Puppet Guild News
Greater
Founded 1938, Chartered by Puppeteers of
Editor: Steve Abrams
Website www.phillypuppets.org
Spring
Guild Meetings
APRIL 29 Finding a Voice-Steve Abrams
MAY 27
Shadow puppets-Morgan Andrews
JUNE (date to be set) Picnic and Toy Theatre, George and
Ann Neff
Contents
*Guild Meeting APRIL 29 Finding a
Voice-Steve Abrams
The Rotunda, 4012 Walnut
St.- 1 PM (please note time change
*Review
of Fantastiks at Mum Puppettheatre- by Mark Segal
*Hua Hua
at Painted Bride
*This
and That
*Spring
Puppet Events
*Note
from Ann Neff, Guild President
*Dues
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*Guild
Meeting APRIL 29
FINDING A
VOICE- Steve Abrams ( this workshop will be presented
at the national festival in
“How do
you do all those voices?” is a question that puppeteers hear from both adults
and kids.
This
session leads participants step by step, from very easy animal sounds, to
cartoon voices, to the creation of a character voice for a puppet. Visual
artists who are uncomfortable with acting, teachers trying puppetry for the
first time, and children all find this fun filled session helpful and even
inspirational. Puppeteers that offer workshops in schools will find this
session provides a useful model. The workshop does not focus on traditional
vocalization techniques used by singers and actors. Participants will leave
with at least a dozen voices for puppet shows or story telling. You will be
amazed at your skill.
“Finding
a voice” has been presented with great success at several national and regional
puppet festivals, and at art schools, theatre programs, in -service sessions
for teachers and librarians, and for art museum docents.
The
workshop will be about an hour and a half
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*Review of Fantastiks at
Mum Puppettheatre- by Mark Segal
I
saw the Fantastiks
at Mum Puppettheatre while it was in preview this past week
and really enjoyed it.
The
cast was engaging, very capable and played in an absolute ensemble fashion
which is very enjoyable.
At
first I wondered why use puppets? But after a while it did not matter and
the choice worked for me TOTALLY.
In
fact I can't really imagine it now being done in any other way. Great choice.I
particularly liked a couple of the puppets-- the boy and the girl's
Father. I was amazed at the depth of expression that they both had. In my mind excellent. Especially the boy.
It
is a sweet story. I Found that I now related
differently to the show then when I first saw it as a young man.
I
was with a couple of non-puppet people and realized (in a completely new way
for me) the difficulty there is when using puppets in a piece of theatre like
this. They had a prejudice of what they expected to see when the word puppet
(or a puppet) is used. I wonder if that is really a huddle that can ever be overcome?
It
doesn't really matter though. What was being created at Mum was a piece of
theatre utilizing puppets and the whole thing worked (at least for me). I would
heartily recommend people go see this show. Very enjoyable.
Congratulations
Robert.....
Mark
Segal
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*Hua Hua at Painted Bride
I
am producing one of my shows, Butterfly
Dreams, at the
In addition to Butterfly Dreams, I will be
performing East Meets West
at the Colonial Theater in Phoenixville on Sat, Apr 14 at
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*This
and That
Looking for Marionette Show
Guild
members:
People
are finding our guild web site. I get calls and emails from random folks
looking to hire puppeteers. Since Jim Bowen left there seem to be very few
marionette performers. If you have a marionette show that's good for parties
and local events, please let us know-
Can
you help steer me towards local marionette performers near Philly. We’re
having a Cinco de Mayo party and wanted to have entertainment for the many kids
in attendance ages 1-8. Are you able to recommend performers?David Kepniss 215-646-7276
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Library: Our
guild has an outstanding puppet library.The Neffs just returned 4 titles
that they borrowed Punch and Judy, Michael Bryrom; Making a Miniature Theatre,
Guy Williams; Stevens Course in Puppetry, Martin Stevens; The Complete Book of
Puppet Theatre, David Currell-
Comings and goings: Long time member Wilma Ford has moved to
western
*Spring Puppet Events
Please check websites of
local companies that present regular
series:
Mum Puppettheatre http://www.mumpuppet.org
Renaissance Artists
Puppet Company http://www.renartpuppetco.com
Now to-May 6 Mum Puppettheatre The Fantasticks
April 20-29 Chicago
Shakespeare Theatre and Colla Marionettes of
April 28 National Day of
Puppetry
April 27-29 Peter and
Wendy Arena Stage,
April 27 28 http://www.phillyfunguide.com/event.php?id=10451 Butterfly
Dreams, Hua Hua Zang,
April 29 Guild Meeting-
Finding a Voice- Steve Abrams
Annenberg Children's
Festival http://www.pennpresents.org/events/childfest/
April 29@12:00 PM &
Le Théâtre de l'Œil
"THE STAR KEEPER" (
1999 festival feature returns,
this charming and beautifully crafted puppet-theatre piece features more than
25 puppets Harold
Prince Theatre · Ages 6 & up
April
29-May 5 Java puppets space 221 8 performances
TAMARA
& THE SHADOW THEATRE OF JAVA (
In this delightful multimedia production, the ancient Hindu-Javanese tale of
The Ramayana,
May 19
Sqiral Q Open House, Museum opens for the summer
May 27 Guild Meeting-
Shadow Puppets
May 31 Please
renew your membership to Puppeteers of
June 16-24 http://www.oneillpuppetryconference.com/index2.html O'Neill
Puppetry Conference
July 10-15 http://www.puppetfestival.org/ PuppetFest
Mid-West is an independent, annual puppetry festival that is presented,
organized and financially supported by puppeteers. as
a gift to other puppeteers.North
July 17-21
National Puppet Festival
Puppet Rampage 2007
web site www.puppetrampage2007.org
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Note
from Ann Neff., Guild President
Greetings
to all the members and friends of the Greater Philadelphia Puppetry Guild.
Well, we are
well into the year, with several meetings and a guild attended performance
having taken place. The various
workshops and the Puppet Uprising performance were quite exciting and have
introduced me to a “freer” approach to puppet creation and performance. (You
really have to trying smashing cardboard into puppets and making 30 minute
newspaper creations!) I’m sorry to have
missed the Joe Cashore performance; it appears I would have met several more of
the guild members.
I do feel we are
working toward our mission of spreading the word about puppetry in the
There are three
more meetings for this year. I do hope you will find time in your schedules to
attend these events. Steve Abrams will be offering a voice workshop, which will
also be the Guild’s “National Day of Puppetry “ event. Please bring your own favorite puppet voice.
Puppets are welcome to attend as well
Morgan Andrews will be offering a shadow
puppet workshop, in May. If you have not yet met Morgan, a new and very
productive member of our Executive Board, you are in for a real treat. And the last meeting will be a picnic out in
We encourage
your participation in other areas. How
about joining our GPAPG Executive Board for a term? Meetings are infrequent, short, and always in
interesting, inexpensive restaurants! Let me know if you are interested. Is
anyone interested in serving at the Regional level in Puppeteers of America? Talk to Steve. And there is a National Festival, www.puppetrampage2007.org
and other events this summer. I hope we will see you in
And this is
important, so it gets its own paragraph.
If you are a member of Puppeteers of America, you should have received
your ballot. VOTE, as your conscience guides you, for
trustees and the proposed changes. And if you are not yet a member of our
National organization, JOIN. National
PofA festivals, publications, the people you will meet
and the public discourse will open you to several other levels of this
marvelous, creative, rewarding arena known as puppetry. www.puppeteers.org
Many puppeteers
join organizations at 3 levels, local, national and international. For
information about UNIMA check http://www.unima-usa.org
Thanks again to
Steve Abrams for keeping us connected to each other and to the region’s puppetry
opportunities through this newsletter! I hope you all are enjoying some of the
exciting events in the area, and maintaining a good balance between attending
puppet and theatre events and creating and performing yourselves. Hope to see some of you at the events Steve
has listed! (In my last note, I
mentioned calling each of you. Do not feel neglected – that has yet to happen!)
Ann Neff
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*Dues
Regular
adult membership-suggested dues
contribution----------------------------------------$15.00
Seniors,
Students, Young Artists-suggested dues
contribution------------------------------$10.00
Couple or
company membership-suggested dues contribution-------------------------------more
than 15 is cool
Please
make check to GPAPG
Send to
Steve Abrams
What do
get for you dues? You get discounts to shows, you get
unique opportunities to visit backstage at shows like Lion King. You get a
chance to meet visiting and local puppeteers. You get a chance to help support
the art of puppetry. You get a chance to learn about puppetry at guild
workshops.
What do
have to do as a guild member? The only requirement for joining the guild is
that you enjoy puppetry. Guild
"meeting" might sound stuffy. Our "meetings" are
events, puppet performances, workshops. and social
occasions. Come and enjoy the community of puppeteers
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Stay in
Touch
Steve, sapuppets@gmail.com