Puppet Coach needed!

[Iokitek]

Ah man! And here I was thinking that my looks wouldn't matter if I became a puppeteer instead of an actoure.

This isn't fair actually. it reminds me of voice dubbing here in the Netherlands. Disney uses alot of voice overs for their movies for instance. But instead of hiring people whose dream it has always been to do this and have trained for this their "entire" life, they instead hire well known Dutch actors because then they can attach those names to the movies in hopes of drawing a bigger crowd.

Lately (according to rumors) Studio 100 in Belgium has been making plans to revive an old Dutch puppetseries called Tita Tovenaar. They wish to make a series, a movie and a musical (we love musicals here in the Netherlands). I'm unemployed right now and if I have to look for work I was thinking of auditioning for this. But I guess they will also use actors instead of puppeteers. In the past well known actors were also often used to dub the puppeteers voices on those shows.

Anyway I don't think that someone can just become a puppeteer in one week or something like that. Although already having acting experience should prove helpfull the art of operating a puppet takes a while to learn. Especially if you want to do live performances.

 

[PaulyPuppets]

Anyway I don't think that someone can just become a puppeteer in one week or something like that. Although already having acting experience should prove helpfull the art of operating a puppet takes a while to learn. Especially if you want to do live performances.

I agree. But I must admit, I have auditioned actor/singers in the past, who I thought might make good puppeteers based on the fact that they were good movers on stage and did good character voices. Puppeteer skill is something that you either naturally possess, or you don't. Plain and simple. Once in a while, I'd get someone who is simply a natural at puppeteering, and never even knew they were until that moment. This has happened to me at least three times. One of them was a girl who I hired for a TV show I created back in '95. And now, guess where she works? Yes, AVENUE Q on Broadway. She's the understudy for all the female roles. So again, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.​

 

[Buck-Beaver]

I'll second that.

When I did black light theatre we always looked for dancers, mimes, clowns (classically trained ones - not the birthday party variety) and people with backgrounds in physical theatre because they come with years of physical training built-in and could usually be taught very quickly. After being used to that, last year I trained about 40 puppeteers with little or no experience for a series of tabletop bunraku-style shows and it was a really interesting learning experience. The puppeteers ranged in age from 16 to 65 and had a really diverse background.

What I found after a few months of rehearsals was that the people who became good puppeteers didn't so much have a specific knack for puppetry as much as they posessed an understanding of movement and had a good sense of play. Every one of the good puppeteers had those two qualities, even if they weren't aware of them.

The ideal is to have both qualities I think, but of the two I think that a sense of play is the most important. Even if someone isn't technically very strong in terms of manipulation (that's what you need practice and an understanding of movement for) if they have a sense of play they will usually be entertaining to watch on some level.

 

[Iokitek]

That's all very interresting. I'm a beginning puppeteer myself and I am wondering were to get other puppeteers to help me out by performing other characters. Perhaps I could look for amateur actors then. I guess it's best to start planning to train other people aswell besides studying myself.

 

[PaulyPuppets]

there are plenty of good looking and young attractive looking acors in the world sure, but the show is built on the backs of the puppets and the puppeteers. not supposed good looks.

I totally agree. But as BUCK said, that's just "the nature of the beast". I've found that the acting industry is probably the most unfair, cruel and back stabbing profession in the world. But that passion to perform keeps us going for it and accepting the injustice as part of the biz. I compare the puppetry biz and the acting biz sometimes, and find that the puppetry biz can also be quite unfair at times. This is the exact reason I create a lot of my work on my own. At least I know I'll be fair to myself. But again, we do all of the above because we love to be artists. No wonder we all need therapy.
www.puppetsnstuff.com​

 

[ravagefrackle]

ok well i saw her today,(briefly), she said things went well, i wish her the best of luck, (and thank you for taking good care of my puppet)