PuppetFest MidWest is an independent, annual puppetry festival that is presented, organized and financially supported by puppeteers as a gift to other puppeteers. We hope that it will inspire, strengthen and renew our mutual commitment to puppet theatre. It is an affordable puppet festival, with an emphasis on showing and teaching the traditional skills of good puppet theatre.

At PuppetFest MidWest, you will be treated to world-class puppet performances in an intimate setting, and you will participate in a 4 day in-depth workshop, taught by one of the professional puppeteers performing at the festival. You will learn skills and techniques from some of the best puppeteers performing today.

This is a small, intimate festival held at North Central Missouri College and at Grundy County Jewett Norris Library, both located in the small town of Trenton, Missouri.

 

Grundy County Jewett Norris Library

 

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PuppetFest MidWest 2004

The second PuppetFest MidWest, an independent, annual puppetry festival, took place in July, 2004. It was held on the campus of North Central Missouri College in Trenton, Missouri. Here the three scholarship recipients report on their experience.

Megan Sensenich, Olathe, Kansas -
“This was the second year that I was a recipient of the PuppetFest MidWest Scholarship. Just like last year, I was allowed to participate in all the great things the festival had to offer, such as intensive workshops and exciting shows, but this year I was also given the job of junior technical staff. That meant that some of my free time was spent helping performers set up and strike and other such things. Now that might sound like a lot of work, but it wasn’t and I really enjoyed it. It gave me a chance to see all the things that go into making the festival run smoothly and observe and learn from all the different types of staging and equipment the different performers used, how they did their lighting, sound, etc. I found it to be very educational, and would recommend it to anybody who really wants to learn all that they can while attending a festival.

Another part of the festival that I found extremely valuable were the workshops. Like last year, each participant chose one intensive workshop for the entire week. This year the workshops were even a few hours longer than last year, which I appreciated. I chose to take Luman Coad’s script writing workshop this year. I was amazed at how much I learned and accomplished during the week. Having never written a script or had any real training in that area, I was a little nervous going into the workshop. Would I write a good script, would I get stuck, would I even come up with a basic idea? These were all questions that plagued me, but to my surprise and joy, at the end of the week I had not one, but two solid ideas for scripts, an understanding of basic dramatic structure, and a nearly completed first draft for one of the scripts! It was great to be able to learn about the different aspects of script writing from Luman and then try to apply them to my own writing while he and the other people in the workshop were there to deal with my questions or problems. I left the festival, as I know everyone else did, not only having learned concepts and ideas in the workshops, but having learned how to turn these ideas into something tangible that I had accomplished.

I have talked a lot about all the things I learned at the festival and the great experience I gained, and that probably should be my favorite part of the festival, but it is not. I enjoy it a ton, but my favorite part of the festival is the people. This year as well as last, I enjoyed spending a week meeting and getting to know puppeteers from all over. Some of them are just starting out in puppetry and some of them have been doing it all their lives, but they are all willing to share and talk about things and experiences. The smaller size of this festival is great because it really gives you a chance to meet and get to know just about everyone. Many of the people had also attended last year’s festival, and it was a lot of fun to see them and and talk with them again. I am looking forward to attending next year’s festival and seeing them again.”

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John Reagan, Thorndike, Massachusetts
“Last summer, while I was working at a Supermarket Deli, a couple of friends of mine went to last year’s PuppetFest MidWest and returned singing its praises. This summer I was free from the Deli and, thanks to this generous scholarship, attending my first puppetry festival. Never in my relatively short career in puppetry have I been with so many people all sharing a similar passion
for puppetry. I met an exciting array of people, some of whom were just starting out like myself, or were experienced professionals who’ve been in the business for years. We had all come together in this small midwestern town to share ideas and learn from one another.

When I first arrived I felt somewhat nervous because Most of the people had either been to the festival the year before or know each other already. I felt like the “new kid”. This ended quickly, replaced by feelings of companionship and welcome. Finding people who shared in my broad interests of puppetry as a whole, and some more specific ones such as monkeys, robots and zombies helped the transition along.

