Thank You Richard Hunt!

Sunday, July 18, I was excited to produce Jessica Max Stein and her presentation on Richard Hunt. More than the presentation itself, the whole experience reminded me of an episode of Fraggle Rock where someone comes in to your life and causes you to look at a part of yourself and leaves everyone positively affected for having met.

Max's two-hour presentation was filled with wonderful stories of that Muppeteer that we all love, Richard Hunt. Video clips included vintage Sesame Street, Muppet Show and Fraggle Rock. It was a joy to relive those moments with Max's insight into Richard's life and career.

It turned out Max and I are both queer, Jewish, Muppet fans who hail from Niskayuna, a town in upstate NY. Her experience and my own had some similarities and it was great to get to get to know a kindred spirit.

Max created this uber-cool Toronto Fraggle Geography Google Map inspired by her recent trip to Toronto. Check it out!

Fantastic Puppets

Wednesday, June 16, I took a day trip to Lexington, MA to the National Heritage Museum to catch the Jim Henson's Fantastic World Exhibit before it's final bow on the East coast at the end of this month. I had heard some casual fans say that they had wished there were more puppets in the exhibit but, if you are a true fan of Henson or just a fan of the artistic process, this exhibit had plenty to make you happy. When I first walked in and saw a 1970s full-bodied Kermit sitting in a display case, the 10 year old in me just stared and wanted to say hello to my old friend. It was wonderful to connect to that youthful awe again. The exhibit was dotted with gems such as Jim's original concept drawings and college-age poster designs. As a creative person, I could appreciate what a well-rounded artist and how amazingly talented this man was.

The old commercials played on loop in one room including this great Ideal Toys commercial from 1966 that featured some of the irreverent humor from the Muppets that we all came to know and love. As a puppet builder, it was wonderful to finally see to some of the great Muppet creations and study their design up close. I don't want to give everything away but, suffice it to say, it's something every Muppet fan should try to see. So far, the last booked leg of the tour is 10/30/10 - 1/23/11 at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. If you haven't seen it yet, I would highly recommend it.

Thursday, the 24th, I found myself in Brooklyn, NY taking in St Anne's Warehouse Labapalooza which featured 4 snippets from developing puppet artists. The artistry was inspiring and Lone Wolf Tribe's Hobo Grunt Cycle was phenomenal to say the least. Kevin Augustine weaved a beautiful narration with very little dialogue. The images were hauntingly beautiful and the theme of life, death and rebirth was captivating.

The Rainbow Connection: Richard Hunt, Gay Muppeteer

I'm very excited to be producing this event in July.

The Rainbow Connection: Richard Hunt, Gay Muppeteer, a presentation by author Jessica Max Stein, will be held Sunday, July 18, 2010 at 2pm at the Cunneen-Hackett Arts Center, 12 Vassar Street, Poughkeepsie, NY.

Richard Hunt joined the Muppets at age 19 and went on to be a central performer on the international blockbusters Sesame Street, The Muppet Show and Fraggle Rock, creating such beloved characters as Scooter, Janice, Beaker and Statler (in the Muppet balcony), even briefly performing Miss Piggy in her early drag queen days. Hunt died of AIDS-related complications in 1992, only 40 years old.

Author Jessica Max Stein is working on a biography of Hunt, based on her best-selling zine The Rainbow Connection: Richard Hunt, Gay Muppeteer. Her 2-hour presentation includes over an hour of Muppet clips interspersed with details of Hunt's fascinating story as a Muppeteer who happened to be a gay man. She teaches English at the City University of New York, and lives in Brooklyn.

Zines will be available for sale at the event. (See JessicaMaxStein.com for details.)

