52.36... looking for angels

Highest I know of in Explore... #116 on 10.01.07

 

After spending more than a year writing endless cover letters and tweaking resume after resume, and with the encouragement- nay insistence- of friends and colleagues who've watched me squandering my time applying for positions that would waste my experience and talents, I have finally made the leap of faith I should have made months ago. For the past two weeks when I head for the computer with my coffee mug in the mornings, I am working toward starting a new non-profit organization, LivePuppetry.org.

 

Actually, I've been thinking about this ever since I voluntarily left my position as artistic director of a puppet theatre two years ago. And I've been working on it off and on- around the job applications that were getting harder and harder to motivate myself toward- for a month or two. And I've been training for it for 36 years.

 

In 1971 I was a freshman English Literature major at the University of Connecticut who was thinking of minoring in drama. It seemed to me that theatre was a very powerful way to communicate to a broad audience the "ideas" I was drawn to in literature. A requirement of my Introduction to Drama course was that you put in 20 hours working on a department production. One of the possibilities was a "puppet show", which sounded like it would be simple and easy, so I signed up for that one (I'm not lazy, I had 32 papers to write that semester!). Imagine my surprise when I reported for duty and discovered that the "little puppet show" was actually a double bridge marionette production of Peer Gynt, complete with a cast of 30 and a full orchestra in the pit. It opened my eyes to the possibilities in puppetry, and I've been working in the field- one way or another- ever since.

 

The UConn Puppetry program is the only university level training program in the US that offers students the BA, MA and MFA in puppetry, and while I never majored in puppetry, I was at UConn for 8 years and two degrees so got to work on many exciting, innovative puppet or puppet-and-actor productions. Also, professor Frank Ballard who then headed the program (my old classmate Bart Roccoberton fills that position now) brought many of the world's best puppeteers to campus to both perform and teach. So by the time I left Storrs, to teach theatre myself at Northeastern University, I'd had close contact with extraordinary puppetry artists from across the country and around the world.

 

Once I "got the bug" at UConn, for the past few decades I've made sure to see as much puppetry as possible. Though the average audience hasn't a clue where to find some of the productions I cherish, those in the know can find them at regional, national, and international festivals, museums, out-of-the-way puppet theatres, in the programming of enlightened universities, on the street, at political rallies, late night in the basements of bars, and in people's living rooms. Unlike most Americans, I know that puppetry- with its roots in religion and ritual- is probably the oldest extant form of theatre, and that it was practiced for adults long before the false notion developed that it's primarily for children.

 

I find puppetry incredibly compelling, extraordinarily visual, and a really powerful "message delivery system". If you see the same scene played out by a human actor, and then by a puppet, somehow the lesson is more memorably learned from the puppet. Paul Vincent-Davis, a good friend and the artist in residence at the theatre I used to help run, explains it this way (I'm paraphrasing)... "The immense power of puppetry is that it takes reality, and filters it through fantasy, to make the reality more real". I agree with that, but also feel the power comes from the fact that in regular theatre- or "human theatre" as puppeteers call it- the drama is limited by the constraints of the human body, but in puppet theatre the only constraint is the human imagination... which is of course limitless.

 

Since my days as a professor my career has taken a number of twists and turns, but puppetry- either professionally or avocationally- has been the through-line. Over the past 27 years I have: • designed puppets and puppetry panoply for professional puppeteers, organizations, and corporations; • designed for live performance, television, and film; • taught classes, seminars and master classes at festivals, universities and theatres; • taught and been active in critique for puppet theatre; • taken an active roll in the local, regional and national puppetry organizations; •served on the Board and as Vice President of the national puppetry organization, Puppeteers of America; • served on committees of the international puppetry organization- UNIMA- (currently I'm a commissioner on the newly formed North American Commission); • organized numerous regional and national puppetry conferences/festivals, including serving as co-chair of the 1989 National Puppetry Festival at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; • served several years as a site reporter in puppetry for the National Endowment for the Arts; • established various puppetry consortiums and been in charge of the annual US survey of "puppet places"; • produced and presented numerous puppetry performances and events.

 

My most prominent role in puppetry, and the one closest to my heart, was the five years I spent as the artistic director of The Puppet Showplace Theatre in Brookline, MA 2000 - 2005. I was hired a year or so after the founder, my friend Mary Churchill, succumbed to cancer, when the theatre was in fear of closing. A handful of us worked 70 hour weeks for miserable pay without benefits because it seemed at the time like the only way to keep the doors open. I had to teach myself to be a graphic designer, publicist, marketing director, fundraiser, special events planner, grantswriter, and half a dozen or so other roles because we couldn't hire others to do those jobs. I didn't have a weekend off for five years. And for all that I felt- as did the rest of the staff- that it was a privilege to work with the amazing artists we presented, to ensure that children saw powerful meaningful drama, to help reconnect adults with their capacity for delight, and to expose audiences of all ages to an artform we were all evangelical about. There were very good reasons I needed to leave that job when I did, but I've missed doing that work every day since.

 

At this point in my life I know hundreds and hundreds of amazing puppeteers from around the world who do extraordinary, meaningful work for children and/or adults. And with very very few exceptions- Julie Taymor of The Lion King fame and the late great Jim Henson come immediately to mind- even extremely talented puppeteers have a difficult time making a reasonable living. For as long as I can remember I've heard horror stories of puppeteers trying unsuccessfully to get a mortgage, and most of that was before the current trend of people spending more and more of their time and money on in-home electronic entertainment rather than going out to live theatre.

 

Since the 1950s as transportation and communications advances have made the world a smaller place, puppeteers from around the globe have had the opportunity to learn from each other, share techniques, and collaborate on more and more exciting, groundbreaking, and risk-taking puppetry projects. Slowly but surely more traditional theatres are discovering the mystique and power of the form, and incorporating puppetry into their seasons, and sometimes their own shows. The result is that puppetry is in both a real renaissance, and a golden age. But still, the majority of the general populace has yet to discover these shows, and it's near impossible for even the best of practitioners to make a living in the field. The audience for puppetry needs to grow.

 

So here's where I think, hope, I come in. I like envisioning things, and am pretty good at then carrying them out. I like traditional puppetry, cutting edge productions, and the whole gamut of shows that fit in between the two extremes... and I understand the importance of the continuum. I have experience in most aspects of puppetry. The world of puppetry is very small, so I know most of the important players, and know those who know the others. And I'm very high energy. So I think I'm ready to take on my new role as "puppet evangelist to the world". Sounds a little arrogant, but believe me, this is not about my ego. It's about being useful in the world, and advancing an artform I'm passionate about .

 

There are lots of organizations and extant websites aimed at connecting puppeteers to each other, and to the resources they need, but there's no place on the web devoted exclusively to expanding and educating the AUDIENCE for puppetry. And while there are puppetry magazines out there, they are mostly aimed "in-house", with the exception of one that publishes twice annually- in English- and focusses on a single theme per issue. LivePuppetry.org will remedy that. The site will have three main facets. A continuously updated international calendar. Monthly magazine-style articles on productions, artists, theatres, history, news in the field... translated into several major languages. And a resource section that connects people with where the festivals and theatres are, education opportunities, museums, relevant organizations, existing puppetry blogs, etc. Subscribers will get a monthly reminder that the new magazine content is up. If we can expand and educate the audience, then I believe another important result will naturally follow. We will inspire more critical writing in the field. Heretofore there's been woefully little because theatre critics and writers don't understand the language and history of puppetry. Now they can/will.

 

It's a pretty complex set of goals, and obviously I can't accomplish them alone. And I hate to start a project that I can't accomplish well. So this operation is going to need a web designer, and then an IT person, a data entry specialist and a development person. Someone to help with publicity. And contract reporters from around the world to let us know what's happening puppetry-wise in their region. It needs to pay for translators, an office, and computers. A telephone and heat. Has to pay workman's comp and health insurance. Has to pay a lawyer to help set up the 501c3 (non-profit organization). Heck- the application fee alone is $750.

 

So, much as it's not my favorite task, I'm necessarily in the fundraising business. Often when someone starts a non-profit they do it with their own funds, but after over a year of unemployment, that's hardly an option for me. Right now I'm simultaneously showing the prospectus I've been working on to colleagues for vetting and their suggestions, and working to find a "fiscal sponsor" so that initial donations to the organization will be tax-deductible for the givers. Soon I need to find a few "angels" who believe what I'm doing is important enough to fund my own salary for a few months so I can raise the rest of the start-up monies. Then I guess I'll need to be fundraising in one way or another for the rest of my life. :-) I really HATE asking for money. I went to a conference in New York City last weekend- a "non-profit boot camp", and sat in rooms with 1000 others who also hate asking for money, but do it to advance the missions they serve. It's a necessary evil.

 

In this photograph I'm holding a puppet by my friend Caleb- one of the most extraordinary puppet artists I've ever known- who died almost two years ago while still in his 50s. She was one of Caleb's very earliest puppets, and I rescued her one day from the wastebasket Caleb had tossed her in because she was not the sort of exquisite puppet he was making at the time and he was running out of space in his tiny studio. I just couldn't bear that and she's lived in my studio ever since. I've certainly seen- and own- more sophisticated puppets, but few I love more than this one.

 

Caleb was a true genius, and designed the type of intellectual and sophisticated drawing room puppet entertainments that you could imagine being performed in the Parisian home of someone like George Sand or Gertrude Stein. Often- ahead of his time- his plays revolved around gay themes, and his theatricals were so witty and subtle that often homophobes were forced to laugh even as they recognized themselves being skewered. The pieces could also be elegantly poignant. I'll never forget a small classic pas de deux love scene- usually performed by Pierrot and his beloved Columbine- this time enacted by two Pierrot figures.That simple change spoke volumes. Caleb had a loyal, but very small audience for his work, and he struggled all his life to get bookings. The struggle wore on him. He began to drink more and more. He became more reclusive. He didn't take care of his health. And eventually the ennui resulted in him not discovering he had cancer until it was too late.

 

I don't mean to suggest that no puppeteers make a decent living at it. Many do. But there are many talented folk who leave the field because of the struggle of raising a family on so little. Others spend their lives living close to the edge. Still others push aside their best work to make "more marketable" shows. And many suffer in retirement for lack of savings or security (hmmmm... why does this sound familiar?). So I see this new venture as a win-win situation. If we are successful, more audiences will get to experience this extraordinary form of theatre. And more artists will be able to afford to practice it.

 

Now if I can just figure out how and where to find those angels.

 

Done