Atlanta Puppet Press April 2005 The Atlanta Puppet Press The Newsletter of the Atlanta Puppetry Guild www.atlantapuppetryguild.org July 2005 What's Inside Meeting Information Page 2 Remembering the Past When: Sunday, July17th at 4 PM Page 3 Website Update / Latshaw Page 4 Puppet Fest 2005 / PofA Where: Carol Daniel's House Page 5 Puppetry News and Events (404-636-0022) Page 6 Puppet Poll / Pictures 2391 Pine Cove Drive Page 7 Guild Photo Gallery Tucker, GA 30084 Page 8 Meeting Minutes / Officers Page 9 Guild Information Directions: From I-285 at LaVista Rd, turn to Your Ideas Are Needed! go outside of the perimeter, then turn left onto Henderson, which is The Atlanta Puppet Press has the the stop light just after Midvale. potential to become a great Rd. Just after the yellow signs newsletter, but I can't do it indicating a curve in the road, alone. You can help by submitting take the first right onto short puppetry related items that Tippernary Tr. Come to the stop would be of interest to other guild sign (no street sign) and turn members. Here are just a few right. Then take the first right possible ideas: onto Pine Cove Drive. Carol is at the end of the street on the cul- News and Events, How-To's de-sac. Her house is the only Book & Show Reviews contemporary one, so you can't Helpful Tips miss it. If you would like to be a regular What's Happening: columnist, there are many topics that you can choose from. Also, if * Covered Dish Social: Bring a you can draw or paint, I would love sampling from your favorite ethnic to have some original puppet restaurant. This could be an related artwork to use in the appetizer or .a main dish that newsletter. could feed four or five people. No one should feel obligated to spend I also need your feedback, so over $10, and "ethnic" should be please do not hesitate to let me considered as a broad category: know what you like or dislike about Chinese, Korean, Thai, Indian, the new newsletter. Nigerian, Mexican, European, etc. Please send submissions and * Fall Puppet Festival Planning: feedback to Discussion of ideas for putting on newsletter@atlantapuppetryguild.org a fall puppetry festival this year and start your subject line with in lieu of our rained-out National "APGNL:" Day of Puppetry. * Guild Logo Ideas: Bring in your ideas on what should go into a new logo for the guild. * Puppet Show: Kevin Pittman will be presenting one of his newest show, The Tale of the Pig From South Bay. Discussion and feedback afterwards. * Anniversary Dinner Plans: We'll start discussing ideas for celebrating the guild's thirty- fifth anniversary. Remembering the Past By Kevin Pittman "I wish I could remember" - How many times do we say that in our lives? We have all had experiences that we would like to remember forever -- to relive and enjoy over and over again. Yet, as time goes by, it becomes harder and harder to remember even the most wonderful experiences. Documents, pictures, and home movies can reignite those old memories and help to keep them from fading away quite so quickly, but these mediums only work if they are properly preserved and are kept accessible. How many of us have drawers full of old pictures that have never been sorted out and placed in albums? Or home movies sitting on tapes waiting to be edited together into some useful form? When I took on position of guild newsletter editor, I was given a large box of newsletters and other documents, passed on to me by our former newsletter editor, as it was presumably passed on to her when she took on the same role. As I sifted through this box and studied the contents, I marveled at how much history was contained within these documents. And then, I started to think about how all of this history was trapped -- locked away in this one box in one person's home, unavailable for anyone else to see. I wanted to make this history available to the rest of the guild, but it took nearly a year before all of the pieces fell into place. The most important piece came when I brought the guild's website online. In designing the site, I decided that it would be the perfect place to house electronic versions of the most important and interesting puppet guild documents I had in my possession. With the website up and running, I turned my attention to the time consuming process of scanning in all of these documents and getting them into a format that would work on the website. Our former newsletter editors left me with a formidable challenge, however, as they had used at least four different paper sizes and orientations over the years, each of which required me to develop a different scanning and post-processing method to create usable image files. Scanning all these documents is taking longer than I had expected, but I am thrilled to announce that I have now processed half of the guild documents that I have in my possession, and those documents are now available through the Guild website at this location: http://www.atlantapuppetryguild.org/archive/ I still