HappyFt Travels

Puppet Supper Alum Andrea Taylor spent a year in Indonesia teaching English. Also an alum of Lunatique Fantastique, Andrea made time to see some of the shadow plays that the region is famous for. While conversing with San Francisco Conservatory of Music conductor Nicole Paiement last year, a collaboration began for a one-day only performance of Lou Harrison’s “The Only Jealousy of Emer” (from the Noh-inspired play of William Butler Yeats).

Andrea worked with Allison Ross on creating the shadow vignettes and thematic pieces that come straight from Yeats’ work. I was asked to come in as the rehearsal process picked up and be their third player.

We had our first rehearsal with the New Music Ensemble today in the beautiful concert hall and things look great for the upcoming show.

Hope you can join us for the performance.

Go here for the SFMC event info page

Crosscurrents… where arts converge. Flowing Shadows
Student Ensembles
Saturday, February 20, 8:00 PM

Tickets:
$20/$15 call the box office at 415.503.6275

Program:
Lou Harrison : The Only Jealousy of Emer

Varèse: Déserts

Peter Sculthorpe: Nourlangie for solo guitar and ensemble

Lembit Beecher: The Art of Remembering

Description:
Shadow puppeteers will join the New Music Ensemble in Australian composer Peter Sculthorpe’s Nourlangie, for guitar and ensemble, with acclaimed guitarist and Conservatory faculty member David Tanenbaum as soloist. Not to be missed is the full version of Edgard Varèse’s ground-breaking Déserts, as well as works by Lembit Beecher and Lou Harrison.

Performers:

Tags: Puppets, shadows
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I am currently doing sound and stage managing for the Big Tadoo Puppet Crew’s “Breath of Fresh Air” show. The show goes to Alameda County (East Bay) elementary schools and teaches the children how to walk and bike to school safely. We set up two huge cranky/crankie devices at every school, with allen wrenches as the only tool.

The show has been running for three seasons now, and I posted photos of the crankies when I was helping Jonathan Youtt build them out. During our Fall season last year, I snapped a few pics of the tried and true crankies.

The two cranky scrolls (center) are placed for the top of the show. The blue straps were added after the show started running. They give the canvas more structure to stay smooth as the velo-cranks move the scene along.

Photo of the front of the scrolls (while I stand on the puppet stage). Notice how the blue straps give tension to the canvas. Both scrolls roll from the middle out, ending up at school!

June Rollalot (Sirraum) and his mom (Afi) stand in front of their house. Once June starts rolling (and singing), the scroll is cranked to simulate movement.

While in NYC December, I caught Bread & Puppet’s theater show. Like their Summer show, they had a ding dong (small performance before and after the main peformance) in the lobby. The performer (ahh, can’t remember his name!) gave an intimate two-person audience toy theater in a suitcase show. He used a cranky too!

As a backdrop for the Bread & Puppet ding dong show, the small cranky box is used to change scenes and create depth and movement. It all fits in the case/stage!

For more info on crankies, go to my Crankie Archives page and see/read all about it!

Tags: crankie, Puppets
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Sunday at the West Fest, a free concert in Golden Gate Park, I threw a new line in my carny spiel: “Just like the SF Diggers gave it all away in the Summer of Love, our games are free. There ain’t no line, and it don’t cost a dime!” The SF Diggers have inspired me many times over with their mad, creative urge to make the word “free” the real deal. They gave food away to the wayward runaways that flocked to Upper Haight, inspiring the Food Not Bombs campaigns. They hustled landlords to get living space and then crammed in as many homeless teens as possible to get them off the streets, and the Huckleberry Youth Programs is a reminder of their work. The SF Diggers threw free concerts in the Panhandle, the West Fest was a quasi-unsponsored (they did have logos all over things) example of that legacy. Finally, the SF Diggers created free stores, where money wasn’t considered. The Really Really Free Markets and Clothing Swaps stand as 21st Century Examples of this idea.

The SF Diggers, for good or bad, were tied to the San Francisco Mime Troupe. On top of all that free culture listed above, there were also many puppet performances, spontaneous art happenings, and wild, tripped out parties. The Mime Troupe gave their shows away for free in parks across the City, and they had to fight for that right, inspiring the SF Diggers (and bringing on the hilarious arrest of some of their giant puppets). On the East Coast, Peter Schumann’s Bread and Puppet Theater also began to throw free performances in New York, Vermont, and beyond. And Luis Valdez and El Teatro Campesino also began free, radical performance from a Mexi-Cali Latino perspective.

(more…)

Tags: free, Politics, Puppets
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AsiaAlive

Burmese Puppet Troupe

Tuesday through Saturday, October 25 through 31

12:00 noon – 4:00 pm

North Court

FREE with general museum admission

Mandalay Marionettes Theatre from Burma demonstrate their culture’s traditional puppet-making process. Watch them manipulate puppets, and create your own artwork to take home. The Mandalay Marionettes Theatre also presents short performances on Target First Free Sunday.

In conjunction with the special exhibition, Emerald Cities: Arts of Siam and Burma.

Performance: Mandalay Marionettes Theatre
Sunday, November 1
12:00 noon and 2:00 pm, Samsung Hall
Free admission sponsored by Target.

Enjoy puppet shows filled with Himalayan adventures, love stories, and dance.

Tags: Puppets
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October 28 - November 8, 2009
8PM, Oct 28 - 30, Nov 4 - 7
2PM, Oct 31, Nov 1 & 8

BRAVA Theater Center
2781 24th St., San Francisco, CA 94110

Ticket Prices
Wed,Thur, Sun: $20; Fri & Sat: $25
*Opening Night (Oct 28): $35 includes performance + post-show reception
*Thursday, Oct 29: Pay-What-You-Wish ($5 min. donation suggested)
*Student, Senior & Group discount available via phone & in person

Box Office: 415 647 2822 | 24/7 Online Box Office

More Info: www.shadowlightghosts.org

Tags: Puppets
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The Treasure Island Music Fest had a good vibe. Not too big (about 10,000 people), not too corporate, and the music was ecclectic enough to not get boring. Only two stages so things didn’t get too loud at Recycle Swish and the GMO Freak Show. Figured out that we had backstage access on Sunday so finally got to find Erminio Pinque of Big Nazo (Providence, RI) and say a quick hello. Wanye from Flaming Lips wandered by me too while I was back there! TIMF did pay a group of artists to create a great, Dust Bowl-era Midway of games for the event, so we got a second-rate placement stuck amongst the vendor tent row. And only had room for one game instead of the contracted two. We made do with what we got and had a good time giving it.

Here’s a pic an official photographer took of me being silly with the Corn Dog. It made it on the festival’s main site!

Tags: carny
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