Wednesday’s Performances

Yesterday had a great line up of performances. However, we did not have a great scheduling of them. Who ever thought putting a show with lullaby in the name right after lunch was a good idea was…wrong. It was a lovely SHADDOW show with SOFT music, SMOOTH transitions and GENTLE colors…and as a lullaby—it sure worked on me. It was a good show too and I really wish I remembered more of it. Other people with more fortitude have told me about super cool parts I missed. Alas!
The second performance for us Blue Badges (the upper crust of puppeteers, don’t you know) was Luman Coad’s delightful Puppet Box. I just adored the monster in the box scene where the little boy was trying to go to sleep…fear of the unknown. His manipulation is so amazing! The whole show is made that much better by his willingness to open up the stage at the end and show how everything is done. He also told us about a sound cue device for the iPod which finally interested me in that device of the masses. Perhaps I will final let myself be assimilated!

That evening we enjoyed two shows that were, sad to say, unfortunately scheduled. They lead off with Paul Mesner’s version of “The True Story of The Three Little Pigs by A. Wolf”. We saw that in Seattle at least once, because I’ve seen it before. I think I saw it at the Northwest Puppetry Center, in fact. It was even better this time because he’s polished on it for years since I last saw it. Wow!
The show after that was a large production done by second generation puppeteers which everyone was so proud of. Like most shows from my generation, it had a huge environmental message and was a message of warning to all. It was anti-Earth ruining…a subject near and dear to most of us. But it should never have followed Paul Mesner—he is beyond a tough act to follow (to say the least). Plus I don’t think you should ever end a show on a down note. It was very down too…death of beautiful creatures and so forth. The imagery and visual was so fabulous. They had gentle beautiful kite-like puppets that sailed over the head of the audience. The music was moving. The message was well thought out and clearly displayed. If only it didn’t have to follow Paul!
Now, perhaps some of you are eager to hear my opinion of the first potpourri. I hate to disappoint, but I didn’t attend. I have a horror of them. It’s always a mean spiteful drunk display of down-right evilness to new and eager puppeteers. I hate that. Of course I can’t resist asking about it the next morning to see if perhaps I actually missed one that was not the usual roast. I was informed that this one was even worse than I feared. I understand (second-hand) that the MC was a dreadful fellow who made sexist jokes, swore like a sailor, and thought it was funny to insult and belittle a mentally challenged young puppeteer. I’ll never attend another potpourri as long as I keep hearing that sort of thing about them. Who ever came up with the whole concept of them…please try to explain to me why? Why is it a good idea for a group of puppetry lovers and practitioners to ridicule newbies? Why?? What good does it serve?
That being said, keep in mind that my report above was second hand information and I do hope it was not actually as bad as the above makes it sound. I do hope.