need to scan the newsletters from mid-2000 through 2004, and as soon as I done this, I will post those newsletters to the website as well. If you have any other old newsletters, old photos, or other old puppet- guild related documents that are not part of the archive, please consider loaning them to me so that I can scan them and add them to the online archive, allowing everyone in the guild to learn more about the guild's past activities. Together we can help to preserve the history of the Atlanta Puppetry Guild for generations to come. Your Contributions Are Needed! I apologize if this newsletter is a little on the thin side, but I have been a bit preoccupied in getting the archives online while juggling all the other duties of being a part-time puppeteer and working a full-time job. I do hope to have a jam-packed newsletter next time with reports on all of the fun our members have at the National Festival. So, to all you folks who are attending the festival: be sure to let me know what you saw, what you learned, what you enjoyed, and what you brought back with you, and don't forget to send me copies of any good pictures you might take). APG Website Update To better meet the needs of the guild, I am working on adding a new view into our website just for our members, called "Backstage at the Puppetry Guild". This new view will provide access to information and resources that for various reasons should not be available to the general public. While the view is not finished yet, it is usable enough that I want to go ahead and share it with everyone. To get there, just point your web browser to the following URL: http://www.atlantapuppetryguild.org/backstage/ To access this view, you'll need the current member ID and password, which should have been sent to you in the email that told you this newsletter was available for download. The first thing you'll notice is that all of the details for the next meeting are available on the main page of this section, making it easy to quickly check on the agenda, time, date, and driving directions without having to dig into the newsletter. You'll also find links to the Guild Historical Archive (see the lead article of this newsletter for more details) and the Update Your Member Profile page. In the future I hope to add even more additional members-only features to our website -- it's just a matter of time By the way, don't forget that you can have your information listed on the guild website, allowing our website visitors to find out about what you do with puppetry. Just go to the "Update Your Member Profile" page and submit your information. I will try to get updates posted to the website within two to three days. A Note on George Latshaw By Kevin Pittman Many of you are probably familiar with George Latshaw, a master puppeteer and a former president of the Puppeteers of America with a list of credentials far too numerous to be listed here. If you are not familiar with this great artist, it would serve you well to go pick up one of his books. My personal recommendation, and one of my favorite books on puppetry, is The Complete Book of Puppetry, which he originally titled Puppetry: The Ultimate Disguise. This was one of the first books I bought when I began studying puppetry, and I read it cover to cover in one day. I have referred to it repeatedly ever since, and I am especially fond of the first two chapters, where Latshaw gives a history of puppetry and analyzes the puppeteer, comparing and contrasting the puppeteer to the traditional stage actor. I am writing about George Latshaw because I was just informed that he has suffered a broken hip and had to undergo hip replacement surgery. The good news is that he is doing well, and that while he is still undergoing rehabilitation treatment and they have him walking with a wheelchair behind him. His wife, Pat, reports that he is anxious to return home and that he looks forward to her bringing him mail everyday. If you would like to write to George, you can send your cards and letters to this address: George and Pat Latshaw 1211 Horsemint Lane Wesley Chapel, FL 33543 Puppet Fest 2005 It's time to start making plans to get yourself to Minnesota for the Puppeteers of America's 2005 national festival. Puppet Fest 2005 will be held July 24-30 at Concordia University in St. Paul, Minnesota. The performance line-up is just starting to take shape, but it's already a diverse and exciting mix. You won't want to miss "Professor" Glyn Edwards (England), State Puppet Theatre Stara Zagora (Bulgaria), In the Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theatre (Minneapolis), David Syrotiak's National Marionette Theatre (Vermont), Michael Sommers' Open Eye Figure Theatre (Minneapolis), Andrew Kim (Seattle), or a Javanese wayang shadow performance accompanied by the Minnesota Gamelan Orchestra. The festival is slated to open on the school's enormous athletic field house, where an Olympic style "Parade of Guilds" will highlight the opening ceremonies. Don't