John Kennedy Appearance In Indiana / Chicago Area

[Kevin the Frog]

John Kennedy, Muppet performer and author of the Puppet Mania! book, will be at the Mousetrap Puppet Theater in Shipshewana, Indiana on August 18th. He actually quickly replied to my email asking about and said this:


"I don't think the times are set yet but I will be leading my foam sculpture class for ages 8 and up and my sock puppet class for ages 8 and under. He hasn't given me the times yet but you could look for them online at www.mousetraptheater.org or call the theater."


I am hoping to talk the wifey into making the haul up there, it's about three hours north of Indianapolis and pretty close to Chicago and Kalamazoo, MI.

In other Indiana puppetry news, the Indiana Puppetry Guild met yesterday at Peewinkle's Puppet Studio in downtown Indy. They meet four times a year. http://www.puppeteers.org/reg_gl_ind.html

Edit / Update:

I found more info on the event:
The Mousetrap Puppet Theater in Shipehwana, IN, is hosting two workshsop
with long time puppeteer John Kennedy on Saturday, August 18.

John is a native of Indiana who has worked for the Jim Henson Co.,
performed on Sesame St., Jack's Big Music Show, and appeared in several
movies and other television shows.

His first workshop will be a Sock Puppy from his first book "Puppet
Mania." This adorable puppet is a lot of fun for kids of all ages to make
and then add things to give the puppet its own character.

In the afternoon, John will be showing how to make Prof. Foaman from his
second book "Puppet Planet." The original design is a wonderful foam head
hand and rod puppet. This workshop is geared toward older kids - 8 & up -
and adults. Even experienced puppeteers will enjoy learning some of these
tricks. (John recently did this workshop at Puppet Rampage.)

Material fees are $5 for Sock Puppet and $15 for Prof. Foaman - all
materials are provided. Space is limited, so register now! Call the
theater at 260-768-4968, or email me at oneguy@kuntrynet.com.

Hope to see some of you up here in Shipshewana!

 

[staceyrebecca]

I got to take his foaman workshop in MN. It was lovely. He's SO kind!

 

[Kevin the Frog]

I just got back from the foam puppet workshop with John. It was an awesome experience. I learned a lot about shaping a block of foam into a character, in my case a kitty cat. He helped some of us to sketch the outline of our characters, so we would know where to start cutting with our scissors. Then when we were done he took his special magical foam smoothing machine and rounded it all out so the puppet was perfected. Even young kids made some great looking foam puppets when it was all said and done. The shirt with arms was already sewn with loops at the cuffs for securing arm rods, the hands were cut and ready to be shaped, and there were many items to decorate your puppet with (eyes, hair, etc).

At the end we all rounded up and sat on stage for the end of the marionette show that was going on. John's wolf/cat puppet talked to each of the puppets in front of the audience. John was great with improv and being funny with the other "puppeteers". Most of the people were families with kids looking for something fun to do, but they all made great looking puppets. I was last up and came up with "Henry the Impersonating Pussycat" who was the boyfriend of Henrietta from Mr Rogers. He said a lot of "meow meows". I kinda stole Terry Fater's idea and the cat did a "Kermit the Cat" impression for John and the audience. It was a lot of fun.

Since I was last, right after we were done I asked him how he controls arm rods and he went into it for a while. His control was crazy. He could make his puppet play air guitar at will. It looked so real. Later he signed my Puppet Planet book and was gracious enough to talk to me for a while after his long day about some of his Muppet experience and current projects. He's got a lot going on. He just finished the new Elmo special assisting Kevin, Jack's Big Music Show on Noggin, Dr. Seuss etc. I didn't know he has played Floyd, Dr Teeth and Animal. The coolest thing I thought was that he performed Fozzie for Muppets from Space (with overdubed voice). That would be so awesome! The whole ride back home I was trying to remember which box had my Muppets From Space copy, and when I got home my wife said it was going to be on tonight! So we watched it tonight and I got to watch a great puppeteer perform, and also the nicest guy in the world who I had just talked to just hours before. Great ending for a great day!

A sincere thanks John for doing these workshops. It was only $15 for the 3 hour workshop and all the materials, so I think it's a labor of love for him.