Been a while since I’ve written on here, so I thought I would continue my attempted tradition of “Puppet of the Week” that I did one post on then forgot about entirely…sorry.
My puppet (or rather puppets) this time is one I’m very proud of. Back in late January, when I was working with Auburn Area Community Theatre on their production of Seussical Jr., I was asked to create a set of fish puppets for the “Anything’s Possible” number in the show, a song where Jojo’s imagination stretches his bathtub into the ocean. I was excited that I got the job and set of to work, but first I had to decide what kind of puppets I wanted to use, I had been given free reign to make whatever kind of fish puppets I wanted. I debated several different styles, and finally settled on something I thought would work best. I went to the library and looked at all the Dr. Seuss books I could find with fish in them, then sketched/designed 7 different styles of fish (several of which never saw the light of day as puppets, this included what I called “The Cat Fish” a black fish with red white stripes to look like the Cat in the Hat). I then set to work drawing large fish on matte board, cutting them out, painting thm, rigging them to talk (they were singing fish after all), detailing with a sharpie, and finally trimming them with black electrical tape to give them a straight off the page feel. The final product was five rod puppet fish that looked a lot like Dr. Seuss fish if I do say so myself…
The puppeteers for the fish (who were also in the ensemble playing Whoville citizens, Jungle of Nool creatures, and Circus McGurcus animals) were Marleigh Jones (my sister), Ian Downes, Walker Shumock-Bailey, Madison Jennings, and Brittany Price; who all danced the choreographed dance and did the puppet at the same time, a tough job (trust me).
Of my few stage puppet designing jobs this is one I’ll always be very proud of, bringing Dr. Seuss’ famous fish to life. It was a pleasure, and a privilege.
My puppet (or rather puppets) this time is one I’m very proud of. Back in late January, when I was working with Auburn Area Community Theatre on their production of Seussical Jr., I was asked to create a set of fish puppets for the “Anything’s Possible” number in the show, a song where Jojo’s imagination stretches his bathtub into the ocean. I was excited that I got the job and set of to work, but first I had to decide what kind of puppets I wanted to use, I had been given free reign to make whatever kind of fish puppets I wanted. I debated several different styles, and finally settled on something I thought would work best. I went to the library and looked at all the Dr. Seuss books I could find with fish in them, then sketched/designed 7 different styles of fish (several of which never saw the light of day as puppets, this included what I called “The Cat Fish” a black fish with red white stripes to look like the Cat in the Hat). I then set to work drawing large fish on matte board, cutting them out, painting thm, rigging them to talk (they were singing fish after all), detailing with a sharpie, and finally trimming them with black electrical tape to give them a straight off the page feel. The final product was five rod puppet fish that looked a lot like Dr. Seuss fish if I do say so myself…
The puppeteers for the fish (who were also in the ensemble playing Whoville citizens, Jungle of Nool creatures, and Circus McGurcus animals) were Marleigh Jones (my sister), Ian Downes, Walker Shumock-Bailey, Madison Jennings, and Brittany Price; who all danced the choreographed dance and did the puppet at the same time, a tough job (trust me).
Of my few stage puppet designing jobs this is one I’ll always be very proud of, bringing Dr. Seuss’ famous fish to life. It was a pleasure, and a privilege.
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