HFU HF Underground
General Category => General Radio Discussion => Topic started by: Fansome on April 12, 2011, 0356 UTC
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April 11, 2011
Puppets Stolen From Performing Arts Van in Hawaii
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
HONOLULU (AP) — Thieves broke into a performing arts organization's van and stole three puppets valued at $10,000, cutting the company's cast of characters in half in the middle of an important tour.
Maui Academy of Performing Arts officials are asking for the public's help in finding the 34-inch-tall puppets, created by puppeteer Frank Kane, who once worked for Jim Henson and the Muppets. The puppets were stolen Saturday night in Kahului.
The theft occurred as the company prepared to fly to Oahu to perform "The Further Adventures of Tikki Tikki Tembo" at elementary and preschools. The missing puppets' characters were re-cast by reconfiguring other puppets.
Executive and artistic director David Johnston said losing three out of six puppets puts a financial strain on the nonprofit's ability to put on shows.
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My favorite local theater does lots of puppetry and Commedia dell'Arte style productions. Almost every season they host workshops for puppet making (http://www.hippocket.org/puppetryfestival.html). Perhaps the Maui Academy of Performing Arts could contact the staff at Hip Pocket Theatre (http://www.hippocket.org/) for advice or assistance in getting back into production.
Puppet theater is amazing stuff. A skilled puppet master can operate two, sometimes three, relatively simple puppets simultaneously. Even the local ballet company occasionally uses puppets handled by dancers. Combined with suspension of disbelief from a cooperative audience, the intricate performances can often be quite persuasive. Even if you can't quite ignore the puppet masters themselves, you can still be entertained and amused by their deft manipulations.
Some puppets are so complex that two or more puppet masters are needed to operate them convincingly. It can be amusing when one of the handlers is inexperience or out of sync with the other, putting on a less than convincing performance that betrays the illusion. But it's all in good fun, as long as Punch isn't using any real weapons on Judy.
It's unfortunate that there is nothing comparable on the internet, where puppet masters rarely get the attention they deserve.
"Everything suddenly begins to seem so real..." (http://photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=1659181&size=lg)
(http://gallery.photo.net/photo/1659181-lg.jpg)
One of my favorite photos from a Hip Pocket Theatre rehearsal for Alice In Wonderland, for which director Lake Simons, the young lady in the foreground, was recognized for Outstanding Achievement in Design by the Dallas-Fort Worth Theater Critics Forum (http://dfwtheatercriticsforum.com/ForumAwards_03.html).
I think you can see the head of the March Hare in the back, toward the right, held aloft over the fellow in the black t-shirt and bandanna. The hare seems to have the attention of almost everyone onstage. It really was a fantastic performance.
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Now Al, That's wrong, just wrong!
Do you hate pirate radio or something?!
Or maybe you just hate the combination of
pirate forums with 'performance art' ?
I've heard that a lot of people DO!
"Let's go to the park
and maybe eat a fur coat.
Spray me with blood and write
the word GUILT all over my face.
Hurry up,
I'm the King of Performance Art!"
[youtube]JOYVtbqWIm0&feature=related[/youtube]
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http://i.imgur.com/lyQ1l.png