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2025 UPCOMING EVENTS
The Houston Puppet Festival will be held on Saturday, September 27th at Inspiration Stage in Sugar Land. If you are interested in presenting a workshop or lecture, please let me, Joanne Schroeder, know: [email protected]. Workshops are one hour in length. The Guild pays $200 for a Make-and-Take Workshop and $100 for a Lecture Workshop. May Guild Meeting Zoom – Sunday, May 18, 2025 at 2:00 pm CT Please note that for the month of May, we will be meeting on the 3 rd Sunday Mary Ann Porter – Puppetry in Literacy Helpful tips and demonstration of how puppetry can be used to engage children in literacy. About the Presenter: Maryann Porter holds a BFA Theatre and M.Ed Curriculum Design. She is a teacher in Fort Worth, Texas. June Guild Meeting In Person – Sunday, June 8, 2025 at 2:30 p.m. CT The Little Mermaid – Inspiration Stage – Musical Production We will attend a showing of The Little Mermaid at Inspiration Stage, 2210 Lone Star Drive, Sugar Land, TX 77479, located in the Town Square. There is plenty of parking behind the theater. Tickets are not on sale yet, but will be made available prior to the show ($20). Visit: inspirationstage.com to find further information and to purchase your tickets. This is a NOT a puppet show; but it is a good opportunity to see a Children‘s Musical and to visit the location for our Houston Puppet Festival that will be held on Saturday, September 27, 2025. ABOUT THIS SPECIAL PILOT PRODUCTION — Inspiration Stage proudly produces this premiere prerelease KIDS adaptation of the popular musical in cooperation and by special arrangement with Disney Theatricals. Journey ―under the sea‖ with Ariel and her aquatic friends in Disney‘s The Little Mermaid KIDS, adapted from Disney‘s Broadway production and the motion picture featuring enormously-popular Academy Award-winning music. Review of the Guild Meeting - April 2025 Review submitted by Joanne Schroeder Seanda Blocker of Creative Mental Wellness told of her journey to provide assistance to those needing help with mental health. Seanda is working diligently to help make resource information available to those who need it. Mental health resource events have been held in Houston, Texas. At these community center events, vendors share information with attendees about mental health services that are available. Seanda‘s goal is to expand these events, first throughout the state of Texas and ultimately across the United States. Seanda uses ‗Daisy the Dachshund‘ - a dog puppet she commissioned – to assist her in sharing information related to Mental Health and ways to obtain assistance. Videos of Seanda and Daisy were shown during our meeting. Seanda would introduce a Mental Health topic – such as ―Anxiety, and then she and Daisy would talk about ways to address the various emotions and feelings. Seanda Blocker, has shared the link to her YouTube Channel "DAISY The Mental Health Dachshund". https://youtube.com/@daisythementalhealthdachshund?si=6iCzw9qG3X5N2y9x Review of the Guild Meeting – March 2025 Review submitted by Jean Pirtle 'Eulenspiegel's Circus' performed by Terri Breitbach and Monica Leo, was shown by video at our March Zoom meeting. It was a delightful story of a boy's quest to unlock the secret of a mysterious box given to him on his birthday to find his path in life. Using table top puppets with kazoo music, many puppet characters appeared with a lot of funny antics that included circus performers. The main character learned a valuable lesson and had his "best birthday ever". The puppets and props were great. Thank you to Monica Leo for sharing this wonderful puppet show. Review of the Guild Meeting – January 2025 Review submitted by Bonita Riley The GHPG was treated to the energetic and positive presentation of „Puppetry 101‟ by Aretta Baumgartner. Aretta set the tone of the presentation by opening with the statement that it is in “our DNA to do puppetry!” She stated that since the Stone Age, humans have been using objects to communicate and that we are all “great at this!” What an encouraging way to motivate our Guild Members for what we were about to learn. So much information was shared, but I especially appreciated Aretta‟s definition of a puppet: “A puppet is anything you can pick up and bring to Life”. She then demonstrated this with common objects. As knowledge for those new to puppetry, and a reminder to experienced puppeteers, Aretta listed the five types of puppets: 1) Shadow 2) Glove/Hand 3) String (aka „Marionette‟) 4) Rod and 5) Body. Aretta then invited the guild members to join her is a series of exercise and movements. Following the presentation, we were treated to a lively Q&A session. Great way to kick off our year! Review of the Guild Meeting - February 2025 Review submitted by Bonita Riley Devona Carpenter – Voice Actor and Puppeteer presented information on how to request an Author's permission to use/adapt their works for a puppetry performance. Via a PowerPoint (that she generously allowed to be shared with all Guild Members) she provided step-by-step examples of how to approach authors and how to word correspondence. Devona also shared resource information for those puppeteers wishing to explore various accents and achieve “ideal character voices”. Guild Members appreciated the opportunity to learn from Devona‟s experiences and were able to ask questions during Q&A. With Devona‟s permission, the presentation was recorded and is available for viewing: https://youtu.be/IiIYVKRXyRY REVIEWS OF PAST EVENTS: Galveston Loves Puppets! Festival - November 2024 Reviews Our free puppet festival in Galveston at the Rosenberg Library had 90 registrations for Friday, November 8, and 120 registrations for Saturday, November 9. Devona Carpenter - Puppeteer “Having myself surrounded by people that do what I do was of the utmost importance, there were many puppeteers there. When I am able I take trainings with the librarians because this is what is normally offered through the library but there are not many instances that it directly relates to my job. Talking to puppeteers about the newest trends in puppetry and what they are doing in their companies gave me insight on a few ways we can upgrade our performances. I also had an extended conversation with the head of Rosenberg Library’s youth services. They recently did a puppet show for schools that explained their summer reading program. She is sending me a script so we can see if this is something Austin might adopt to let more kids know about the summer program. She also has a wonderful traveling stage for their puppet shows and I got information on that as well. I saw several magical performances and an outstanding show from Mudlark Theater company out of New Orleans they did “The Mother” a Hans Christian Anderson show. The show was too dark for our regular patrons the 2-7 age group but perfect for older kids or teens, a group we have wanted to engage for years. They did not have a puppet stage instead used the front of the room as a stage and the puppets were life sized moving by means of a hand in the head one on the arm and the feet were connected to the puppeteers feet. This really opened me up to thinking about what we could do for this demographic and a new way we could do puppetry. This troupe also used a material we are not familiar with, buckram. Their puppets were exquisite and the primary material they used was buckram. We will research this material to see if we can add it to our repertoire. I also attended workshops. From one workshop, I learned how to make a flying pig, at first this sounds silly but the mechanism was ingenious and we will be using it for our Tiger Woman’s bird puppet. This mechanism will make the puppet be much more realistic. I learned more in a weekend than I thought possible and made connections for APL and The Van Show. Our performance was standing room only. People were very excited to see the show and came up afterwards asking for cards. We upped the profile of APL and I bet we will see an uptick on the views of the Van show .The takeaway however is how impressed everyone was that APL sees bringing literature to life as an important part of library services.” Pix Smith – Dallas Puppet Theater “This was a terrific festival, and a wonderful combination of puppeteers, educators, librarians, and the public. Seeing the support of the library was terrific - so many puppet books on display, and so many staff members having a great time. There were so many workshops to choose from, and everywhere I went, I saw happy participants with their creations, and lively discussions with workshop leaders and participants as well. This festival was a delight, and offered something for everyone. I hope the library is interested in making this a regular tradition - it seemed like the perfect intersection of all things needed to make a successful festival. Thanks go out to every single person who worked so hard on this. I hope you are all getting some much-deserved rest!” Terry Tannert – Teacher using Puppets in the Classroom “That beautiful library-museum in Galveston was such a perfect place to have an event. The workshops and performances were so much fun. I hope we have the opportunity to gather in Galveston again.” Joanne Schroeder - Southwest Regional Director of Puppeteers of America Thank you to all those who made the Galveston Loves Puppets festival possible: The Greater Houston Puppetry Guild, Southwest Region of Puppeteers of America members, and the staff of the Rosenberg Library. What a great team!!! Jean Pirtle - Giant Broom Puppet Workshop There were 23 people, including a few children, having a great time creating their own distinctive giant puppets. I provided each person with a dollar store broom that had an 18 inch dowel rod attached to the bottom of the broom head to act as the shoulder support for the material body. Eight-inch pool noodles were added for extra shoulder support. Foam sheets were used to create the heads as well as other materials such as felt, yarn, large googly eyes, ribbon, and whatever I could find in my craft room. Hot glue was used to connect it all. I provided a variety of colorful material strips to attach to the shoulders to create the look of a giant puppet. There were so many creative puppets and everyone enjoyed the parade through the library after the workshop. I definitely want to do this again at our next puppet festival! Review of the December Guild Meeting Luncheon Review submitted by Joanne Schroeder – President, Greater Houston Puppetry Guild We had a wonderful time at the Puppet Guild’s Christmas lunch party. We shared recipes, and Jean Pirtle made a sock puppet Rudolph which we all fell in love with. I took the sock puppet to a Christmas party for the Barbara Bush Library Board. One of the ladies there asked to borrow it for upcoming programs she had with children. That sock puppet is going to make some kids happy. There is nothing like the art of puppetry to spread cheer at Christmas time. Galveston Loves Puppets Festival Friday and Saturday, November 8 and 9, 2024 at the Rosenberg Library, Galveston, TX. Register at rosenberg-library.org/events. Free Admission. Contact Information: Festival Director: Leo Velasquez at [email protected] Regional Director/Southwest Region of PofA: Joanne Schroeder at [email protected] DECEMBER GUILD MEETING In Person - Sunday, December 8, 2024 1:00 p.m. Lunch Joanne Schroeder, President, Greater Houston Puppetry Guild. Joanne will be hosting a Holiday Luncheon at her home for Members of the Greater Houston Puppetry Guild. All Members are encouraged to bring puppet skits to share following the lunch. Address: 3119 Candle Cabin Ln., Spring, TX 77388. Phone: 832-585-1111 (contact Joanne for Gate Code). Please RSVP By: Sunday, December 1, 2024 Feel free to bring along any favorite Holiday Treats you'd like to share with fellow puppeteers. Reviews of Past Puyppetry Events 44th Annual HOUSTON PUPPET FESTIVAL SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2024 Review submitted by Guild Member, Joy Saxton: The Houston Puppet Festival was an extraordinary celebration of creativity and learning. Attendees were treated to a series of interactive workshops, ranging from how to make hand and sock puppets to performing and writing their own puppet shows. There was a special magic in the air, with educators, teachers, and children all coming together to experience the art of puppetry. One of the highlights was Mr. Leo's magical puppet show, which left the audience in joy. The festival had an impressive range of talent, including Sandy Shrout, who made the best sock puppets of the day, and a talented artist, Stephen Hurst, whose life-sized puppets made out of paper were a sight to behold. Michael and Joanne's puppet stores were a hit, offering attendees the chance to purchase their very own puppets. Honey Goodenough's workshop stood out as she taught participants how to create memorable entrances and exits for their puppet characters. Fellow puppeteer, Remy with the help of his father Greg, made a great video of the entire event. The day was made even more special thanks to Jean Kuecher's extraordinary efforts in organizing the event, ensuring everything ran smoothly. It was truly a magical day full of laughter, learning, and the wonder of puppetry. Message from Joanne Schroeder, President Greater Houston Puppetry Guild We want to thank Jean for her many years of hard work and dedication to the Houston Puppet Festival. Jean directed the festival making it feel like a well-oiled machine! Guild Member Remy Gaspard created a video documenting much of our 2024 Festival. The video can be viewed at: https://youtu.be/_yFTLtPN4sY?feature=shared Thank you Remy! Appreciation Note Received from Festival Attendee: “Hello! I would like to share my wonderful experience at the Houston Puppet Festival! I am a PreK teacher in Dallas. I have been searching our education service center for a training class on puppets. I ran across this festival in my search and I'm so glad I did! The classes were so informative! I made 2 puppets, learned how to include puppets in my teaching and earned 7 hours of CPE credit! Thank you so much for putting this festival together! I will be attending future events as well! Thanks.” - Jennifer – Review of the Zoom Guild Meeting – October 13, 2024 Written By: Bonita Riley Mr. Terry Albitz demonstrated how he uses the art of puppetry in his classroom. Terry zoomed from inside his classroom so that attendees could fully appreciate his set up and approach. Terry teaches six and seven year old students at a school in Wisconsin and shared that his inspiration for using puppets in a classroom setting was inspired by his own childhood – eagerly viewing and learning from puppets on children's television shows including Capt. Kangaroo, Mister Roger's Neighborhood, and Sesame Street. Throughout his classroom, Terry has puppets mounted to the walls, which he presents in lifelike poses so that they are generating energy even when not performing. His puppets each have assigned subjects in which they participate – Cosmo Cuz: Social/Emotional, Spikey Blue Hair: Storytelling, Mr. Mercury: Math and Science, Piper the Parrot: Art, Tortellini the Toucan: Writing and Rainbow who 'lives' in a classroom mailbox and when the 'flag is up' comes out to help celebrate student's birthdays. There is also a new white puppet that the students will name. Terry shared that the students clamor for the puppets to come down from the walls and join in the lessons, but the puppets don't come down every day, but are used more 'as a seasoning'. Curiosity, Play, and Energy equates to the magic potion – students are hungry for applied learning and Terry works in a school district that supports the teachers presenting the curriculum by methods of the teacher's choosing. Fortunately for his students, Terry has chosen to integrate puppets into his teaching. 44th Annual HOUSTON PUPPET FESTIVAL SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2024 *** Educators and Librarians: Earn 7 Clock Hours! *** Earn 7 Texas Education Agency Continuing Professional Education Clock Hours Workshop Descriptions: 9:00 – 10:00 First Workshop Session Room 1 Sock it to Me – Make and Take by Sandy Shrout. Create your very own mouth puppet from a sock that will be as wonderful as the person who made it. Room 2 Top Ten Reasons to Use Puppets in the Classroom by Lynnette Tello . Enjoy ideas for using teacher made, child made and manufactured puppets in the early childhood classroom. Puppets help second language learners with vocabulary development. Handouts. Room 3 Build Your Own Jumping Jack Puppet - Make and Take by Honey Goodenough. Leaping Levers! Use simple materials to create a Jumping Jack Puppet, using one of the six simple machines in STEaM education. 10:15 – 11:15 Second Workshop Session Room 1 Spider Puppet – Make and Take by Sandy Shrout. Watch the puppet show of Anansi the Spider and the Moss-Covered Rock, then make your own spider puppets. Room 2 Your Own Story and Puppet Show – by Joy Saxton. Make your puppets come alive and think outside the box! The author and illustrator uses puppets and her stories to teach and inspire children to love the world. Get inspired to write your own show! Joy will perform a short show in her theater made from boxes. Then you will learn how to make a story with your puppets and bring them to Life. Room 3 After the Fall, a Humpty Dumpty – Make and Take by Twanda Smith. How will Humpty Dumpty look when he gets back on the wall? Participants will use assorted crafts, their imagination and egg-cellent creativity to give Humpty Dumpty a brand-new look! 12:00 – 1:00 Third Workshop Session Room 1 Life Cycle of a Plant Puppet Show – Make and Take by Jean Kuecher. Create 6 small paper puppets and receive the script. We will practice the Science performance of The Life Cycle of a Plant. Room 2 Bunraku is Back for You – Make and Take by Stephen Hurst. Explore, create, and manipulate a paper Bunraku puppet, an ancient Japanese art form. Bunraku's uniqueness requires three people to manipulate the puppet. You will make a puppet, understand the three main elements for bringing the puppet to life, and work with others to create actions for your puppet. Room 3 Hand Puppet Charades by Honey Goodenough. Using puppets provided by the presenter, participants will practice puppet techniques including entrances, exits and characterization, in a traditional puppet theater booth. 1:15 – 2:15 Fourth Workshop Session Room 1 Talking Clothespin Puppets – Make and Take by Krissy Conn. We will create talking puppets with paper and clothespins. Pick the pattern provided, The Little Red Hen, or create your own. Room 2 I Made a Puppet, Now What? By Stephen Hurst. Using puppets made in previous workshops or purchased in the store, participants will continue the journey by giving their puppet life and a purpose. Participants will explore character development, voice, story, and more to encourage the creation of a show for others. Room 3 Healthy Eating with Food Box Puppets and Stages – Make and Take by Jean Pirtle. Member of Houston’s Cheerful Clown Alley and a retired school nurse will guide you to make a cereal box puppet and box stage to use with a dragon sock puppet from the storybook "Get Your Dragon to Eat Healthy Food" by Steve Herman. PUPPET PERFORMANCE: by Leo Velasquez, Mr. Leo Puppet Show, Houston, TX. Mr. Leo creates an unforgettable, playful and imaginative puppet adventure, fully engaging and interactive with humor and candor, that spans all ages. Mr. Leo has been honored to perform at different settings, such as private parties, community festivals, schools and parks, and shopping malls all over Houston. He also performs special shows for Christmas and Halloween. PUPPET STORE: Buy Puppets and Puppetry Books! (Cash, Checks or Credit Card) Saturday, Sept 21, 2024, 8:30 AM to 3:30 PM LOCATION: George H.W. Bush Community Center, 6827 Cypresswood Dr., Spring, TX 77379 Donuts, Coffee, and Lunch Included and Lots of Fun! Adults: $75. Youth: $55. Group Rate: Bring 5 staff: get $10 off each! For Info: call 281-799-1398 or email: [email protected] www.marionetteplayhouse.com Annual Festival of the Greater Houston Puppetry Guild, Puppeteers of America, Inc. ************************************************************************ Plan to come and enjoy an exciting and enriching day. You will take home puppets to use immediately! Bring your friends, children, and grandchildren. Tell your teacher friends that they can earn 7 Texas Education Agency approved training clock hours for the day! The puppet store will accept cash, checks, and credit cards. The registration form is on the Greater Houston Puppetry Guild website under Annual Festival. Jean is looking forward to seeing all of you at the festival! Contact her at [email protected] or call 281-799- 1398 ____________________________________________________________________ 2024 Greater Houston Puppetry Guild Activities OCTOBER GUILD MEETING Zoom – Sunday, October 13, 2024 at 2:00 pm First grade teacher Mr. Terry Albitz will give a demonstration on how he uses puppets in the classroom. . Different puppets are used in different areas of the curriculum. His puppets hang on a wall in the classroom. When it is time for reading or math, a certain puppet is brought down to talk to the students about the subject. A birthday puppet provides greetings on a student‟s birthday. Be amazed and amused as you see Terry and his use of the art of puppetry to engage students in the learning process. Galveston Loves Puppets: A puppet festival by the Southwest Region of Puppeteers of America November 7, 8 and 9, 2024 at the Rosenberg Library in Galveston, Texas with free admission on the 8th and 9th. To Register for the Galveston puppet festival go to puppeteers.org. Click on festivals. Click on Regional festivals. Scroll down to Southwest Regional Puppet Festival. At Register click on details. Register to pay $50 for the Thursday restaurant meal, drink, puppet & book. Register on the Rosenberg Library link to attend the Friday and Saturday events free at the library. Also register to stay at one of the hotels listed on the website. Contact Information: Festival Director: Leo Velasquez at [email protected] Regional Director/Southwest Region of PofA Joanne Schroeder at [email protected] Review of the Zoom Guild Meeting – August 2024 Jean Kuecher/Festival Director moderated as several Workshop Presenters shared what they will be offering at this year's Houston Puppet Festival that will be held on September 21, 2024. Review of the Guild Meeting – July 2024 Pop-Up Puppetry Day with Puppets at Pearl Fincher Museum of Fine Arts Submitted by: Jean Pirtle. Joanne Schroeder, Jean Pirtle, and Remy Gaspard had a great time with the children and families visiting the Pearl Fincher Museum of Fine Art in Spring, Texas. The museum staff provided a hippo cut out to color and make a brown paper sack puppet. Joanne entertained with her dancing marionettes, a large blue bird and her French pig dressed in a tuxedo, and a very cute quacking duck. Jean came dressed in her Scottish Kilt and provided Loch Ness monster kits to make a pop up puppet in a cup. She had a castle stage with a display of information about Scotland and the upcoming Scottish festival in October at the Humble Civic Center. Remy brought several of his puppets and entertained the children with some playful fun. Joanne provided hand puppets for purchase as a fundraiser for the Guild and made quite a few children happy with their new puppets. Review of the Guild Meeting – June 2024 Submitted by: Jean Pirtle: n Sunday, June 16, three members of the Houston Puppetry Guild and two members of Cheerful Clown Alley met near MacGregor Park in Houston to visit Mr. Leo’s Mobile Puppet Bus. Leonardo Velasquez is a professional children’s entertainer that performs puppet and magic shows throughout Houston. He designed his bus with colorful curtains, lights, a sound system, air conditioning and a stage at the rear of the bus. Approximately 25 children can sit on the floor of the bus and enjoy a great puppet show that has prerecorded script, music and Mr. Leo bringing his characters to life. He performed a short play for us that included 3 puppets that gave the message that monsters aren’t real. Mr. Leo is from Venezuela and performs bilingual puppet shows. We really enjoyed learning about his experiences and his joy of performing to groups that don’t often have the opportunity to see puppet shows. Review of the Guild Meeting – May 2024 Submitted by: Joanne Schroeder/Jean Pirtle: Puppeteers met with the Cheerful Clown Alley at a community center in Houston on May 11th. A room was set up with many tables featuring various activities demonstrated and performed by clowns. Magic tricks, balloon animals, make-up, and puppets were featured. Clown shoes, red noses, and costumes were the norm for the day. In addition to a few of our guild members, Patrick Eaves, a member of the Southwest Region of Puppeteers of America joined us from Austin. Patrick is a puppeteer who has been practicing the art of puppetry for many years. Jean Pirtle had brought a small marionette duck with many strings tangled up. Patrick had the patience to untangle those strings, for which Jean was very grateful! Attendees had the option of creating a ‘pop-up clown’ puppet or disc puppets. All of the clowns and future clowns at the event love puppets. The upcoming Texas Clown Association Convention that will be held in August (Spring location) will have the Tellos' as puppet vendors and will offer several classes on puppetry. For more information, visit: www.texasclownassociation.com and then click on TCA Convention in upper-right corner. Review of the Zoom Guild Meeting – April 2024 Written by Member, Bonita Riley: Sally Bates Goodroe, a Member of The Houston Storytellers Guild, generously shared four stories with the April attendees. Sally first mentioned that for the very youngest children, she incorporates Flannel Boards into her story telling. For older audiences (Preschool and Up), she incorporates gestures, expressions, and her engaging personality into telling her stories. She sometimes asks the audience to repeat key phrases or to make hand gestures along with her to further enhance their participation in the story. Sally regaled us with the story of Mortimer, the youngest of 15 children! She moved on to sharing an Anansi Spider story, followed by a Jack Tale and finally an English Folk Tale. Sally also answered questions from the Members in attendance and there was discussion regarding the fact that Puppetry, Storytelling, and Clowning all have some overlaps in that they are timeless performance arts. Additional Information: The Houston Storytellers Guild was founded in 1986. The Guild sponsors workshops and performances and meets monthly on Zoom the last Tuesday of every month. To find out more about the Houston Storytellers Guild, visit www.houstonstorytellers.org Other upcoming events include the Texas Storytelling Festival, March 7-10, in Denton, Texas, and the Texas Storytelling Conference to be held in Houston June 21-23, 2024. Review of the Zoom Guild Meeting – March 2024 Written by Member, Bonita Riley: Conni Burke-Mulligan of Dancing Hand Puppets provided a delightful tutorial on making puppets out of Pool Noodles. Ahead of the meeting, a materials list was provided for all Members that wanted to „make along‟. Conni walked us step-by-step through the process and gave many additional useful tips along the way. She shared that in addition to using scissors or an Xacto knife, that the Dollar Stores sell plastic pool noodle cutters. She also shared that paint stir sticks can be used in place of big craft sticks, men‟s grooming tape can be used for wigs (as can double-stick tape), pipe cleaners with beads make great earrings and Styrofoam eggs cut in half are great for making eyes. Conni even showed us a „deluxe‟ pool noodle puppet she had made where she had also carved hands out of a pool noodle and used a scarf for the body. In case you were unable to attend, you can visit Conni‟s YouTube video on Making Pool Noodle Puppets: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKiKN3GhOek The meeting was so much fun and you can see some of the Member‟s puppets. Review of the Zoom Guild Meeting – January 2024 Written by Member, Bonita Riley Joanne Schroeder (Adventureland Puppets) delighted attendees by performing with her Vent Figures. First up was Jake, the Cowboy – his wit and joking definitely tickled our collective funny bone. Next up was Tony, a lovable figure that is a perpetual 3rd Grade Student. Finally, we were introduced to Candy, a figure that Joanne had purchased many years ago from Ebay. Candy thinks about food…a lot. It doesn‟t help that she works at a Fudge Store! Joanne then spent some time explaining how she uses Puppetry to teach Bible Stories (skits are included in her book „Puppets Tell Bible Stories’). She shared how she will introduce a twist to the story to further engage audiences – e.g., telling the story of “Daniel in the Lion‟s Den” from the Lion‟s perspective. Some tips that Joanne shared included 1) always introduce conflict into your routine 2) to develop your ventriloquism skills – practice speaking without moving your lips at every opportunity. Practice in your car, practice when singing in church, just practice! In addition to booking other events, Joanne performs puppet skits one day a week at Spring Woods Academy. Additionally, she shares puppetry at the Pearl Fincher Museum Family Days. At Family Day Events, she always brings about 100 puppet blanks to help introduce youth to the joy of puppetry! Review of the Zoom Guild Meeting – February 2024 Written by Member, Bonita Riley Kathie Guild (Puppet Show, Incorporated) generously shared her journey of first using a puppet (“Froggy”) in a classroom setting where she worked as a School Counselor in Germany over 30 years ago up to her present experience starting and maintaining a small non-profit mobile puppet theater in the state of North Carolina. In making her decision to go the Non-Profit route, Kathie invested time and effort into taking classes through her local Chamber of Commerce and Community College. She developed her business plan, researched Accounting and Tax Rules and submitted her State and Federal Filings. Kathie felt that by establishing her mobile puppet theater as a non-profit, she might gain better access to other non-profit organizations – e.g.., Museums, Parks & Recreation Depts., etc. Kathie spoke about the Grant Process and the differences between „Restricted‟ and „Unrestricted‟ Grants and the responsibilities associated with accepting Restricted Grants. Some Restricted Grants may require that you have Attendees complete Surveys, you may need to provide photos, you may need to provide accounting documentation on how the Grant Dollars were actually spent, etc. The Guild Members in attendance were also treated to some demonstrations of easy puppets that Kathie has attendees make in workshops out of Index Cards, Envelopes, Paper Plates, and other readily available materials. To learn more about Kathie's work, visit www.puppetshowinc.org Review of the Zoom Guild Meeting – November 2023 Written by Member, Bonita Riley: Conni Mulligan provided a wonderful presentation on Making and Manipulating Puppets. She shared so many great ideas of what can be used to make puppets – wooden cut outs, stickers, scrapbooking pieces, felt, foamboard – and so much more! Connie graciously shared tips on how to engage youth/students with puppets. She suggested that older children respond better when the puppets are referred to as 2D Characters (or 3D Characters, as applicable). Don't ever call them 'Paper Dolls!' when speaking with older students. When making puppets, use darker colors of markers/crayons/etc. as these will show up better during the performance. She demonstrated how articulated puppets can be made with the use of brads/split pins. For manipulation, one can use sticks, tongue depressors, ice cream wooden spoons to 'create the bones' of the puppet. Some ideas for manipulating the puppets include using sticky back Velcro Dots (Hook and Loop type). Put the loop section on the back of the Character and then attach the hook section onto thick bamboo skewers, dowels, chopsticks, etc. Green straws (like those available at Starbucks) are great to use for green screen movie making as they won't show in the videos. For a stage – be creative – you can use Science Trifold Display Boards, Pizza Boxes, etc. I believe this quote from Conni resonated with the attendees: “Almost all Creativity involves Purposeful Play”. Review of the Holiday Guild Meeting – December 2023 Written by Member, Jean Pirtle: Joanne Schroeder had a wonderful lunch and dessert bar for members of the Greater Houston Puppetry Guild followed by an interactive puppet show. The pre-recorded audio tape, “Small One” (story of the donkey that Mary rode into Bethlehem) played as each puppet in the story was manipulated by Joanne's guests. Jean Pirtle brought a Christmas box puppet stage with a Rudolph hand puppet. We did an improvisational story where each person added more details as the box and puppet were passed around. We had a lot of fun with our two new young adult guild members, Remy Gaspard and Andres Buosi, who are talented puppeteers. We enjoyed great food, fellowship, and discussed some new ideas for future puppet events! Photo courtesy of Joy Saxton Left to Right: Sandra Jones, Jean Pirtle, Remy Gaspard, Joanne Schroeder, Andres Buosi, Stephen Hurst, Greg Gaspard, Joy Saxton To see more Christmas 2023 Photos and to stay up-to-date with guild updates and other puppet happenings, please consider joining the Greater Houston Puppetry Guild Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/houstonpuppetry/ To see Houston Puppet Festival 2023 Photos and to stay up-to-date with guild updates and other puppet happenings, please consider joining the Greater Houston Puppetry Guild Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/houstonpuppetry/ Review of the GHPG Festival – September 2023 Based upon the wonderful feedback and comments, the 2023 Greater Houston Puppetry Guild Festival was a rousing success! So many opportunities for fellowship with other puppeteers! So many opportunities to learn new techniques and gain new ideas in the workshops! So many opportunities to both enjoy and learn from the Puppet Show performances! Sampling of the Festival Comments received from Presenters and Attendees: Joy Saxton: “The 43rd annual Houston Puppet Festival was a day filled with creativity. It even had a fantastic puppet show at the end! The talented puppeteers teaching the classes made it educational. loved the puppets I was able to purchase at the little shop that I can add to my collection. It was day full of inspiration” Elaine Hogan: “I would like to express my appreciation to everyone who makes the Puppet Festival possible. My granddaughter, Eleanor, and I attended the festival in 2022 and 2023. Eleanor has always been very responsive to puppets and has been conversing with my “Lambchop” puppet for years. It is a special part of our relationship. Eleanor is also very interested in arts and crafts. When I learned about the Puppet Festival, I knew it would be the perfect way to celebrate her September birthday. It has now become a tradition. Eleanor was especially pleased to receive a gift membership this year and to be a part of the Greater Houston Puppet Guild. We were both surprised and pleased by this thoughtful gesture. Eleanor is currently participating in a Storytelling group at her elementary school. She continues to impress her family with her creativity and her enthusiasm for crafts. I expect our tradition will continue and her involvement with the Puppet Guild will deepen over the coming years. It is a joy to watch my grandchild connect with this art form and a privilege to be among the kind and talented people who make this event so very special. Thank you again. We will see you next year!” Elizabeth Beamon: “Ann Coleman and I had a wonderful time! Such an amazing event!” Leo Velasquez (“Mr. Leo”): “I feel honored to have shared pleasant moments with each of you. I feel deep admiration for you and your puppet souls. Your passion and way of being puppeteers inspires me to keep going. It was beautiful to share the wonderful art of puppetry with special people.” Greg Ruhe: I want to thank you for all of your efforts in making this fantastic festival a reality. Feedback on Workshops: “Love the Make and Take Concept” “Learned so Much” Excellent Presentation” “Learned Something New” “Engaging Everyone” “SO MUCH FUN!” Review of the Zoom Guild Meeting – October 2023 On October 8, Guild Members were treated to a wonderful show by Jim (Nappy) Napolitano - Shadows Around the World. Nappy shared that he performed his first puppet show in 1991 while he was still in college and has always been greatly inspired by Richard Bradshaw. Delightfully, Nappy‟s original shadow puppet rendition of “Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed” kicked off the show! The performance went on to include a History of Shadow Puppetry featuring stories of origin from China, Turkey, Indonesia and France. Nappy stated that the history he shared may not be „100 historically accurate‟ but it was certainly entertaining. The shadow puppetry he employed was amazing and he generously shared some of his „tips and tricks of the trade‟ with Guild Members following the performance. Nappy thinks that Shadow Puppetry is on the upswing! The GHPG definitely appreciated the opportunity to enjoy his wonderful and original performance. Review of the May 2023 Clown and Puppet Event by Jean Pirtle Cheerful Clown Alley of Houston hosted a Fun Fest on May 6, at Trini Mendenhall Community Center to promote the art of clowning and puppetry. Demonstrations of how to make balloon animals, face painting, and clown makeup were provided as well as a puppetry display. Jean “KitCat” Pirtle helped visitors make a pop-up clown puppet in a cup to take home and shared information about making cardboard stages. Everyone had a great time as well as the children who came to the event. Review of the Zoom Puppet Show in June 2023 by Jean Pirtle Joy Saxton, Children’s Book author and puppeteer, presented a puppet play that she is developing. Her puppet, Jose was sad because he spoke a different language than his friends. He falls asleep and has a wonderful magical adventure with a space creature and a Princess. The adventure ended well with the lesson learned that it doesn’t matter what language you speak for people to like you. She had a few sound problems but we were able to see her cute puppets and enjoyed the show. Afterwards, Joy asked for suggestions to improve the puppet play and was given some great feedback from the zoom participants. Review of the March 2023 Zoom Meeting by Joanne Schroeder 3 Billy Goats Gruff and the Gruff Brothers performed by puppeteer Ginger Lozar of Illinois Turns out the Gruff Brothers are 2 trolls, fighting over who is going to leave their house because there is not room for 2. After a tug of war, the troll who loses goes out in search of a house. A bear sells a bridge to the troll, and when a little billy goat tries to cross the bridge, the troll asks for gold. Now the old troll is hard of hearing and has lost his hearing aid. When the second billy goat tries to cross he too is asked for gold. Those 2 goats get across the bridge without paying. I think the loss of the hearing aids is causing some confusion. Out of confusion the 3rd billy goat is allowed to cross. Then the little billy goat comes back having found the hearing aids of the troll. A basket of food is given and all are declared friends forever. Be kind to your neighbors one and all. Ginger wrote the delightful script, and it brought smiles and good feelings to all. Jean Kuecher told us of her experience doing cold calling in an effort to book some puppet shows. It worked, as she was able to book some shows. Jean Pirtle showed us a clown pop-up puppet in a paper cup. Children will be so happy to play with this type of puppet. Review of the April 2023 Zoom Meeting by Bonita Riley Joann McMillan/Flying Heart Theater treated the guild to an absolutely delightful showing of her use of large (in some cases very large!) puppets as she portrayed ‘Mother Earth’ and exercised her command of the Earth’s Elements. Assisted by two of her grandchildren, they portrayed sunshine and calm weather, followed by