The following is a summary I prepared for all involved behind the scenes of
The Puppeteers. It expresses pretty well what the show is going to be like, and represents an enormous step forward in the process. The usual reminders apply - ALL IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE - but enjoy some somewhat concrete details below:
We are looking at a story set in the current day wherein three characters who do NOT communicate well become trapped together in a superintendent's basement apartment. There is the resident of the first floor (Heather), who is a frightened and excitable middle-aged woman whose family used to own the house before economic concerns forced them to break it up. There is a young woman who is a computer/Internet junkie (Elizabeth), hyper-kinetic and absurdly "connected." And finally there is an aged superintendent and fix-it man (Conor) who used to be a puppeteer.
We don't have a specific scenario yet, but what we're looking at is a story wherein the three have to deal with vast generation gaps and trying to manipulate one another to fulfill their various wants and needs. In their efforts to communicate/manipulate - and just to keep their spirits up - they begin to puppeteer with both true puppets and improvised ones from various objects and furniture collected in the super's seemingly vast dwelling, eventually becoming puppets and puppeteers themselves. They tell stories, imagined and from their pasts, and both. There's an element here of The Wizard of Oz - a story about being plunged into an unfamiliar world, and searching for reunion.
So - that's where we're aiming. That's the general idea. Of course remember, for all this lovely conceptual language, this will be an ecstatic physical comedy. Some specifics:
Research: There's a few different ways we're approaching puppetry in this context. The commedia connections and Drake's design are specific to Punch'n'Judy, which is great, but we want to if not use than at least be informed of every variety we can. I'm thinking of approaching it with a similar philosophy as we do to commedia itself - approaching it as a "living tradition," something interconnected that never left but evolved and continues to inform contemporary forms. I've put some links to research on puppetry forms on the 'blog already, but it would be nice to consolidate or organize that kind of thing in some accessible way. And we're always interested in history, of course, both global and whatever might be specific to North Eastern PA. Perhaps the vaudeville circuit had some famous or local ventriloquists? And just as a possible side note, Baum wrote a lot of Ozian and non-Ozian things as well, which might yield some interest.
Marketing: Everyone, please refer people to the 'blog and talk about the show as something anyone can be involved with in its development. I hope for the month of December to have up Twitter and Facebook Puppeteers accounts linked directly to online ticket sales. We may also send out Puppeteers holiday cards, if the theatre approves.
Set: I wish you guys could see it now, but hopefully we'll have an image up on the 'blog soon. Drake and the cast had a meeting about it, and it's an exciting sort of abstraction of a seaside
Punch-n-Judy tent, with a human-sized "puppet" stage to match the real-size version.
Lights: The theatre is somewhat limited in equipment, and I defer to the lighting designer entirely. I always love actor-controlled lighting sources, as well. Maybe after next time I'm in Scranton (12/10-12) we'll be able to say a bit more about this.
Costume: Some commedia dell'arte character analogues to consider: Conor as a crafty (literally) Pantalone, Heather as a painfully shy Isabella (a contradiction, I realize) and Elizabeth as a sort of eager servant (Pedrolino/Columbina) or an innamorata. It might be helpful if they all dressed somewhat of the period of their youth (E: contemporary, H: 60s/70s, C: 30s/40s or older) and then we could transition them to more commedia accents as the show progresses like we discussed, but obviously I'd want to hear our designer's ideas.
