I was invited to be part of a benefit for Sixth Street Shelter, a safe house for troubled families, at the Ice House, part of Saturday’s Child Series with Mock Turtle Marionettes. My good friend, master puppeteer, teaching artist and brother artist Doug Roysdon kicked off the morning with his ‘Greatest Hits’ show (believe me, he has a catalog you would not believe….) introducing some of his wonderful pieces with great interaction, intelligent presentation – which the parents appreciate – and puppet art.
I really appreciate that Doug does these ‘shows’ right out in front of the audience, with marionettes in hand and not behind some construct. Kids get to see the artist being real. That is conceptually brilliant, especially if you want the kids to get the reality and ‘liveness’ of creating art and storytelling. It’s not on a screen or behind a curtain. Can I have an ‘Active’ amen?
Doug rolls the families through a puppet making workshop that gets nice results for a ‘take home’ art experience. Nice clowns!
I hit the stage to a smaller audience, but with some familiar faces. I took this as an opportunity to explore my newer Playground stuff like Jelly, Finger, Jimmalong, Kitchen, and still do some ‘classics’ – Bear Hunt, Giant, etc. It’s nice to have some new play material, and by play, I mean, I get to see how this new stuff works out in reality, as opposed in the studio. Here’s where the pedal hits the metal, so to speak. What works with the kids……
This will be an interesting exploration as the summer season approaches.
Again, a nice lab session, and I got paid.