forget to check the festival website, www.PuppetFest2005.org regularly for the latest festival updates. On the website, you'll also find performance and workshop proposal forms that you can download as well as registration forms. It's not too early to get your registration in. A $150 deposit will reserve your spot. If you have questions or ideas for the festival, feel free to contact me. We'd love to hear from you and we'll look forward to seeing you in Minnesota this summer. Kurt Hunter, Festival Director - director@puppetfest2005.org - 952-920- 7171 Join the Puppeteers of America! Here's just a few reasons to join For more information, please visit the PofA right now: the Puppeteers of America website: http://www.puppeteers.org/ · Four Puppetry Journals a year, plus the Playboard newsletter If you do not have Internet access, you can also request information by · PofA Handbook and Membership U.S. mail: Directory, just chock full of useful contact information. The Puppeteers of America, Inc. Joyce and Chuck Berty · Ability to get group rates for PO Box 29417 liability insurance. Parma, OH, 44129-0417 888-568-6235 · Discount on items in the puppetry store. · Access to PofA consultants · Discounts on registration for national and regional PofA festivals Puppet News and Happenings Evy Wright and husband Mark are expecting their first child at the beginning of January. In the meantime she and Reay Kaplan are having a very busy summer season with over eighty-five bookings of Curious Moon Puppet Theatre's new show, The Curious Moon Puppet Circus. Gail McKay will soon be moving to Charlotte, North Carolina, but plans to continue doing puppetry with her business, "Storytelling with Puppets, and More!" She has also begun a new program, "Creative Communication: Sign Language for All", where she will teach children, babies and parents / caregivers how to use sign language. Gail will be attending the Puppet Fest 2005, where she has been accepted to participate in Jerry Juhl's Intensive Writing Workshop. Lee Bryan newest show, Dr. Dinosaur, will open at the Roswell Cultural Arts Center on July 11th and run through July 16th. He has configured two of his shows for airplane transport, thanks to the great work of a local case- maker. For next summer Lee is working on a dual-bill show featuring the stories of the "Three Little Pigs" and "Little Red Riding Hood". The shows will feature hand puppets and rod puppets built by Ray Moore and the two stories will share the same wolf character. Lee is trying to come up with a clever title for the show, so let him know if you have any ideas I failed to mention it in the last newsletter, but yours truly is now working professionally part-time as an entertainer for hire under the name "Kevin Pittman and his Forest Friends". I am specializing in animal puppet and costume characters and offer puppet shows featuring fairy-tale style stories, walk-around character meet-and-greet, puppetry workshops, and more. With the business comes a new website as well, which you can find at http://www.forestpuppets.com/. For non-business topics, you can still use my Georgia Tech email address, but please send all business-related email to info@forestpuppets.com. Jeff Cornett, Carol Daniel, Barbara Goltz, Gail McKay, Evy Wright, and Reay Schloss will all be attending the Puppeteers of America National Festival, Puppet Fest 2005, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Let's wish them all safe travels and a fun and exciting week of being immersed in the wonders of puppetry. I expect full reports from everyone who goes (and pictures would be great, too) since I will not be able to get up there this time. Showing July 2005 through September 2005 at the Center for Puppetry Arts ( www.puppet.org ) Hansel and Gretel Mainstage TheaterJuly 12th - July 31st Tanglewood Marionettes of Ware, MA Aladdin and His Wonderful Lamp Mainstage TheaterAugust 2nd - August 21st National Marionette Theater of Brattleboro, VT Ancient Arts, Modern Masters Downstairs TheaterAugust 3rd -- August 7th Guangxi Puppet Art Troupe of Guangxi, China The Little Rabbit and Other South American Tales DownstairsTheater August 23rd - September 18th Akbar Imohotep of Atlanta, GA The House at Pooh Corner Mainstage TheaterSeptember 22nd - Dec ember 11th State Puppet Theatre Stara Zagora of Bulgaria Puppet Poll The Question: Has a scene in a live puppet show ever brought you to tears right there in the theater? If so, tell us what the scene was, who the puppeteer(s) was/were, and why were you so moved by that scene. Your David Simpich's Hans Christian Anderson Storybook -- When Responses: the duck is in the water and it is freezing around him, and he asks the narrator to stop telling the story. I totally lost it. A three tissue moment! -- Carol Daniel I was brought to tears during the puppet procession at the top of The Lion King on Broadway. I don't know if it was the beauty of these enormous works of art, or the animals that they represented, or the awed silence of an entire house of newly converted puppetry fans. Amazing - Reay Kaplan David Simpich's Hans Christian Anderson Storybook left me awash with emotions, and I couldn't help but cry as I watched the plight of The Little Match Girl as she died a horrible death while experiencing the greatest of visions, and again, when in the most fitting of endings the Steadfast Tin Soldier and the little dancer burn up together in the fire. Anderson's stories are powerful unto themselves, but in the hands of David Simpich they come alive like never before. I applaud Simpich for telling these stories the way they were meant to be told, and not trying to cleanse them, as so many other storytellers try to do these days -- Kevin Pittman Next Quarter's Puppet Poll Question Have you ever done a show where nothing seemed to work right and yet the show still somehow came off great? Tell us about your wackiest experience as a puppeteer and what you learned from that experience. Send your responses to newsletter@atlantapuppetryguild.org Pictures From Guild Members Jaspar Jaguar with Kevin Pittman greets children at the Cobb Family Fun Day, Saturday April 23rd Pictures From The April APG Meetings Guild members Jeff Cornett, Carol Daniel, Peter Hart, Tricia Berrett, and Gregg Wallace relax on Lee Bryans gazebo. Congratulations to our newly elected Guild Officers! Peter Hart, Guild President Barbara Goltz, Vice President of Membership Guild Related Web Sites Atlanta Puppetry Guild: http://www.atlantapuppetryguild.com/ Puppeteers of America: http://www.puppeteers.org/ UNIMA-USA Website: http://www.unima-usa.org/ Summary of Minutes of the Last Guild Meeting Sunday, April 24th, 2005 · Attendence: Nine members were present at the meeting held at Lee Bryan's home. · Guild Promotions: We discussed promoting our guild activities by bringing membership forms to various educational classes at the Center for Puppetry Arts. Greg Wallace will create a one page flier for promotion. Greg will distribute the materials at the next Center event. Kevin will put the filer on the guild website so that it can be downloaded and printed by any member to bring to events. · National Day of Puppetry: Jeff reported on the upcoming National Day of Puppetry to be held at Centennial Park on April 30th. Claire Ritzler has been coordinating the activity with Jeff. Hours will be from Noon to 4 PM. Plans are to focus on a giant puppet building session throughout the afternoon, and to then use the puppets created in the downtown Atlanta July 4th parade. · Members for Life: While reviewing the guild roster, members voted to make Bob Hintz and Pegg Callahan lifetime members of the guild. They will not be required to pay dues. · New Officers: Members voted to make Peter Hart the new president of the guild and Barbara Goltz the new Vice President of Membership. Tricia Barrett agreed to remain in the position of Treasurer as long as someone else would handle membership duties. · Dinner: We had a wonderful pot-luck dinner. Thanks to all who brought dishes to share. · Next Meeting: The next meeting will be held at Carol Daniel's new house at a time and date to be determined. · Thanks to Lee Bryan for doing a superb job as guild president and congratulations to Peter Hart for taking on the reins as our new president! Atlanta Puppetry Guild Officers President Vice President Treasurer & Peter Hart Gregg Wallace Tricia Berrett 770-621-9162 greggwallace@compuserv 404-633-1575 hartpete@aol.com e.com tbberrett@aol.com Secretary Newsletter Editor and Carol Daniel Membership Director Webmaster ppuppets@bellsouth.net Barbara Goltz Kevin Pittman bgoltz@fds.com klp@moonshade.oit.gate ch.edu About The Newsletter and the Guild The Atlanta Puppet Press is published four times a year by the Atlanta Puppetry Guild. A new edition of the newsletter will be available approximately one week before each guild meeting. Chartered in 1974, the Atlanta Puppetry Guild is dedicated to bringing together artists, educators, librarians, hobbyists, professionals and everyday people who share an interest in the art of puppetry. Current activities include potluck socials, field trips to view and discuss adult puppetry presentations, occasional workshops, and participation in the National Day of Puppetry on the last Saturday in April. Members receive notifications of meetings, new newsletters, and other local puppetry events via e-mail. The cost of a membership is $10 for an individual or $15 for a dual membership. The membership year runs from May 1st through April 30th. Please send membership application and a check payable to "Atlanta Puppetry Guild" to: Atlanta Puppetry Guild, 3800 Harts Mill Lane NE, Atlanta, GA 30319 Atlanta Puppetry Guild Membership Form Name/s E-mail Address City, State, ZIP Telephone number (home unless you prefer to be contacted at work; please indicate which number you're listing): Also member of [ ] Puppeteers of America [ ] UNIMA-USA Special interests or other information: