AUDITIONS!

                                  
              NOTE: Due to snow, auditions rescheduled for February 4th @ 7pm!

Puppet YAK Auditions!
“The Keeper of Clark Street,” an MFA Puppet Arts Production
by Sarah Hall and Nicole LeDuc

January 28 @ 7:00-9:00 in the movement room at the Puppet Arts Complex

Show Description:
“The Keeper of Clark Street” is a show about memories and community, and is inspired by the North End neighborhood of Hartford. It has been developed over the course of a year through historical research, and alongside creative engagement with the 2nd grade class at Clark Elementary. The show's focus is the importance of memory in understanding oneself, as well as collective memory's role in creating community. “The Keeper” is supported by the Marks Family Endowment,and the ArtsCorps Award.

Who We Need:
* 4 character puppeteers to perform with the rod marionettes and large wearable foam puppets
* 3 animateurs to personify and manipulate the environment
The show relies on storytelling, ensemble work, movement, and the principles of toy theatre, and will be presented through manipulation of small-scale table-top rod marionettes, objects, and masks, with
scenery created largely by the performers' bodies.

Audition Expectations:
The auditions will be lighthearted and focus on the performers’ creativity and capacity in working alongside other performers in an ensemble relationship.
* Auditions will be comprised of 3 sections: group movement exercises, scene work with the rod marionettes, and solo storytelling in which performers will read from a story that will be provided at the auditions.

Performance Details:
* Friday April 19th @ 9, 10 & 11 in the morning (transportation is provided)
* At Clark Elementary in Hartford for individual 2nd grade classes
* One performance will be presented at UConn Drama Arts on April 21st

Rehearsal Schedule:
* Monday - Friday 7-11
* Monday March 11th – Wednesday April 17th
* It is possible that not everyone will be called every day.
* Load-in and tech during the morning of Thursday April 18th
* We will not meet for rehearsal over spring break March 18-22.

Contact Details:
Sarah e. Hall - edmoniahall@gmail.com
Nicole LeDuc - nicole.leduc@uconn.edu

READY TO PAINT

      

         Finally, the sculptures are sealed with latex. They are now durable and ready for paint!

In the end, we decided that adding the fur to Rose's head was not the best idea! The structural integrity of the foam was super compromised by the weight of the fur, and the sculpture underneath almost completely disappeared. SO we decided to take the fur off (except for a few accent patches) and paint the head like the rest of the foamie parts!

Much better!

FOAMIE ROSE

            Sculpting a bear out of foam!

FOAMIE LARS

  
              Sculpting a turtle out of foam!

THE WORLD'S LONGEST CRANKIE

In our script "The Keepers of Clark Street," the characters that the heroine meets share their memories. We chose to represent these memory stories in the cinematic puppetry format of the Crankie. 

BUT NOT JUST ANY CRANKIE.... 

We are building the longest crankie known to man: The frame for the crankie is a pre-hung door, and the stories together will form a continuous length of crankable fabric 50 yards long! 

1 DOOR. 50 YARDS OF MUSLIN.

36" WIDE. OMG.

However... When you shine a light on muslin, it is a little see-through. So first, we have to treat the muslin with a glue mixture to make it more opaque (which is nice for painting on) and a little stiffer (which is nice for cranking). 







50 yards is a lot of fabric - so we occupied the Movement Room at the Puppet Arts Compex over winter break to pin our fabric up to dry.

                                 

We're using push pins to tack the wet fabric tight to a wall of styrofoam sheets. 

By the time we're done, we will have dunked the whole 50 yards in the glue bath twice. 







How will a crankie be built into a door!? Here is a preliminary mock-up design for how that could happen: