Anyone Performing in Professional Puppet Shows?

[crazy chris]

GREAT TIP PUPPETAINER! i agree... always good to give incentives that lead to further business! and everyone likes to feel like their getting a good deal that no one else gets... we all wanna be VIP's lol

and good luck with the upcoming video!

cant wait to see it!

cc

 

[davidmartiste]

Thanks for starting this thread Chris. It was especially inspiring for me to read "im pushing 40...and i consider this the happiest time of my life all because of finally pursuing puppets as a career of sorts..." I also relate to the stories of sitting in a soul-sucking job for the last 10 years.

I just turned 41 and had been struck by my childhood passion again of puppeteering over the past 4 years. I've been slowly building my skills as my time allows. I've been co-producing with friends in a theater group and it's been fertile ground to get the ideas in motion. I've been interested in developing shows for schools/ libraries as I have friends and relatives in the local system. At the same time, the opportunity to develop something for an adult audience through my theatre group is also ripe. Last year, a friend hired me at a local children's museum to run a puppet making workshop for older kids. It was very rewarding but, I also earned every penny and it became obvious that the better money is, indeed, made by performing. By some wonderful stroke of luck [and the bad economy] my job is being cut and centralized to another office. By the end of September, I will get a small severance package as well as unemployment benefits. I'm hoping to take advantage of retraining and honing up on my video and audio skills and get this puppet company launched once and for all. It's a very exciting time for me and, like you, I consider this the happiest time of my life.

 

[crazy chris]

thanks so much for sharing your experiences david!

its definately inspiring to hear from other folks my age who arent ashamed to feel passionate about this craft we choose!

we were so lucky to grow up in a golden age of puppet television and movies! seeing the muppet movie on the silver screen in its first run...and being enveloped by all the merchandising and celebration of all things muppets was such an exciting time to be a kid!

i guess it really stuck with alot of us huh?

we were the kids who spent months trying to figure out how kermit road a bike....and i STILL dont quite know how ...LOL

at any rate! i cant wait to hear more stories from folks! i just love chatting about puppets!

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[CoOKiE]

Its too bad we all can't just say, "hey lets meet up down the street and get our heads together on a project and say good bye to our day jobs!"

 

[crazy chris]

cookie....your soooooo right!

so much talent on here!

cc

 

[davidmartiste]

Alright Chris - you started me down memory lane and now you have to pardon me while I hijack this thread for a moment to indulge myself.

We grew up in a time when most local theatres had no more than 2 screens. We had 3 local theatres within our neighboring towns so, you couldn't count on every new film being released locally. My mom worked for a newspaper and called me with excitement to let me know that the Muppet Movie would be shown in a town about 30 minutes away. We saw it there and then I waited until it premiered in our local theatre chain to see it several more times. We were also lucky to have cable when it first rolled out and when the Muppet Movie debuted on cable, I marked on my Muppet calendar every date it was playing on the pay channel so I would be sure to catch it as many times as I could.

It was such a magical time to be a Muppet fan for me. I wrote letters to the Muppet Show fan club and received promotional photos in the mail [I curse the day I sold it all at a garage sale when I was a disaffected youth who didn't know any better]... the Muppet Show albums were a celebrated release and surprise gifts by my parents. We didn't know about release dates back then! They just showed up in our stores and we were elated. My parents always indulged our passions [thankfully] and took me to the local puppet performances when they played at the local malls. There was a "Puppet Through The Ages" exhibit at the Cooper Hewitt Museum in NYC that my parents also took me to which I will never forget because it was topped with a trip to the original Muppet Stuff Store.

A few years ago when my dad was replacing the carpets with wooden floors, he found, behind the baseboard, one of those "lucky medallions" that you got pressed for 25 or 50 cents at the local arcade. It was given to me as a gift from one of my friends way back when. It says "Muppet Freak David" ... and I've had it on my key-chain since.

Now - back to the puppets! I look forward to inspiring kids with magical performances the way I was when I was young. It really does bring out the kid in you.

 

[crazy chris]

GREAT STUFF DAVID!

i was a chubby little kid...and at one point my mother promised to have my aunt SEW me my very own muppets if i would lose 30 lbs...hahahahaha... i tried...i really did... lucky for them they never had to pay up!... that was back before the internet would allow a kid from a rural town to find fleece or fur or anything needed for that great feat .... i wouldnt have even known where to start

i remember having the muppet movie soundtrack on 8 track and acting out every song....still know all the words by heart...even the adlibs...lol

had the great muppet caper album... still remember that cover....still remember my amazement as a dozen or so muppets scaled the gutter to the roof ...and seeing them all on bikes...completely quadrupling my initial excitement of only seeing kermit on a bike in muppet movie

good times

....good times

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[Puppetainer]

I would like to add my voice to the chorus of folks in their 40's (I'm 49) who have reconnected with their passion for puppetry. And I agree with Cookie about the idea of all quitting our day jobs and getting our heads together!

As for my part in that scheme my job sort of quit me back in April and I've been spending most of my unemployed time learning all I can about puppet craft to follow my dream. So puppetry is my non-paying (at the moment) day job. As for all of us getting together...that's the magic of the internet and this forum! I'm so thankful to have this spot to gather and converse/brain storm with my fellow puppet fanatics!

We're able to connect, share and learn with people whom we probably would NEVER have met otherwise. Sure there are events, conventions and the like but those events are few and far between. The good old forum is ALWAYS here for us! And then we can occasionally meet up at those various events as some of us have. So lets keep up all the great visiting and networking as we all pursue this common passion!

Viva La Forum!

 

[crazy chris]

SO TRUE PUPPETAINER! SO TRUE!

cc

 

[aaronmojo]

I'm glad there are a bunch of us adults (I'm 31) who haven't lost their passion for puppets.

My first love was cartooning but that doesn't exactly pay the bills (and I've tried!). Not that running a puppet show business will, either, but I think we all owe it to ourselves to give our dreams a shot. If it fails, I'll just run back to the cubicle with my tail between my legs.