Ye Olde Rumpelstiltskin Society
presented

PuppetFest MidWest 2006

It was held at
North Central Missouri College &
Grundy County Jewett Norris Library
Trenton, Missouri

PuppetFest MidWest Review

by Elise Handelman

Festival Directors Peter Allen & Debbie Lutzky Allen held another successful PuppetFest Midwest in Trenton, Missouri, from July 11-16, ’06. Bob and I attended the first PuppetFest Midwest festival in 2003 and were able to go again this year. What’s nice about this festival is its intimacy. There were approximately 50 people, which gave you the opportunity to speak to most everyone there. This independent festival provides intensive workshops spanning 22 hours. There are workshop sessions not only in the morning, but in the afternoons as well. Most P of A festivals have performances in the afternoon.

At the end of the 22 hours, all the attendees assemble in the Main Street Theater for a “Show & Tell Workshop Recital.” Each workshop group gets up to either show the puppets they’ve made in their respective workshop, or perform a small skit. This is a wonderful way for all the other attendees to see what was accomplished in the other workshops... and to see what workshop they might want to take the following year. Everyone is very supportive of each other.

Among the workshop selections were: Luman Coad’s “Hands Up! (Building a paper-mache Hand Puppet),” Phillip Huber’s “Marionette Manipulation,” Nick Barone’s “Building a Moving Mouth Puppet,” Pam Corcoran’s “Needle Felted Hand Puppets,” and Jim ‘Nappy’ Napolitano’s “Shadow Puppetry.” I took Jim ‘Nappy’ Napolitano’s “Shadow Puppet Workshop” and it was fantastic! Each participant was asked to bring a story idea for a five-minute presentation piece to work on. He supplied the basic materials, and with excellent guidance, he had the attendees assemble their own stages and shadow puppets. He showed various tools and how to use them, materials to make the shadow puppets and manipulation techniques.

The cafeteria was conveniently located in the same building as the dorms, and the workshop rooms and theater were nearby! The performances were amazing!!! They included Paul Mesner’s “Sleeping Beauty,” Luman Coad’s “There’s A Dinosaur in the Closet,” Nappy’s “Jack & the Beanstalk,” David Simpich’s “Pilgrim’s Progress,” Drew Allison’s Grey Seal Puppets “A Show of Virtues.” The Master of Ceremonies for all evening performances was Pix Smith. The festival attendees were given priority seating for these performances, while the public was seated behind them.

There was a Swap & Shop where buyers and sellers enjoyed their respective roles. Pix Smith moderated a very valuable Business Roundtable discussion, which included the following panelists: Paul Mesner, Luman Coad, Phillip Huber, Lynne Jennings, Beth Fernandez (from COPA), Nick Barone and M’El Reum.

Phillip Huber once again did a marvelous job in setting up the Puppet Exhibit. This takes great prominence at this festival. A group photo was taken of the attendees, for the local newspaper, while a member from The Trenton Missouri Chamber of Congress helped cut the yellow ribbon.

Brought for this exhibit were the large photo boards from the June ‘06 SFBAPG’s Celebration of Lettie Schubert’s Life. That week a video montage of “Lettie’s Life” was shown, including her work on the “Brother Buzz” TV series that Lettie performed in during the ‘50’s - 60’s.

Attendees had the opportunity to show off their talents at the “Bit and Pieces” Late Night Cabaret hosted by Nick Barone. The Raffle, hosted by Nick Barone and Rose Sage Barone was fun...I actually won an entire set of Endowment Pins, designed by Arlyn Coad, as well as a Puppetry Book by Remo Bufano.

After the evening performances, many of the attendees had fun at The Wild Onion, the local bar/restaurant, which closes to the town and is only open to Festival goers. It’s really casual...the performers that evening are the bartenders the next night! And the food that is prepared by the owner is plentiful and absolutely mouthwatering.

Mark your calendar, next year’s PuppetFest Midwest is July 10-15, 2007.

Hey Allens,

I was just writing to say THANK YOU. Thank you for all that you do to run your own puppet celebration as well as all you do for the world of puppetry in general. I haven't been around that long, but I have found that a good puppet festival is like a good bug light.

You are so amazed by the brilliance of the light that you can't help but be drawn in towards it. Then once you get close enough, you realize that you are hooked and you have to stay. And even if you have to leave for some reason, you still hover close by to make sure that you don't lose sight of it. Does this make sense? (Hopefully the festival doesn't ZAP the puppeteer like the light zaps the bug....but you know what I mean.)

Review of PuppetFest MidWest 2006

by Becky Becker
PuppetFest MidWest Scholarship Recipient

This experience is now a sweet memory. New friends, lots of laughs. Six days of puppetry heaven! Every single part of this week was so much fun. Those of us who flew in were met at the airport and driven to Trenton. The countryside scenery was beautiful and excited chatter filled the van as we got to know each other. On arrival we were warmly greeted by Debbie and Peter and others who assigned us our air-conditioned rooms and gave us our packet of information. I must say that the organizational skills of Debbie and Peter are excellent and they were always on top of everything. I especially appreciated all the letters and emails that clearly answered any question I might have before the festival.

After dinner the first night, we were treated to the first of five shows. The Theater, housed in a beautiful old library across the street from our dorm, was warm and inviting and each performance open to the public was well attended. I appreciated that the first four rows of the theater were always reserved for Festival goers. Not only were we treated to some amazing shows but afterward we walked one block to the Wild Onion Cafe where once again we were fed! The air buzzed with excited, happy voices. A cheer would go up when that evening’s performer walked in. The Onion is a great way to unwind at the end of the day.

For the rest of the week we spent a good part of every day in class working on a project. The “Show and Tell” session at the end of the week allowed everyone to get a glimpse of what others had explored and I’m sure whetted appetites for next year.

I want to thank everyone who helped this festival in any way. Thanks go to Luman, Christy, Evey and Debbie for the best paper mache class ever! Thanks Jan, my roommate, for giving me your thrift shop find, a vintage pillowcase that became my monkey’s costume. Thanks, Debbie, for leading us in yoga daily. Thanks to all the teachers, performers and participants for bringing your energy to the group. Thanks to all involved in the beautiful exhibit and the exciting raffle. Thanks to Doris Benz for the homemade cookies! Thank you everyone for creating one heck of a week. I look forward to being with you again at future PuppetFest MidWest Festivals!

Becky in Luman Coad's class, with Debbie Lutzky Allen, Evey Brown and Christy Lipps.

(photo credit Christy Lipps and Lynne Jennings )