Elly's Puppet Blog

Next Shows

2011-09-03T11:02:00.000-07:00

This blog post will be forever updating and moving forward in time--so don't be surprised to see it over and over again. Issunboshi at at the Aki Matsuri at Bellevue College Date & Times: Sat 9/10/2011 at 12:30pm or 2:45pm at the Carlson Theater, Sun 9/11/2011 at 1:45pm or 4:00pm in Room E129 Please Note the times and locations are not the same both days Punch and Judy at Glastonbury Faire

Steve Whitmire and Kermit the Frog

2011-07-15T21:58:00.000-07:00

Steve Whitmire was an interesting fellow. He isn't anyone you would pick out of a crowd--told us he still mows his own lawn. But when he takes up Kermit the Frog, he has the power to make me so happy I cry. He brought two videos to show us. One went through the many looks of Kermit as he evolved into the puppet we know and love. The second was this one: However, the true teary-eyed

Puppet Slam, Ice Cream and Awesome!

2011-07-15T09:59:00.000-07:00

Gina is a bad influence on me. We both remembered the MC's promise during the Cabaret the night before that there would be Ice Cream at the Puppet Slam. We sat together in the front row and continually asked for ice cream in a heckling like manor. Well...he threw candy at us. Right at us...really hard. Oh well, we just redoubled the heckling in revenge. I felt a little bad about heckling so

Wednesday's Performances

2011-07-13T22:11:00.000-07:00

Coming soon! My impressions of Little Inch Boy, The Temptation of St Francis, Brother Coyote and Sister Fox, Ichthyodyssey and the Puppet Cabaret. But I'm jet lagged and exhausted so I'm going to bed now. Update 7/15 1pm: Little Inch Boy was a rather interesting interpretation of the Japanese tale Issunboshi written by a 16 year old boy. It was dramatically Americanized…much more than my

The First Workshop

2011-07-13T20:42:00.000-07:00

On Camera with Lisa Sturz was the first workshop of the day (and the second). She set up a camera with both a monitor below and a projector behind it. Unfortunately the light in the room interfered with the projector so she turned them off, but then the light was too little too little the puppets. She opened the blinds but that did little to help the problem. But it was enough to get through

Opening Shows

2011-07-12T22:42:00.000-07:00

The opening ceremony begins with a brief introduction from our president, Anna Vargas. She was extremely brief. The staff of the festival was presented as a group and named quickly, then the artistic director, Paul Mesner, laid down a few laws and introduced the first performance: “You Can Learn a Lot from a Bug” by Randel Mcgee who is a talented children’s ventriloquist. It was delightful.

Arriving in Atlanta

2011-07-12T18:15:00.000-07:00

I am writing this from my airplane seat on the way to Atlanta, Georgia. For my trip, I chose to wear a t-shirt from the last regional which says “Puppet-o-rama” in big bold letters. I also am carrying a glorified sock puppet ™ which I also got at Puppet-o-rama. My advice to festival goers is to look like a puppeteer on the trip in because people can glance at you and identify you as a festival

New Puppy Puppet

2011-07-10T14:29:00.000-07:00

So I'm motivated to improve my stuffed animal conversion to marionettes so I can take it with me to the Festival and get some advice. At Goodwill for $1.00, I found this great Hallmark puppy...he was a graduation gift for 2006 and a card was still dangling from his mouth "Kim. Way to Go! Love Jet, Mel and Demi. P.S. Rover always has a second home :)". Here's a picture: His second home turned

I'm Going to the National Festival!

2011-07-09T09:00:00.000-07:00

Hey! It's been a while. I'm excited to report that I am once again off to Atlanta Georgia for the National Puppetry Festival put on by the local group of the Puppeteers of America. I am required, in fact, to be there as I am taking over the post of Regional Director. No one stepped up to the post at the last regional, and at the time, I was still an officer of the Guild. So I agreed to

Lessons Learned This Year

2010-09-18T12:25:00.000-07:00

1. There is no big enough room in all of Bellevue College to have the puppet shows.2. No more paper-mache hands for my glove puppets--you can't hold anything with them and they get damaged easily.3. Signs not fliers4. Bring a CD player every time just in case.5. Children's imagination is boundless...they didn't believe there was no small Issunboshi puppet, they saw it.6. A standing stage was a

Some Snapshots of Saturday

2010-09-12T07:13:00.001-07:00

Before the showThe shrine sceneThe Exercise SceneThe Daimyo MeetingYojimbo MeetingOni FightAfter the Show

Finding Us at BCC

2010-09-10T22:11:00.000-07:00

Yes, once again we have been moved...this time to a room that can hold 100 people (because we busted the fire code limit on the last room). I made a map to the room we will be in (E-129):Click on the image above to get the full sized map.

Akandoji

2010-09-10T13:17:00.000-07:00

Reprising his most acclaimed role as the supreme oni will be the Red Oni. After being soundly put down by Momotaro, he has decided it would be safer to pick on Princesses and really short samurai. Good luck with that! He will be the 6th puppet seen on stage.He can be seen in his second show: The Inch-High Samurai, at 11am on 9/11/2010 at the Aki Matsuri held at Bellevue College, in Bellevue,

The Princess

2010-09-09T13:13:00.000-07:00

After I finished the Shrine Maiden and the Daimyo, I had a good pattern for the puppet kimono so I was dying to build the Princess. She is the one type of character I had yet to make for one of my Japanese shows and I looked forward to it.Here she is:She will debut in her first show: The Inch-High Samurai, at 11am on 9/11/2010 at the Aki Matsuri held at Bellevue College, in Bellevue, WA.She

Daimyo

2010-09-08T13:08:00.000-07:00

Here is the Diamyo, a Japanese Lord. He is the first character to meet Issunboshi, The Inch-High Samurai when he arrives in the big city.This puppet was also created by me in time to make the display at Puppet-o-rama. So he was the 2nd puppet completed. He will be the 3rd puppet seen on stage.He will debut in her first show: The Inch-High Samurai, at 11am on 9/11/2010 at the Aki Matsuri held

Okasan

2010-09-07T13:04:00.000-07:00

The second character I'd like to show you is The Inch-High Samurai's mother, which he lovingly calls Okasan:Her head was done by me, but she was costumed by Pam Clark. She was the 4th puppet finished for the show and will be the second puppet seen on stage.She will debut in her first show: The Inch-High Samurai, at 11am on 9/11/2010 at the Aki Matsuri held at Bellevue College, in Bellevue,

First Character

2010-09-06T12:45:00.000-07:00

The first of my new puppets I'd like to show you is the Shrine Maiden:She was the first puppet completed and will be the first character seen on stage. She was entirely created by me in a huge hurry so that she could be in the display at the Puppet Festival: Puppet-o-rama.She will debut in her first show: The Inch-High Samurai, at 11am on 9/11/2010 at the Aki Matsuri held at Bellevue College, in

My Stage Ready for Aki Matsuri

2010-09-05T12:39:00.001-07:00

I am so happy to have a new stage all ready to go for Aki Matsuri next weekend. It's the debut of the "Inch-High Samurai" and we will be performing at 11am and 1:45pm way over in the E building. It's going to be real work to spread the word that the puppets are moved over there. But the rooms which are big enough for a puppet show audience were limited.It should be a fun show. I know I have

Dawn and I made a Meetup Group

2010-08-09T22:54:00.000-07:00

Click here to check outThe Pacific Northwest Puppetry Group!

I got 2 Puppets Done in Time

2010-08-07T12:27:00.000-07:00

I got these two puppets from the up coming "Inch-High Samurai" done in time to put into the exhibit at Puppet-o-rama this last weekend. They aren't main characters because I want to perfect my kimono pattern before finishing the main characters:The Lord and the Miko

Jean and Joan's video for Puppet-o-rama

2010-08-03T22:42:00.000-07:00

Heads Up

2010-07-25T12:43:00.000-07:00

A picture of the Inch-High Puppets in progress:Oh and have you seen our new logo:

A New Show

2010-07-07T21:33:00.000-07:00

For the Aki Matsuri this year, I'm putting together a new show. It's the story of a really short boy who follows his dreams and becomes a samurai despite his size. He shows more bravery than his fellow body guards in saving a princess from a humongous oni.Proving that bigger isn't better, taller isn't braver, and stronger isn't smarter.The title is:The Inch High SamuraiCheck back for pictures

My Doctor Bit

2010-05-24T21:28:00.000-07:00

My Doctor Bit @ Yahoo! Video

The Muppet Whatnots are Back

2009-12-17T21:49:00.000-08:00

FAO Schwartz has brought back the Muppet Whatnots for Christmas:http://www.fao.com/whatnots/index.jspThis is the final weekend for seeing Thistle Theatre's new Show:http://www.thistletheatre.org/shows/tale_of_two_bad_mice/index.htmClay Martin is invading PLOP:http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/91354And the best Glove Puppet Pantomime I've ever seen is playing at NWPC:http://www.nwpuppet.org/