Tickets are $5, cash at box office/day of show. Reservations suggested, seating is limited. Call 917 502 4098 or email info@upinarms.biz. Event info: upinarms.biz

Stuffed and Unstrung

I will never forget, as a young Muppet fan, eagerly writing the Muppet Show Fan Club and asking them about the possibility of coming to see a taping of the Muppet Show. At the time, I had no clue that it was taped in the UK but, that was beside the point. I received a reply from some staffer at the fan club explaining to me that the Muppet Show was not taped like a regular show with an audience. I may have been young but, this, I understood because I was eager to see the process! I was chomping at the bit wanting to see how it was actually done! As a young puppeteer, I needed to see my creative peers in action. Alas, my dreams would be put on hold for a good 30 years.

Last Saturday, April 10, I had tickets with friends to see Stuffed and Unstrung at the Union Square Theater in Manhattan and finally got to see the process in all its glory. The giddy 10 year old inside was unleashed as I purchased a Stuffed and Unstrung t-shirt. I spied the tarp-covered mound of puppets on stage as the neon "Stuffed and Unstrung" sign flashed above.

When the actors took the stage and the familiar "Puppet Up" theme played out before us, I eagerly anticipated the merriment and [very] adult comedy that would keep us all in stitches for a nearly 2 hour show. How lucky I felt to see skits like the aliens visiting an erotic bakery or the news story of Justin Bieber after being attacked by Godzilla - or the Hot Dogs in their 12-step program breaking their addiction to Tiger Woods. These were all so hysterically portrayed but, because of the fact that this is improv, would be unique to the time I saw the show. Thinking of how many different skits were made up on the spot like that during the run of the show just made you appreciate what they are actually creating all the more.

It warmed the true fan's heart to see a couple of classic Henson skits worked in to the program. Brian creates a skit on the fly after intermission that makes your jaw drop when you realize what's happening. After having mastered that piece, he must have a blast creating it every night. Still, he drops a little improv into it to make it unique for every show. The audience participation skits are a lot of fun and each person invited up on stage looked like they were re-living a part of their childhood too. How can you not smile with these incredible puppets within arms reach?

I thought it was cute and kind-of telling when a staffer parked herself at the front of the stage during intermission to guard the puppets. You would have to actually have a pretty good reach or jump up on stage to get close enough to the puppets but, I guess they must know there's enough rabid fans out there with little self control.

If you can make it to Manhattan, Stuffed and Unstrung is running through Saturday, May 29 and, beginning April 29, all 9pm shows will be moved to 8pm for all those who cherish an earlier bed-time. Go see this fantastic show! You will be happy you did.

Puppet Slam February 5th, 2010

Friday night, 2/5, I found myself in SoHo with a couple of good friends to take in the "Puppet Blok Gets Punched" at Dixon Place. The Dixon Place Puppet Blok teamed with Drama Of Works' PUNCH Puppet Slam for a night of adult puppet entertainment. It was a mix of drama, song, poetry and comedy with styles ranging from hand/rod puppets to bunraku and shadow puppetry. There was an awe-inspiring black-light performance by Evolve Company, a touching shadow puppetry homage to a soldier leaving home for war beautifully sung and performed by Alissa Hunnicutt with Sarah Lafferty, a loving tribute for a departed loved one by Papermoon Puppet Theater and rib-tickling comedic scenes provided by James Walton, Suzie Wong, Patryk Wilinski and Kim Mikenis. Bravo to all involved in bringing this show together. This was my FIRST adult puppet night out and it felt great to bask in the talent of my puppeteer peers and feel inspired. If you're in the NYC area, check in with Dixon Place http://www.dixonplace.org for future Puppet Blok performances and Drama of Works PUNCH http://www.punchpuppetslam.com/

Michael Earl Television Puppetry Workshop

Yesterday, I took a very informative and hands-on workshop in NYC for television puppetry. The teacher, Michael Earl, is a former Muppet performer as well as a puppeteer on projects such as the "Men In Black" films and "Team American World Police". Michael is such a pro and watching him bring to life his simple, classroom puppets was like watching a Sesame Street dress rehearsal. It was a different story when us students got in front of the camera but, having the technique to practice is great.

