a
first time experience of live theatre) and here was a situation where
intimate theatre could be produced. I learned a lot about the
relationship between performer and audience within that situation. It is
my belief that an audience is a living, fragile organism that has to be
listened to and perceived, to be able to adequately perform that which I
wish to communicate, the audience is always my end goal. 
My question is in terms of approach. How do you develop a performance?
What are the initial steps? How are ideas generated and then turned into
performable pieces?
Right now I am currently working on a new piece. I have certain
specifics that need to be communicated. My partner and I are fable(izing
) the specifics into a story. The approach is new for me and its' fun.
It generates a lot of staging, character and movement ideas and is
helping us to perceive the project as a totality.
How do others approach the construction of a show?
Mark


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