Puppeteers Unite

A Great Puppet Builder!

Tom — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 19:10:01 +0000

I’ve always admired the puppet builder- Norman Schneider at http://www.figurenschneider.de/

I can’t say enough about his craftsmanship and attention to detail. Here is his latest video demonstrating some of his most brilliant works of art.

Puppet Heap’s “Exit Row”

Tom — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 13:30:14 +0000

The following was posted by Pasha from Puppet Buzz…

Puppet Heap has released “Exit Row”, a new comedy web series that joins two air sickness bags, Ralph and Chuck, as they grapple with everything from love, betrayal, friendship, identity, in-flight etiquette, and life ad nauseum from the perspective of a seat back pocket.

Puppeteers James Godwin (Chapelle’s Show, The Muppets, Henson’s Stuffed and Unstrung) and Tim Lagasse (Chapelle’s Show, The Muppets, Sesame Street) lend their inimitable talents to the characters of Ralph and Chuck. Exit Row will premiere on Puppet Heap’s YouTube channel starting NOW, with new installments added each week. (Puppet Heap’s YouTube channel can be found by following the link HERE.)

“Exit Row” is a great example of just how simple AND great a “puppety” idea can be. Long live paper sack (bag) puppets!

Baby Monster Raffle!

Tom — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 13:28:53 +0000

For just $10 a ticket you can get a chance to WIN a baby monster of your own in the color of your choice.

Money contributed towards the raffle goes to the National Puppetry Conference Alumni Scholarship fund; allowing the art of puppetry to continue to grow for people who may not have the funds to go to the National Puppetry Conference.

Jon Little will only be selling 100 tickets for each baby monster build.

What does that mean for you?

Well if you buy 100 tickets. Then you win!

If you buy 50 tickets. Then you have a 50% chance of winning.

If you buy 10 tickets. Then you have a 10% chance of winning.

So, the more you buy the better chance you have to win.

If you are interested in getting tickets here is how you do it.

Please make checks payable to: “Flock Theater”
Please note on face of check: Alumni Scholarship

Mail a check to:
Jon Little
42 Metcalf St. #1
Medford, MA 02155

For each $10 increment you donate there will be a ticket with your name on it. Once they hit 100 tickets they will pull out a name and Little’s Creatures will contact the winner for what color they would like their puppet to be.

Buy your ticket now and good luck!

Puppetry Workshop!!

Tom — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 15:27:41 +0000

Emmy Award-winning puppeteer Michael Earl (formerly Mr. Snuffleupagus on Sesame Street), will be in NYC teaching a one-day TV puppetry workshop on October 1, 2010 from 10AM-5PM. Former students include the who’s who’s of Hollywood puppet professionals.

Now it’s your turn! Tuition: $275, limit 8 per class. To sign up, visit www.puppetschool.com and make a $100 deposit to reserve your spot.

The Muppets: Popcorn

Tom — Sat, 03 Jul 2010 01:46:06 +0000

What Is Love? A Family Story

Tom — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 13:22:23 +0000

Don’t miss the chance to witness dancer, director, and puppeteer Yvette Edery, debuting her full length marionette fantasyland, What is Love. What is Love, a new solo work, illustrates Edery’s extraordinary marionettes and sculpture as well as her exceptional movement and performance, transitioning from the real to the imagined and back again. An autobiographical infusion of the art of circus and the multicultural musical background; her command of space, sculptural sensibility, and the area in between, are worth the experience alone. A master of storytelling, a historical scholar of the art, an emerging female artist of global proportions, What is Love is bound to change your perspective on puppetry. Original score, Amy Baer, Original sound design Robin Arnott, Original costume design Alexander Pope, additional direction Sally Ann Parsons. Support from the Flushing Town Hall for New Puppetry Works, the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Arts de la Marionnette (ESNAM), Charleville, France, Albrecht Roser Internationales Institut für Marionetten, Stuttgart, Germany, and New York University Tisch School of Arts.

Flushing Town Hall
137-35 Northern Boulevard
Flushing, NY 11354

Show Opens:
July 13, 2010
Show Closes:
July 18, 2010

Running Time: 1 hr. 15 min.