The class was a full day from 10am to 5pm with a half-hour lunch. With a limit of 8 students, we all got ample camera and puppet time. The class was broken down into various exercises that started simply with the bare hand in order to understand the movement and get use to the opposite orientation of the movement on a monitor. Specific poses and techniques were emphasized that could then be built upon through practice. Songs were used to help with various techniques and Michael was a patient, professional guide throughout.

Strictly from a 'fan' perspective, Michael provided anecdotes and lessons from his years with the Muppets and learning from his mentors such as Frank Oz and Jim Henson. It was thrilling to hear his stories from his 'Muppet' days and I could have happily listened to those for half the day.

If you think you know puppetry, wait until you start performing to a monitor. Our class ranged from seasoned Broadway performers to a person just starting in puppetry and everyone in between yet, I feel we were all pretty new to this style of puppetry performance. It certainly created great energy from everyone and it was interesting to learn something from each unique energy that people brought.

If you get the opportunity to take one of Michael's workshops, I can't recommend him enough. Even in a one day class, so much is covered that it is certainly money well spent. You'll want to take notes so bring a notebook and Michael welcomes puppeteers to bring their own puppets to use later in the class. The monster puppets he uses for class are perfect for the exercises and are easier to use when the whole class is doing the same exercise.

Michael has up-coming one-day workshops slated for NYC, San Francisco, Chicago and Atlanta. I highly recommend anyone interested to sign up now. Michael said the workshop in NYC for March 2010 already had 6 students on the waiting list. That leaves only 2 slots left so, puppeteers - jump on it!

Blue Boy Puppet

I had a nephew very interested in owning one of my puppets. This started me on the simple idea of just making one of his very own as a gift. I decided to stick with a simple enough character using the Melonhead puppet pattern from Project Puppet. This still gave me the opportunity to test some other simple building techniques. It was the first Project Puppet design that I incorporated using a black sock as a sleeve attached to the inside of the mouth plate. It makes your grip more solid and mouth control easy. I also used pipe cleaners attached to the 'palm plate' to give articulation to the fingers. I'm leaving it up to my nephew to give him a name but I think he kind of looks like a Max or Oswald.

Muppet Bohemian Rhapsody

This was just too amazing not to post. The Muppet Bohemiam Rhapsody features 70 Muppets!! For Muppet purists, the voices of Dr. Teeth AND Scooter are sounding pretty spot on. No complaints here. It's a Muppet party of GROOOOOOVY proportions fer sure!

Rock on my Muppet friends. The future is looking bright. I'm stoked!

A new beginning and a Russ Walko creation

I recently had a flicker of inspiration and started work on a new puppet. I never know exactly what the puppet will be but, this is intended to be a puppet skull for a dog.



After the passing of one of my idols, Michael Jackson, I thought it would be great to have a puppet likeness of MJ. I didn't have the patience to realize it myself and I really wanted someone to work it that I knew could deliver. Russ Walko is an amazing talent in the puppet building world and he was receptive to working on the project and delivered an amazing puppet. He even looks better in person. Thank you Russ!

Electricity

The video I made of the Ming & Ping puppets has recently debuted as part of the new "Ming & Ping Spicy Show".



Thanks again to my friend and fellow puppeteer Rich Hotaling and Bao, Ming & Ping for making this possible. Keep it Spicy!!

Ming and Ping - the process

Ming and Ping are one of my favorite synthpop groups - mingping.com. They are twin brothers from Hong Kong presently residing in LA. I was inspired to make these two puppets of them. Ming prefers black and has been known to wear purple make-up while Ping is more into wearing white with blue accents. I was thrilled with the almost 'manga' look of this duo and quickly started plotting an idea to capture them on video.

I chose a catchy, upbeat tune called Electricity from their last album Causeway Army. I enlisted a friend and did a few takes of the 3 minutes tune in no time. Although we had a few interesting ideas, after starting the editing process, it just felt flat. All these other ideas then started to flow. I created a quick storyboard in InDesign and worked out scenarios for at least every count of 16, if not, more. It took me no time and, in another week, I had my fellow puppeteer back to video again. This time it was SO much easier to talk about each shot, set it up and shoot. It felt much more organized and allowed the creativity to flow a bit more. While sitting down to edit this time, I knew I had something and the video looks great for a first time puppet shoot. Obviously, story-boarding is a mainstay in the video/film industry for a reason. The initial time it takes to lay it out is SO worth the feeling of being organized and ready for shooting day... but, even the first disorganized shoot was worth it to help understand what I was going for and where I needed to focus my attention. Enjoy the process folks! ... Video coming soon!

Matt Ficner Workshop

Matt Ficner, of Creepy Puppet fame, lead a puppet making workshop in Ottawa, Canada on May 16 and 17 which I attended. It was a 2-day creative workshop making a hand/rod puppet of your choosing. It was after the weekend that I realized it had also been the anniversary of Jim Henson's passing. What a wonderful way to honor one of my childhood heroes. Matt is an incredibly creative puppet builder and all-around artist. His fun, inventive approach is perfect for learning a new way of puppet building and I came away with fresh ideas and filled with inspiration. Thank you Matt!!! My big furry cat [puppet] is Harvey. Photo by Matt Ficner.

Cheers to my fellow workshop builder Candice and her beautiful puppet Dot. It was a blast to see Harvey and Dot come to life in our two [short] days together.

Three of my original test workshop participants may finally be returning this weekend to work on [hopefully complete] their puppets. Hoping for more progress images. I'm also working on a new, small puppet project that I hope to post soon. The final images from the puppet making workshop I did with the children's museum were also posted to upinarms.biz.

Website Update

The website for my puppet company Up In Arms has recently been given a fresh look and new logo. Check it out at upinarms.biz

I just completed day 3 of 4 of my puppet making workshop series. It's been very exciting, exhausting and rewarding. It's been a great learning tool for me too - like realizing we could have used more than 4 days. Still, the results are going to be incredible and I can't wait to share the final creations with everyone on my blog and website.

First Test Workshop Successes...

Being generally busy, celebrating occasions with family and friends and a nasty little bout with the flu, kept me from completing the test workshop until yesterday. I didn't get my full 6 test puppet builders back but, I spent a nice early evening with my sister and niece Rachel and nephew Ronny to complete their 2 puppets. Both had chosen the Roly pattern.

After they took their puppets home, they dressed them in some temporary Build-A-Bear costumes but are eager to find some more permanent clothes that match their puppet's personality.

Raul ~ made by Ronny...



Alexandra ~ made by Rachel...



It was a wonderfully rewarding process for all of us. My sister got a big kick out of seeing Alexandra's hair take shape as she helped Rachel through the process.

Creative Process & My Upcoming Workshop

I love the creative process and the evolution of a puppet. I had an idea for some hair on a new puppet that changed into something else and the character started to inform a new direction. I have a spark of an idea and see where it takes me. I wish I could be one of those people who draws a sketch and follows it through to some amazing puppet likeness but, I'm not there yet. I've played around with some different eye shapes [above] for the new character and have revisited it at least 3 times already and feel like I'm closing in on something soon but, I appreciate where the process has taken me and the new things I discover along the way.

My puppets caught the attention of a friend who works for a local children's museum and he asked me to consider doing a workshop with the kids who might be interested in building puppets. With permission to use the Project Puppet Simple Series patterns, I gathered some friends this past weekend [below] to see how much we could get done in a certain amount of time with just me doing the sewing. With six participants in the 'test', they got all of their patterns traced and cut and the head and body sewn. It was enough to gauge how many kids I could handle in the workshop, volunteers needed to assist, additional sewers, etc. The first workshop at the children's museum is scheduled for March 14 and I'm equally nervous and excited.

The MuppetCast & Sesame Street at 40

Thanks to Steve over at The MuppetCast for the mention on his 1/25/09 show. Steve has been providing a great service with his regular podcast on all things Muppet and is one of the entertaining resources that I regularly turn to.

I attended the Sesame Street at 40 lecture at William Patterson University in Wayne NJ on Friday [Jan. 30]. The whole team did a great job and it was wonderful to see Frank Oz, one of my first puppet heroes, involved with something Muppet-related. The event was moderated by author Michael Davis and included writer/composer Tony Geiss, Bob McGrath, Fran Brill, Marty Robinson, Kevin Clash, Sonia Monzano, Caroll Spinney and Frank Oz. It was cool to hear stories about how they came to Sesame Street in their careers. Who knew Bob had a huge fan following in Japan?? He was quite the famous singer in his earlier days. The best part of the evening was the improvisational conversations with the puppets themselves as they brought out Oscar, Zoe, Telly and Elmo. No matter how old you were in the audience, your inner child was in awe to see these well-known childhood heroes live. Even those of us who are not exactly Elmo's biggest fans, really appreciate how Kevin performs him for the adult set - there's a little more 'knowing' behind that soft, red exterior and Clash is a fantastic performer and puppeteer.

I'm working on my next new puppet. I'm really enjoying the process. You think something is going to go a certain way and when it doesn't, the work takes you in another, interesting direction.

Geraldine gets some upgrades

First, Geraldine's earrings were from a little girls dress-up set and the plastic clasps did not grasp her ears tight enough and kept falling off while storing her or if she moved around too much. The clasps were removed and where they sat was ground off the back of the earring. I then glued on these great 1/4 inch ProMAG magnets that I found at Michael's [craft shop] and backed her ear with a 2nd magnet. The grip on these little magnets are super tight and I have every confidence they will hold with even the most spastic puppet performance.



Continuing in the spirit of passing along puppet building tips, I should mention I'm a little reserved when it comes to making certain features permanent [ie. glued on] so, when considering how to attach the ribbon in her hair, I found these mini hair clips perfect for gluing the ribbon to first and then clipping into her hair.



Geraldine was in need of a fresher look for her shirt. A friend suggested something in yellow and since I love the contrast of purple and yellow, Geraldine was outfitted with a new yellow shirt with a big, beautiful purple flower on the front.

Lone Wolf Tribe Workshop

I recently joined the online puppet community Puppet Hub and came across Lone Wolf Tribe whose website I had seen some time ago and was happy to be re-introduced to their fantastical form of puppetry. I noticed they were giving workshops on foam sculpting the puppet head and quickly signed up for their class this past Wednesday, January 14 at their Brooklyn, NY studio.

I had such a great time learning a new, creative process. Kevin Augustine, Lone Wolf Tribe's artistic director, is an encouraging and inspiring teacher. As someone who can get a little too precious about my own creative process, it was nice to let go a little more and still be impressed with the outcome. Starting with a simple sketch or idea, you draw the image to a large block of upholstery foam. The face front and profile were drawn to the appropriate sides and used as guides. Much slicing and carving later reveals a pretty cool puppet head. Although my figure looked to be more Native American or African, his name came to me as 'Boris'.



If you are looking to learn new technique or would just like to get your craft on for an evening or afternoon, I highly recommend this workshop. Lone Wolf Tribe stages fascinating, avant-garde puppet/ theatrical shows. Check out their website for upcoming shows in the New York area or see them at this year's National Puppetry Festival in Atlanta.

New Puppet Build ~ Geraldine

Over the last couple of weekends, I worked on my new puppet Geraldine. I had fun with the hair and found some great costume pieces to complete her look. She's a girly girl who loves the color purple. I'm thrilled with the way she turned out. She was made from the Project Puppet simple series pinhead pattern.

New Puppet Build ~ Gustavo

In all, I was very satisfied with this build. I think the character is adorable. He reminds me of a relative of The Muppet's Scooter which I love since Scooter was one of my favorites.

I'm always looking to improve my puppet building skills so, any advice is welcome. I machine sewed most of the pattern but, followed instructions to whip stitch the mouth which left very visible stitching. Maybe I should have machine sewed [?] maybe I need better skills [?]

Gustavo was made from the Project Puppet simple series melonhead pattern.