huge storms, and then the wonder of the rainbow. A wonderful tip that she shared was to use inflated mylar balloons to create needed shapes (heads, hands, etc.) under the flowing fabric. This technique helps to create the large sizes and shapes needed but doesn’t add much to the weight of the costume. After a performance, the balloons can be deflated and folded up with the fabric for easy transport. Following this, Joann provided a tour of her two-story puppet playhouse. She had the playhouse built on her property many years ago and it is filled with puppets old and new – large and small. Her playhouse also includes multiple work areas where she builds her puppets. I believe every one of the Guild Members attending today would find her playhouse to be a type of puppet utopia. Joann also provided an outside tour of her playhouse – that included some additional large puppets and some works in progress. Her creativity in using everyday objects (e.g., a child’s swimming pool as the back of a large turtle puppet) and her amazing painting skills is extremely admirable. In recent years, Joann has included sublimation technology to customize fabrics for her puppet making. She is currently using a 13” x 19” Epson 8550 EcoTank Printer that she has modified to use sublimation ink. This allows her to print her own original art or other art that she wishes to use and then sublimate it onto polyester fabric using a Heat Press. Both the outfit she was wearing as ‘Mother Earth’ as well as many of the puppets she shared were made with her customized sublimation fabric. It was fun hearing about her puppet journey that started when she was a young child and continues to grow and expand to this day. We very much appreciated her sharing both her work and her workspace with us. January 2023 Puppet Guild Meeting Review by Joanne Schroeder Our Guild member Rikki Shaw performed her ventriloquist routines with her vent dummies Grandpa, a monkey, and one more character. Grandpa has been her long standing character for such a long time that she has had to get him some much needed repairs. Us old ones start falling apart. I should know. Rikki says she only performs for Seniors. I attended one of her puppet shows for Seniors at a Baptist church. And they did so love her routines. A mixture of jokes and music makes the show a winner. February 2023 Puppet Guild Meeting Review by Joanne Schroeder Tommy’s Space Adventure was performed on Zoom by Art Grueneberger Using a Stream Deck with programmable buttons, Art was able to project graphics such as open curtains, closed curtains, a forest, a flying saucer and sound effects. The show was a combination of live puppetry with animations and digital graphics. Tommy and Dr. Lost N. Space were live. As Art was performing the puppets live, he had a camera on himself, so we could see him moving the puppets. What we could not see were his feet using the Stream Deck to project the animations and graphics. Art uses a monitor so he can see the puppets onstage during the performance. In Tommy’s Space Adventure Tommy wants to meet an alien. Dr. Lost N. Space wants to capture an alien and sell it to make money. The Doctor meets an alien in Tommy’s yard, captures it and locks it up in a laboratory. There is a laser on the space ship, and it turns Dr. Lost N. Space into a cat, not by looks, just by the sounds and movements a cat would make. The meowing, hissing Dr. Lost N. Space as a cat is hilarious. Then it turns Dr. Lost N. Space into a dog, and finally a chicken who runs off. The sound effects and movements were so effective for all the characters. After the show Art let us see all the machines and wiring backstage. Then he explained how it was all put together. He also mentioned how difficult it was to learn the process. The hard work he put into the show paid off. Website for Art Grueneberger’s puppet shows: Puppetarts.com November 2022 Puppet Guild Meeting Review by Joanne Schroeder Mr. Leo Puppet Show was our feature for the meeting. He started with a presentation of a short puppet piece. Maria is frightened by a monster. It is pink and purple. Finally the monster is caught by her friend Tommy. It turns out that Maria’s cousin is wearing a monster costume to scare Maria. Mr. Leo says he puts together 3 short scenes for a puppet show. He came here from Venezuela, put an add for his puppet shows in a magazine, and the business took off. Plenty of music is used in his puppet shows. I witnessed this at the Pearl Fincher Museum where he was performing a puppet show, and the children were clapping and moving to the music. Mr. Leo’s email address: [email protected]. He also has a van used as a mobile puppet stage that he takes to events in parks and neighborhoods. You can view this on his website. We were so delighted to learn that Mr. Leo has been the recipient of some of David and Carol Carranza’s puppets. It is so good to know that their puppets belong to and are being used by a puppeteer. Jean Kuecher was especially happy with this news. She also informed us that Linda Roberts of Illinois is trying to sell her puppet shows. Linda’s email address is: [email protected] This was a delightful puppet guild meeting, as we met a puppeteer in the Houston area for the first time. There are 7 million people in Greater Houston, so there may be more puppeteers out there that we have not met. December, 2022 Meeting of the Greater Houston Puppetry Guild Minutes by Joanne Schroeder Jean Pirtle and Joanne Schroeder met at a restaurant on Sunday, December 11 at 2 pm. for our monthly puppet guild meeting. We discussed getting a credit card reader so people can charge purchases at our puppetry store during our Houston Puppet Festival, and at other sales events we would hold. We need to research this to find out what is available. People attempted to register for the Houston Puppet Festival on line. We did not have that option on our festival website. We need to have that available in the future. We discussed ways the Greater Houston Puppetry Guild could promote the art of puppetry: Shows, Workshops, Sales, Exhibits. We felt that these activities need to be happening throughout the year at various locations in the greater Houston area. I participated in two events held by the Pearl Fincher Museum where I was allowed to sell puppets here in Spring. I have a banner that I attached to the table reading: Greater Houston Puppetry Guild. Look for opportunities in your area. When you find them, let me know and I can bring puppets for the sale and/or exhibit. Libraries have display cases and look for something to display in them. Email me at: [email protected] Highlights of our POA Regional and Annual Houston Pepper Puppet Festival Sept. 15, 16 and 17, 2022 Thursday night Dinner and Puppet Slam Fun performances