Ticket Price: $35.00 - $80.00

Tickets by Phone: 212-352-3101
866-811-4111
http://www.artistrye.com

Puppeteers Fall on Hard Days

Tom — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 12:25:47 +0000

The following was taken from “The Times of India” and written by
Hoskote Nagabhushanam, TNN, Jun 30, 2010, 04.18am IST

NIMMALAKUNTA (ANANTAPUR): Dalavai Rangamma’s nimble fingers move deftly as she weaves magic with the puppets. “But there are no takers for our puppetry,” rues the 65-year-old woman, tears welling up in her eyes.

Sitting in her small house at Nimmalakunta village in Dharmavaram mandal, Rangamma says, “We have become puppets in devudu’s (god) hands. Our lives have turned upside down as the people simply have no time for our age-old ‘tholubommalata’ (puppetry).”

Struggling to make both ends meet, Rangamma says poor patronage to their profession is killing them. Said to be the only village in AP where over a hundred families make a living out of puppetry, Nimmalakunta, 65 km from Anantapur, today is a mirror image of poverty and squalor. There are very few families in Madhavapatnam in East Godavari, who also depend on puppetry.

“I visited the US, the UK and several European countries in 1992 and performed stage shows for the global audience. And look at my plight now,” the old woman laments. Along with Rangamma, over a dozen artistes from the village had toured the West and presented puppet shows for over two months. The shows mainly revolve around the great epics, Mahabharata and Ramayana.

“The Ramayana was the pivot around which we used to play the puppet shows in the villages and towns where there was no other entertainment in those days,” recalls Chalapathi Rao, a national award winner. All of 70 years, Rao says with pride, “Make no mistake, the puppet shows had played a very key role in bringing awareness among the people against the British rulers before the Independence.”

Nimmalakunta became home to hundreds of migrant families from Maharashtra. The families came here and started presenting puppet shows as a form of livelihood as they had no other skill.

“With our art dying fast, the coming generation is looking towards other professions and trades. My sons are into farming now after taking four acres of land on lease,” Chalapathi Rao says. Rao, who has also toured several countries, pours out his agony. “We travelled by air in the 90s. But I had never imagined our lives would be up in tatters so soon,” he bemoans.

Datla Ramesh, an expert in puppet-making, says before the advent of television, puppet shows were well received. “We used to perform shows throughout the night and for 9-10 days at a stretch,” he recalls. The villagers used to donate cash, clothes, rice, essential items and utensils to the performers.

Another veteran said puppetry was no fun as it involved a lot of hard labour and technical skill. Artistes purchase goat skin and clean it with special chemicals to get stiffness.

“We draw figures on the skin, cut it into required sizes/shapes and then paint the designs,” Ramesh reveals. Though several households in Nimmalakunta have a number of puppets of Lord Rama, Sita, Hanuman, Laxmana, Ravana and Kumbhakarna, the shows have become rare.

Siddam Naik, a degree student, says the puppet shows are performed in nearby villages on demand. With little encouragement to the shows, several puppet artistes and makers have ended up as farm labourers. “Some of the die-hard artistes make wall hangings and lampshades by incorporating wonderful designs of the puppets,” Naik adds.

Go Daddy Video Contest

Tom — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 14:02:02 +0000

Erik Baker an animator and puppeteer developed a commercial for Go Daddy’s Video Contest. Erik is also working on the new Tron movie and developing a variety of shorts that will feature puppets.

Like most of us, Erik’s love and interest in puppetry was influenced at an early age, he explains…

“The Muppets were a big influence on me and my career path. My room as kid was completely covered in the Muppets wall paper… good times.” Erik says.

Great video Erik! To see the video click HERE!

Le Marionnettiste

Tom — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 20:39:40 +0000

“Le Marionnettiste” is a wii student prototype (currently running on PC using a wiimote).

In “Le Marionnettiste” the player embodies a puppeteer soul linked to a puppet by some sort of magic strings. Using the wiimote, the player will manipulate his puppet like the strings were directly linked from it to his wiimote.

This prototype provide a totally new way to play and to approach the platform/reflection games. Using the wiimote you will become the pupeteer and use your avatar as a tool to progress in the levels. But you can also use your string to progress, because the will collide and attach themselves to all the mechanisms around you. This capabilities provide a totally way to think when you play, a “two level reflexion” that you can only see in “Le Marionnettiste”.

This project has been realised by 6 student who worked 9 months using the game engine Unity.

LOST

Tom — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 20:14:27 +0000

Sorry, I haven’t been writing lately. Let’s just say I had a computer problem and lost the edited versions of my puppet building series… but not the footage…which was on my camera. So I’m going to spend tonight editing footage in hopes to get the episodes everyone have been requesting.