Puppet Up Spring 2014 Tour – March 17, 2014 – Home.
Well, the Puppet Up crew is safely back in Southern California. Heard we missed a pretty good earthquake this morning. I’m sure we’ll get an aftershock or two.
We left Madison, Wisconsin at around 7:00 AM and bussed it to Chicago O’Hare airport. There we parted ways with the New York part of our company, Julianna and Greg as they took off for New York. After that it was just a short, four hour, plane trip to the west coast and then a ride from LAX, back to where it all began, The Jim Henson Company lot. The weather is warm and it was good to get back to where you didn’t need a ton of layers to keep yourself warm. Sorry, midwest, we love you, but it’s cold.
It was a fun tour, as they all are. Congratulations to Tim and Vanessa on their first tour. They both did amazing. Was also great to see Sean get more shows under his belt as well. And, as always, it’a a blast to be on the road with Peggy. Huge thanks to Julianna, Greg and Cameron for their tireless work behind the scenes. And thanks to Patrick for trusting me enough to host a few shows this go round.
Next up, Australia. I haven’t decided yet or not if I’ll be doing a daily post for the trip to Australia. I just don’t feel there would be much more I can say that would be any different from the trip reports I’ve already done. More and more liking the idea of cutting off all social media/internet contact while I’m Down Under. I don’t know, I haven’t decided. At any rate, thanks for tuning in for this adventure, if you did. It was a blast.20
Puppet up!
Creative Mondays #011 – If something clicks, keep doing it.
When I began training to be in The Jim Henson Company’s Puppet Up, part of the training was improv classes. After taking those classes for a while, I started taking classes outside of Henson, through The Imrpovatorium. Most of my classes were with Patrick Bristow but I had a few other teachers as well. One class I took was a long form improv class with Ted Michaels. Ted is a brilliant improviser and he is also a member of Puppet Up. Ted is a great teacher and knows a lot of great structures to help drive home the core concepts of improv.
I don’t remember the exact name, but one of the structures we did really hit me as being funny and, as I was thinking back about it today, the principles of it can be applied to creativity. The improv scenes started out just like most other improv scenes. Two people got a suggestion and then began the scene. The rule of this game was to go through the scene as normal until the first big, whole audience, laugh. Then, whatever it was that got that laugh, the two improvisers just keep doing that. The point being that if you keep following that first big laugh, most of the time the scene will continue to be really, really funny. I’ll give you an example.
My friend Chris and another improviser were doing a scene that involved them getting into a car. Once inside the car, Chris made a move to roll down the car’s window. Of course, he was ‘space-working’ or miming it because there wasn’t a car on stage. So Chris made the move to roll down the window but his move was just really weird and not how you would go to roll down a real car window. It was funny because the audience immediately thought, “What kind of crazy wind controls does this car have?” That move got a big laugh.
So Ted said, “Okay, the scene is now about this ‘awkward space-work’ car.”
So Chris and his partner just went on with the dialogue as normal, but everything in the car, turning on the radio, opening the sunroof, pushing in the cigarette lighter, became these really big awkward physical movements. The scene was so funny. As the class continued, time and time again it was proven that if you just kept following that one thing that tickled the audience, the scene will succeed. Of course there were exceptions to the rule, but for for the most part, it worked.
Now, another improv teacher I’ve had would agree to an extent. I believe he would say you should pursue what the audience feels is funny, yes, but be aware when they are ready to move on to something new. Then look for the next thing and follow that.
I think this theory or pursuing what ‘clicks’ with the audience can be applied to creative work as well.
If you find that you create a piece of art that really clicks with your audience, follow it. Keep creating in that manner. Now I’m not saying paint the same painting over and over again, but if you find a style that hits with your audience, keep creating in that style. If you’re a writer and a story or book hits, write another with the same characters or in the same universe. If a sculpture you create is a hit, create in the same style for the next one. Follow what clicks with your audience. I’m also not saying never create in another way again, that would be boring. But if you find something that works, go with it until it doesn’t work anymore and then try something else.
I can point to an example of this in The Radio Adventures of Dr. Floyd. In 6 seasons of the show we followed the same ‘time travel’ formula. Dr. Steve wanted to steal historical artifacts and Dr. Floyd tried to stop them. After six seasons I wanted to try something else. Shake up that formula a little. So I created a season long storyline where Dr. Floyd and Dr. Steve got trapped inside classic literature. Now, I think these were some of our most fun shows and showed that the Dr. Floyd characters could still exist in another format. Some in the audience didn’t think so. While many folks loved Season 7, we got plenty of feedback from folks who missed the time travel formula we had done over the previous seasons. So, you’d better believe we brought it back for what was the eight and final season.