The smaller size of this festival helped to make it so inclusive and kept anyone from feeling lost or rushed along by the week’s events. It also made for easy accessibility to the performers and the people teaching the workshops. My workshop on shadow puppetry, taught by Jim Napolitano, was fantastic. I have met Jim on previous occasions and am familiar with the art of shadow puppetry but the large amount of workshop time and small class size gave me the chance to get to know him as both a puppeteer and a person as he shared with us his knowledge of and passion for the art of shadow puppets. By week’s end I left with a short shadow show, a screen to practice it on and lots of valuable information to help me on my way.

Performances at the festival ranged from the traditional to the new and from serious to crazy while always being of the highest quality. I was welcome to examine the puppets and sets, after the show of course, and the performers were always willing to explain and satisfy our curiosities as best they could. We were able to talk with them after the shows, in the off time during meals, and at a local cafe that we all went to after the evening performances. Here I was really able to connect with people outside of my shadow class and get to know other puppeteers. It’s really hard to maintain the idea that someone is too famous or above your level of skill to approach when you are eating cereal together at 8 a.m. or chatting over a bowl of spinach artichoke dip at the end of the day.

That, I think, is the best part of the festival. Everyone there was friendly, open and perfectly willing to share his or her wisdom with a fledgling puppeteer such as myself. I left this festival knowing that not only could I be a puppeteer and still eat on a daily basis, but that there are other people out there crazy enough to understand my passion for puppets. Long story short, I had a blast,
I learned a lot, and I hope to see everyone again in 2005!”

 

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Keith Shubert, DeKalb, Illinois
“It all began with an internet search in early 2003. I was looking for a puppetry event during the summer that was fairly close to my home in DeKalb, IL and fit my price range (cheap!). I stumbled across something in Trenton, MO. It was relatively close and the price was good so I read on. The list of performers was impressive with some that I was familiar with and others I was not. Then I came upon a page calling on anyone to bring a show and space would be provided. I was working on an adaptation of the horror classic The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari and thought this festival would provide a nice venue for it to be performed. I couldn’t have been more right. The show was well received by all at the first PuppetFest MidWest and I knew that I had really met a wonderful group of people who made me feel like a part of a larger puppetry community.

It is this community of puppeteers that brought me back to the second festival and will probably keep me going back as long as this wonderful festival exists. I had been to other festivals that seemed impersonal and cliquey. That is not the case at all with this festival. Everyone from the seasoned veteran to the novice upstart to the casual enthusiast is made to feel very welcome and accepted in the group. The second year really felt like a family reunion, if your family was populated by eclectic and interesting people from all walks of life that you actually liked.

During the first festival I attended Stephen Carter’s woodcarving workshop.I began carving the head of a character I had been thinking of for a while and thought it would be a good aesthetic choice in what would be my first hand carved character. I am a big fan of continuity and over the course of the following year I built an entire show around this character with the plan to present the show at the second festival. I wanted to give something back to all the great people I had met during the 2003 festival and set out to create something unique and original that everyone would enjoy. At the same time, with the continuity aspect, I wanted to show all the festival goers that they had inspired this work in many different ways. I hope I accomplished with with the piece I performed at the second PuppetFest MidWest entitled The Indomitable What’s It. Whatever the case, I think the show was again well received and held a special place within the festival.

As for the rest of the festival, it was just as good if not better than the first year. All the performances were of the highest quality in scope and aesthetic principle. Each performance was so different than the next, which was very inspiring to me as a novice in the puppetry field. They ranged from perfectionist technique, engineering wizardry, comedic timing, creative ingenuity, and dialogue mastery. The festival’s performances showed the true diversity of the puppetry art form. They whole event was capped off with a wonderful array of performers at the late night cabaret and a midday recital/show and tell. As for the workshop I attended this year, Phillip Huber’s Marionette Design, the experience was invaluable to me. Phillip is a great teacher and a true master in his field. I could only hope one day to create something half as beautiful as a Huber marionette. I hold my time at the 2003 and 2004 PuppetFest MidWest with the highest regard in my adult life and hope for many more festivals of this caliber to come in the future. Thank you Peter and Debbie and everyone involved in the creation and fruition of this festival.”

 

For more information, please contact:
Peter Allen & Debbie Lutzky Allen, Directors
PuppetFest MidWest
PO Box 14
Jamesport, MO 64648
Phone: (660) 684-6825