Lessons Learned from Momotaro this Year

2009-10-31T10:06:00.000-07:00

When you say you have sound stuff to sound guys, be sure to tell them if you like it or not. When you say “I’ve got a wireless headset mic.” They hear: “I must use my own mic, because I love it and you must make it happen.” When you really meant: “I’ve got a lousy cheep-o karaoke wireless headset mic that we can use if we don’t have the budget to get everyone the cool ones.” Communication…it’s

Final Shows of Momotaro at the Aki Matsuri

2009-09-19T09:42:00.000-07:00

What? Yes, I plan to build a new show next year, so this last weekend was the final time you could have seen Momotaro at the Aki Matsuri.You’ll never do Momotaro again?I’m not saying that. In fact, it looks like a group in Spokane is interested in having us perform. Also, if Sakura Con has us perform at the next one, it’ll be Momotaro because I don’t think I could have a new show up by Easter.

How Does Your Muppet Walk?

2009-08-13T21:49:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday, as I promised, I attended Brian Henson’s talk. It was sold out…well, members didn’t have to pay and got first dibs so I guess it wasn’t sold out…just there were no tickets left for the general public. There was a queue of hopefuls waiting outside on the off chance a member didn’t show, but I understand only 2 of them got in. I found a spot down in front…second row behind a taped off

Brian Henson at the EMP/SFM

2009-07-29T15:43:00.000-07:00

I'm going to this next (cut and paste from here):Oral History Live! "The Future of Digital Puppetry" with Brian HensonJoin us for an evening with award-winning director, producer and puppeteer Brian Henson.Brian Henson, Chairman of The Jim Henson Company, will present an overview of the history of puppetry at The Jim Henson Company. Henson will explore the different technical achievements that

Friday Workshop

2009-07-19T07:41:00.000-07:00

I just took one today. I went to the Instructional Center to learn about Italian Punch—Pulcinella…for a bit…until we all were informed that Georgia Tech had once again double booked the class room. Allow me to say that again emphasizing the key points: The Georgia Institute of TECHNOLOGY once again double booked a classroom. Now, that’s just sad, isn’t it? I mean…we do have the scheduling

Thursday Workshops

2009-07-16T12:25:00.000-07:00

My first workshop today was attended because Paper-mache is currently my favorite puppet building method to employ and I enjoy very much seeing how other people do it. It was “Lightweight Marionette Bodies using Paper Mache” by Kevin Menegus. He starts in a similar fashion to the Thistle Theatre method which I learned originally from Brian Kooser—with a Styrofoam base. He also employs only 3

Wednesday’s Performances

2009-07-16T12:08:00.000-07:00

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

Wednesday Workshops

2009-07-15T14:57:00.000-07:00

My first workshop was with Lee Armstrong: Video 101 for Puppeteers. It was a Q&A session for how to put together a demo reel or a puppet shoot. There were many questions and many answers, but my goal was satisfied without me saying a word. I wanted to know what software people use and recommend. Lee uses Adobe Primer Pro, and others had good things to say about the slimmer version: Adobe

The Opening Night of the Natl Puppetry Convention

2009-07-15T04:33:00.000-07:00

I'm so excited! Here I am in the sweltering heat of Atlanta, GA, and I don't care in the least. Why? Because I'm at the National Puppetry Convention. Wahoo!As most opening days go, it was a lot of get here, get checked in, drag your stuff to a not-so-nearby dorm and such...finding it all easily on multiple maps of this huge campus.The Exhibit and Store are both being set up, so there's not much

Will Elly blog the National Puppetry Festival?

2009-07-09T15:15:00.000-07:00

Yes!Watch this space!It starts next Tuesday!

The Puppet Box

2009-07-07T09:54:00.000-07:00

The Puppeteers of Puget Sound have a brand new forum created by our new President, Tony.It's called The Puppet BoxThe link is :http://tonydefilipps.com/phpBB3/index.phpThe purpose, as I understand it, is to facilitate the planning of the 2010 Regional Festival which we are going to host.Yay!

Joan's Hand Puppet Neck

2009-06-05T07:43:00.000-07:00

I posted these pictures ages ago and meant to blog it! Alas. Here's the link to the set:http://www.flickr.com/photos/elly_leaverton/sets/72157617161442246/Read the descriptions under each picture for what's going on in the picture.I've refit a few of the Momotaro puppets with this neck and I must say...it's a great improvement.Joan King just recently gave me a glove puppet body pattern too.

My Judy Bit

2009-06-04T23:26:00.000-07:00

So here's a little bit of my Punch and Judy show. This was taken about 4 years ago at Greenwood Faire...this is the first crowd bright and early in the morning. First show I did that year too. BTW: Violence Guaranteed!

Food Party

2009-06-04T12:03:00.000-07:00

I just got this in my email...I don't know about you but I'm kind of intrigued by the idea of an amorous baguette...FOOD PARTY, a fantastical, food-centric series created and hosted by Brooklyn fringe artist, Thu Tran, and a motley mix of unruly puppets who serve as her culinary crew, is coming to IFC June 9 at 11:15 p.m. ET/PT. This six-part IFC Original Comedy’s hallucinatory hijinks will be

Pictures up

2009-05-17T13:01:00.000-07:00

Here's a link to my pictures from Yesterday at the Day of Puppetry for Puppeteers.http://www.flickr.com/photos/elly_leaverton/sets/72157618249819185/It was a great event and everyone performed so well! I was so pleased.

Day of Puppetry for Puppeteers

2009-05-09T12:14:00.000-07:00

I’m very excited by the up coming Day of Puppetry for Puppeteers because we will be performing Momotaro for them. This is the first time for Mylinda and Beckett, both long-time guild members, to perform for the guild and so several other guild members have told me they are looking forward to the show merely on that account. There is "gee wiz" about our show that would excite fellow puppeteers…

Debut Performance of the West Cascade Puppet Brigade

2009-05-05T12:17:00.000-07:00

First I would like to thank everyone who has helped me with the difficult task of coming up with a name, especially Joan King, Rob D’Arc, Wes Thompson, Mylinda Sneed and Frank Reinart. We have picked our name…one of the most difficult and time consuming thing I’ve ever done in Puppetry. It is “West Cascade Puppet Brigade” and the consensus of everyone I’ve told it to that it is a good name. It

Help from Facebook Friends

2009-04-26T22:34:00.000-07:00

Status Update #1: Elly Leaverton is on the bus pondering what to call her puppet groupComments:Jon BoleyLeaverton's Puppet MeanagerieElly LeavertonA good one...I'll put it on my list. Thanks.Dylan GreeneHow about "Puppets for Poppets"?Elly LeavertonWes came up with that one too. I think it's limiting...sounds like I'm aiming for a very young audience. I do perform Punch and Judy you know.Status

Event Annoucement--Day of Puppetry for Puppeteers in Ballard

2009-04-25T10:17:00.000-07:00

On May 16, 2009, the Puppeteers of Puget Sound [http://www.geocities.com/pofps/] will be hosting a Day of Puppetry for Puppeteers in Ballard.This is a day dedicated to showcasing the work of local puppeteers. Showcase performers will be announced on the website [http://www.geocities.com/pofps/] May 1, 2009.The event itself will occur at the Sunset Hill Community Club[http://

Pick-up Rehearsals Have Begun

2009-04-16T23:08:00.000-07:00

It is so difficult to “Pick-up” from where you left off on a puppet show way back in September. We must relearn lines and blocking. Also, remembering the configuration of props and puppets behind stage is a challenge. Luckily, with no fore-thought at all, I had taken “Behind the Scenes” shots of the inside of the stage and we were able to use those to re-construct the set-up. Another difficulty

We are the [Fill in the Blank] Puppeteers

2009-04-09T08:57:00.000-07:00

It is time.My Japanese folktale puppet group is getting more and more shows. I’ve been asked several times what my group is called. Heh.Right now we are called: Aki Matsuri Volunteers in association with Puppeteers of Puget Sound, a guild of the Puppeteers of America. What a mouth full! When we got to the Aki Matsuri, the schedule read “Momotaro by Elly”So I have been thinking for some time

Coralline Show and Tell

2009-03-26T17:48:00.000-07:00

At the second guild meeting of the year, Tony Defillips showed us his souvenirs from his work on the stop-motion animation movie “Coralline”. I unfortunately only had my cell phone camera with me so, the pictures aren’t the best. But if you’ve seen the movie, you’ll probably recognize a few things:The circus mice spelling her name.One of the dogs in theater chairs. One of the circus mice in a

New Officers for the Puppeteers of Puget Sound 2009!

2009-03-10T17:55:00.000-07:00

Slate of Officers: PresidentTony DeFilippstonydefilipps@comcast.netcell 206- 940-0889 Vice- President of ProgramsJean Enticknapjme@bigplanet.comcell 239-8866 work 206 524-3388 Vice- President of MembershipAlyssa McFarlandalyssamcfarland@gmail.com 206.789.8079SecretaryMary Shaverlacopine@comcast.netcell 360-259-4419 home 425-458-6558TreasurerCheryl Handleychalice@comcast.net home 425-556-9761

First Aki Matsuri Team Meeting Owarimashita

2009-03-05T13:25:00.000-08:00

In case you hadn’t heard or I hadn’t told you…Momotaro will be presented once more at the Aki Matsuri. Hopefully with better sound, and I learned at the first team meeting that the Sound Guru has put mics for puppeteers in the budget. Yay!There are a few other things I’d like to do for the show this year including back-drops, doing the peach opening right and perhaps a new puppet or two. I’d

No Swazzle on Wikimedia FIXED!!

2009-02-27T17:34:00.000-08:00

I cannot believe that not one of my fellow practitioners of Punch and Judy has put a swazzle sound file up on Wikipedia or Wikimedia! Well, fear not, for I have fixed the problem thus:http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Punch_Swazzle_Thats_the_way_to_do_it.oggSee...Creative Commons...now it can be somebody's ring tone! Actually, if you are my friend, just ask me, and I'll send a little

Domo-kun

2009-02-26T07:46:00.000-08:00

Some people, who may have seen my cell phone lanyard, may wonder who the little brown character is. Well he is Domo and he’s from Japan. He’s one of those cute little characters they put on everything, like Hello Kitty or Doremon. The difference between Domo and those other characters is that Domo is a stop-motion puppet. As far as I know, he is the only puppet of all those cute characters.

RadCon 2009

2009-02-17T22:52:00.000-08:00

I got pictures! I had 9 students on Saturday if you count the 5 that came super late and played with my glove puppets...which I do. Interest is good.Four of the nine showed on Sunday...the three who came the whole time on Saturday: Dann, Mary and Andrew plus one of the late comers. Luckily I had prepared some hands so that the second day could stand alone.I think the convention will try it

I'm on YouTube

2009-02-13T15:20:00.000-08:00

This is at RadCon 2008 and that's my Shippo Marionette. I didn't know until Kim happened to mention it when we were getting our badges today. (Mine says "Visiting Pro") :)

25 Random Puppet Things about me...

2009-02-11T18:50:00.000-08:00

Facebook is often a place where really old getting-to-know-you emails resurface as notes, because like email, you can tag people and they’ll get an email telling them about the note. The difference being that the info about you will be on display to all of your friends not just the tagged folks. This one started out as “25 Random Things about me...” and many friends have tagged me. But it didn’

Whatnot should I get?

2009-01-27T18:06:00.000-08:00

Oh! Oh! Check out FAO.com! You can order a Muppet Whatnot made to your liking. For me, that's the tough part because this is something I definitely want to support. First I was lead to the eyes that look like Kermit's, the karate gi, and the ostrich feather hair:But then I thought I'd try the real hair...and I wanted it to look a bit more female. Also I thought the orange one would seem more

No Boring Parts for Students

2009-01-25T18:08:00.000-08:00

I’ve been working on materials for my Radcon 2009 Workshop.Three hours is not a lot of time, so I don’t want to waste it doing things that a person can handle on their own…like covering balloons with Papier-Mâché. This is something I think that everyone probably has done some time or other…probably in elementary school.It’s something I do for the basic puppet head; however I build and construct

Puppet Guild Website Updated

2009-01-23T18:12:00.000-08:00

I've been helping out with the Greenwood Faire website and the webmaster there found an excellent feed reader widget that I had to add to the PofPS guild website!Tell me what you think:http://www.geocities.com/pofps/I got the code here:http://www.springwidgets.com

What I’m doing for RadCon 2009

2009-01-21T21:00:00.000-08:00

So last year I was on a kimono panel where I found myself dressing (kitsuke) some of my friends in kimonos much to the amusement of their boyfriends. The other folks on the “panel” were Japanese clothes collectors and though they had nice collections they deferred to me for kimono kitsuke. That’s okay, because I love doing demos. I must’ve done too bad a job either for they asked me back this

Well…We Partied!