Dr. Floyd really clicked with people and I followed it until it was impossible to do so anymore due to issues that arose between myself and the other co-creator of the characters. Since then, I’ve created other similar style projects and some of that audience stayed with me. True, many want Dr. Floyd to return, but that’s just not possible now. But those who like the way I produced audio drama have followed and, I hope, they aren’t disappointed as I’m still creating in the same style. I’ve set up Saturday Morning Theatre as sort of a testing ground where I can produce different types of shows and if one of those shows really clicks, I can run with it and produce more. The Tales Deputy Guppy seems to have a pretty good fan base, so there will definitely be more episodes of that. The Adventures of The Thunder Crester got sort of a lukewarm response, so I may make a few more episodes to wrap up the storyline, but I probably won’t be producing more seasons of it.
If something clicks with your audience, keep doing it.
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Have you ever had something click with your audience? If so, what did you do? Did you follow it or try something different? Let me know in the comments below.
Puppet Up Spring 2014 Tour – March 16, 2014 – Madison, WI
Our tour bus rolled into Madison Wisconsin around 4AM in the morning. I did not sleep at all on the bus, not that I can’t, just that I didn’t. When our buss pulled up to the hotel I was the first off, and up in my room in bed.
Let me just say, I’m a huge fan of the Madison Concourse Hotel. The rooms are so great. The beds are amazing and the pillows are even better. The only thing I wish was different was that the wifi worked better, but I was going to sleeping most of the time, so who cares?
I woke up after 12:00 PM Noon and showered and went for a walk downtown Madison. There was some St. Patrick’s Day celebrations going on downtown, so the area was full of people in green. It was a little chilly, but the downtown area is really great. I had a nice lunch at Brickhouse barbecue. It was pretty good. I enjoyed the sausage links I ordered. The Brisket was a little tough but nice. After Lunch I went back to get my gear as it was time to head over to the venue.
The Capitol Theatre is just an amazing venue. The inside has balconies and boxes and the whole thing is just perfect for our show. Pictures don’t do it justice at all.
The Capital Theatre crew was top notch as well. Super friendly and a pleasure to work with. We ent through our usual tech rehearsal and it was another breeze thanks to the leadership of Greg.
After a short break, it was soon showtime for our last show on the tour. And what a show it was. From top to bottom just a really fun time. The crowd was awesome, and was throwing out amazing suggestions and the cast was just in top form. An honor to get to work with them all. Peggy brought two suggestions together in a Flashback scene, really expert improv move there. Tim was killing me in his Understudy scene as an old man. Vanessa was hilarious in the date scene as the Democrat half of the bipartisan couple I brought up from the audience and she totally rocked the impromptu Shakespearean scene as well. Sean’s plant from Thailand was hilarious in the foreign scene. And Victor performed one of the best Usher sequences I’ve ever seen, including his banter with the audience beforehand. Hard to pick one thing for each puppeteer and all five of them were on fire the whole night.
After the show it was a blast meeting all the fans in the lobby. Met Puppet Up SUPER fan Conner Asher who presented us with some amazing drawings and a framed piece of art. Really great. Also met my pal John B deHaas’ nephew Jonah and his date as well. So much fun.
After the show, and the load out, we retired to the hotel bar and celebrated the end of the tour with drinks (a root beer for me) and discussion. Sad this one is over, but we still have one more day of travel to go.
Almost home.
Puppet Up Spring 2014 Tour – March 15, 2014 – Kalamazoo, MI
The morning stared with me sleeping in and then, waking up after 11:00 AM. Much needed as sleep on this tour has been rough. I spent the hour or so before lobby call showering, getting ready to check out and listening to my newly downloaded Future Folk Volume One album from itunes. It’s really a great album. Funny lyrics, great playing.
At 1:00 PM we met the shuttle to the venue, the Miller Auditorium which is on the campus of West Michigan University. I dropped off my bags then took a walk across the campus to where I could get myself a Subway sandwich. I hadn’t had dinner the night before so I was pretty hungry. The West Michigan University campus is really nice. A lot of it was covered in snow and it made for a pleasant walk.
I walked back to the venue, and checked out the green room which has autographed 8 by 10’s of some of the people who have performed here and it’s a pretty amazing list. I always love when we play a place where the Oak Ridge Boys or “Weird Al” Yankovic have played. According to the headshots, The Smothers Brothers, Penn & Teller and Steve Martin have all played here. I know I’ll never be on their level, but it’s pretty cool to tread the same boards, so to speak.
The Miller Auditorium is a fantastic venue and the crew was top notch. Our tech rehearsal was one of the smoothest I’ve ever been involved with. Much props to our head tech guy Greg for being responsible for that. He’s a total pro and can handle any situation easily.
The show tonight was fantastic. The crowd was fired up and their suggestions were amazing. The cast was in top form as well. Vanessa and Peggy did a hilarious Flashback scene involving Vanessa’s first kill. Victor and Tim did a riotous Job Interview scene involving an audience puppeteer Garrett. And Sean did a great Digital Puppet scene telling the story of Killer Proctologists. A great show.
Afterwards, we went out to take pictures with the crowd and I met Melissa who made this awesome Mini Uncle Interloper! So awesome!
After the show it was on the bus to head to Madison, Wisconsin for the final show on this tour.