by members of the Houston Puppetry Guild at Hasta La Pasta Restaurant Puppeteers of America Regional Pepper Puppet Festival on Friday: Workshops, Pix Smith’s Puppet Exhibit, the Puppet store and two entertaining puppet shows made up a great day for our puppet enthusiasts and guests. We all had a great time sharing puppet ideas, stories, and experiences. Some of the types of shows and workshops included Shadow Puppetry, Puppet Story Telling, Czech Style Marionette, Strings Variety Show, Puppet Exhibit, Fable, Fairytale, and the Big Bad Wolf! 42nd Annual Houston Puppetry Festival on Saturday: Make and take workshops kept everyone busy as well as provided time to show and tell. Our group of teachers from West University Methodist School had a great time creating puppets to take back to their classrooms and share with their students. The Puppet Store and Puppet Exhibit were popular with our guests as well as families coming to see the Puppet Shows at the end of the day. We saw many smiles on the faces of the winners of our Raffle prizes. Our puppet shows this year were fantastic on both days. What a great time for everyone! Thank you to all of our staff, performers, and volunteers that made this another successful event for the Greater Houston Puppetry Guild! Some of the activities included Sock Puppets, Grocery Bag Puppet, Box Puppet, Flip Face Puppet, Peter Rabbit Glove, The Bumper Crop, and a special showcase of "Calliope Kate and the Voice of the River". Thank you from Jean Kuecher to the Participants of the SW Regional Pepper Puppet Festival and the 42nd Annual Houston Puppet Festival on September 16 and 17, 2022 “I want to thank you all for a wonderful and exciting two days. The presenters were all very professional, arriving on time and preparing so well. Everyone was kind, energetic and helpful. You are all very talented and creative. The evaluations were glowing with enthusiasm and admiration for new wisdom.” “Thank you to everyone who attended for your extraordinary effort for our festival and the art of puppetry! Thank you to Jean Pirtle for taking on the difficult job of Registrar, and doing it so well. Thank you to Joanne Schroeder for working very hard to organize the South West Regional Festival and bringing many items to sell in the store. Thank you to Pix Smith for bringing an amazing Exhibit of beautiful puppets. Thank you to Michael and Lynnette Tello for being store managers and bringing many puppets to sell. Thank you to Greg Ruhe for promoting the Raffle so well and making fun Facebook advertisements for the festival. Thank you to Brian Berlin for hosting our monthly Zoom guild meetings and promoting the festival.” Jean Kuecher, M.Ed. Puppeteer and Teaching Artist Performing Artist with Young Audiences of Houston Director of the Houston Puppetry Festival www.marionetteplayhouse.com cell 281-799-1398 October 2022 Puppet Guild Meeting Review by Joanne Schroeder Lisa Sturz and puppet partners of Red Herring Puppets in Arizona presented Aesop’s Fables in a table top production for our meeting on Zoom. The puppets moved around the scenery which consisted of a tree, a stone arch and a stone wall. 2 puppeteers behind a table did the manipulation. The rod puppets were beautifully crafted and portrayed the characters in the following stories: The Fox and the Crow, The Tortoise and the Hare, The Fox and the Stork; The Lion and the Mouse, and the Owl and the Grasshopper. It was intriguing to see all of these fables presented in one puppet show. There was a scissor beak on the crow. All of the puppets had lovely flat feet which they showed off. It was a most delightful puppet show. Next Meeting: Hello Puppet Presenters and Performers and Enthusiasts, You are invited to attend our Monthly Zoom Guild Meetings of the Houston Puppet Guild. Please email to request the link for the online meeting. If you want clock hour educator credit for the meetings, please ask for a certificate. You are Invited to the Greater Houston Puppetry Guild Meeting On Zoom (Email Joanne Schroeder for the password before the meeting at [email protected]) Puppeteers of America 2023 National Puppetry Festival and Academic Symposium July 18-22, 2023 at the University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland More information at www.puppeteers.org/national-puppetry-festival Earn 1 Texas Education Agency Continuing Professional Education Clock Hours. The Greater Houston Puppetry Guild, a chartered guild of the Puppeteers of America, Inc., is an Approved Provider for the Texas State Board of Educator Certification. |
About the Guild |
The Greater Houston Puppetry Guild was formed in August 1977 and Chartered by The Puppeteers of America (the national organization of puppeteers) in 1979. The Guild was first introduced to the public by presenting a performance at the Houston Children's Zoo by its members. This performance was so successful that public demand required the scheduled two performances to become three.
In September, 1979, the Guild further promoted itself by building a tent for its performance booth at the Texas Renaissance Festival. The Guild members performed "Punch and Judy" and other hand puppet shows every hour of the six weekends of the Festival. The Guild has been a steady presence in the area ever since. We are puppetry enthusiasts of all descriptions and ages: professionals, beginners, teachers, librarians, puppet makers puppet collectors and people who simply enjoy puppets. You are invited to share our interest in puppetry by joining the Greater Houston Puppetry Guild. |
Activities |
PERFORMANCE AND CRAFTSMANSHIP.
Many of the Guild's members are puppet builders and performers. We come together to share our common interest, to learn from one another, to stimulate broader public interest in puppetry, and to raise the standards of the Art of Puppetry. We meet quarterly in the Greater Houston Heights area for dinner, to share our latest creations and shows, and and to conduct general business. We gather a few more times each year for member performances, technique swaps and build workshops. APPRECIATION. The Guild is involved in education and in the promotion of the Puppetry Arts. To further these goals, every September the Guild has day workshops for school and church educators and librarians at Cypress Creek Christian Community Center. Professionals can earn 7 Continuing Education Hours while they attend playful, creative workshops on using puppets to promote literacy, building simple puppets for and with students, and teaching students to perform with puppets. |
Officers |
President - Joanne Schroeder
Vice President - Stephen Hurst Secretary - Greg Ruhe Newsletter - Bonita Riley Treasurer/Festival Organizer - Jean Kuecher |
Title Image Credit. Artisphere, Creative Common License.
