My journey creating and producing puppetry... trials, tribulations, inspiration and contemplation.

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Showcasing the show

SO much has happened in the past week and a half! The showcase for Helping Drew was a smashing success with wonderful feedback given and lessons learned. If you can rehearse your show in a space that will accomodate all your set-up, it is invaluable.


The initial scenery for the show was printed on a 5-foot wide banner [3-feet tall]. It was wrapped around the stands with Velcro and did not look as neat as I wanted. Above the 6-foot tall stage, it also looked rather dwarfed and the shiny fabric used for the stage looked like a black abyss though, the show stood on its own and was still pitch-perfect [if I must say so myself]. Doing a showcase like this allows one to solicit feedback and see how it works in order to make the necessary changes. A friend of mine informed me about black masking fabric which absorbs the light instead on reflecting like the shiny fabric. It's also called duvetyn and has been ordered to replace the shiny stuff. One note suggested that the top half of the stage should look like a part of the scenery - perhaps a side of the building. We had a 2nd showcase set up for filming on Thursday where I was able to have a new backdrop of 7 feet and mounted it flat on 2 pieces of foam core. It looked great. The side of the school building will be added prior to public performances.


We made another change for lockers that we had mounted in the foreground on either side and made them more 3-dimensional by adding sides and a top. Anything to add more depth, I think, really helps to make it come more alive.

Just as I was making all these changes and getting everything organized for when we finally go out with the show, I received my first phone call from a school that wants to book Helping Drew for February 15. It has begun! After all this time. What an amazing journey.

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Anti-bullying puppet musical launches!


I'm too excited as I approach the launch of my anti-bullying puppet musical Helping Drew. We're 'launching' this weekend, January 14, with a private showcase for our creative crew and starting to accept bookings for K-5 school assembly programs.

A 5 minute audio sample is available on our website at http://upinarms.biz/Events.html

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