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April Gentry-Sutterfield

Puppets or No Puppets?

5/25/2011

2 Comments

 
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We've used puppets generously provided by April Ross (formerly of the Heights Toy Center in Little Rock).  The idea of using puppets came from my good friend from Stage One Children's Theatre in Louisville, Talleri McRae.  Talleri suggested I use puppets when she read my previous Cabot observations blog in which I mention my challenges in using Augusto Boal's Forum Theatre techniques with young children.  In forum, you stop a scene at the climax and have audience members "rehearse" different solutions to the problem by standing in for actors.  When I tried this with children, the childrens' reactions ranged from completely freezing up to self-conscious giggling but rarely had I been successful in these facilitations.  Talleri suggested having the students whisper what they would say and do to me and then using a puppet to actually stand in.  This technique really seemed to free the students up, so I decided to use puppets in the actual show.  Now I'm wondering....puppets or no puppets?

Pros:

1)  The students really do like the puppets. 

2)  I think the puppets allow our adult actors to convincingly deliver lines a child would say without the awkwardness that usually accompanies adults performing as children.

Cons:

1)  I don't know how necessary the puppets are.  Could we deliver these lines as effectively without puppets?

2)  The puppets we have are wonderful, and I am so thankful to April for letting us borrow them.  If I decide to go with puppets, however, I think I would want really spectacular puppets, i.e. larger, that are (possibly) created specifically for the show.

3)  Since this is part of a larger series, I want to ensure that the series is unified.  Do puppets in one show and not the others seem random?

4)  We try forum out tomorrow.  Do the puppets really help students stand in for actors?

5)  I would need to really work with actors on animating their puppets.  
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2 Comments
Talleri
5/27/2011 01:35:13 pm

April! I am so glad that you are blogging about this because I've never actually tried the puppets MYSELF, I've just seen it done in a demonstration and read about it. It sounds like you are ripe for exploration and you are trying it lots of different ways. Have you tried it where you stay as the "oppressor/offender" and have the student volunteer actually voice the puppet? Also, I think I forgot to tell you that in the demo I saw with Karina Naumer, she used almost toy theatre-- hmmm... Like, little animals that were small and plastic so the students didn't have any problems physically manipulating the puppets because they are more like figurines...

Phone call soon?

And thanks for the shout out! Miss you lots. --Tal--

PS-- I keep thinking that Little Rock is only a day's drive away-- but so is Louisville! And I have a guest room! Come on up!

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Janelle Steele link
12/14/2020 09:50:38 pm

Very thouughtful blog

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    About the Author:  April Gentry-Sutterfield is a director, deviser, educator, and mom who uses theatre as a tool for social justice, education, and community engagement.


    Contact April at april@aprilgentry-sutterfield.com.

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