2009-01-19T20:41:00.000-08:00

I was mentioning to one of my non-puppeteer friends that I needed to post the pictures from the After-Christmas Christmas party and she told she was pleased to hear the party has come and gone because now I’ll update my blog! My blog…which is only about puppets…has followers that are not puppeteers. This comes as a bit of a surprise to me. I’ve oft been told by my dear mother that my blog was

An After-Christmas Christmas Party?

2008-11-28T08:30:00.000-08:00

“What the heck is that?” you ask.Well you see, most professional puppeteers are pretty busy around the holidays what with all the holiday events, engagements and parties to perform at. Thistle Theatre and the Northwest Puppetry Center are both doing Christmas shows. Folks have told me of gigs in past years which included being a walking mountain with pop-up puppet inhabitants, running and voicing

Douglas N. Paasch will be missed

2008-11-25T10:59:00.000-08:00

The Seattle Puppetry Community was struck a horrible blow on Saturday with the unexpected death of Douglas N. Paasch by heart attack. He will be missed. Here's a picture I took of him giving a Q&A at a guild meeting. He's holding his Bunnicula puppet.I recieved this in an email from another guild member:In Memorium: Douglas PaaschBy Deb FialkowDouglas N. Paasch had over 25 years of experience

What the guild is up to…

2008-11-21T08:14:00.000-08:00

This is a question I probably should address on this blog more often considering that the focus of this blog is puppets in Seattle and the local Renaissance fairs.Since the Pumpkin Puppet carving party, we have had one other event. Brian Kooser invited us all on a back stage tour of his wacky and weird puppet play “UFO the Puppet Show”. Mylinda and I were both in attendance as the officer

On Pumpkins and stuff

2008-10-27T06:16:00.000-07:00

This last weekend, Mandy and I hosted a pumpkin carving party. I invited puppeteers, she invited teachers and the two crowds seemed to get on well. Actually I think it sparked a bit of an interest in puppets in some of the teachers present. Among the puppeteers, we ended up with two moving pumpkins: (I took both of the above with my camera phone.)We also had one pumpkin that could be used

Some Onsite Lessons Learned

2008-10-20T19:44:00.000-07:00

I've been meaning to post this for a while now...Aki Matsuri Lessons learned: Start dress rehearsal on Friday sooner…the room gets locked at 8pm Submit names for badges only…I felt bad when I learned the Aki Matsuri people made badges for puppet builders who weren’t in the show Do the shows at 11am and 4pm both days Use between scene music Having everyone wear the shirts and look the same

Untangling

2008-10-01T23:25:00.000-07:00

I have been invited...and I'm rather honored...to join the PofA web advisory committee. It actually went something like this:Steve asks, "Would you be willing to serve as member of the PofA web advisory committee?"Elly replies, "I would love to. Thank you for thinking of me. Can you send me some more details?" Yes...that's the order I used. Why? Because I pretty much knew that no matter what

A Puppeteer at the Consulate-General of Japan’s reception

2008-09-10T09:09:00.000-07:00

I got dressed rather early for the Aki Matsuri reception at the residence of the Consulate-General of Japan in Seattle. I’d already checked my outfit with Nora on Thursday before the last rehearsal started. She couldn’t go this year but she has gone several times. She gave me the idea that the little black dress was in good order and that wearing my michiyuki over it would be just fine.They

Behind the Scenes of Momotaro

2008-09-07T07:27:00.000-07:00

I went to bed at 8:30pm so now I'm up at the crack of dawn with plenty of time before the shows this afternoon. So I thought I'd make a blog post and show you things from our point of view.Here's a shot of the puppet and prop rack behind us:In future productions, I think I'll lower this prop rack. This is a good height if we were standing, but being on our knees, we have to unhook the puppets,

Mimibunko's Show

2008-09-05T21:28:00.000-07:00

I know I've been putting "A Puppet Show" up on stuff...like the flier you can download from this blog...for the Japanese language show that runs in between my two shows. But now that I watched the dress rehearsal, I can report that it has a name. It is "When the Riceball Fell" and it's quite a nice show. Yes, it is done entirely in Japanese but it's easy to understand even if you don't know

What did you do on Labor Day, Elly?

2008-09-03T06:51:00.000-07:00