This is Herbert, your new meeting organizer.
Proud that I was given the assignment.

This can only work if I get help and lots of feedback from you.
Here comes a long e-mail.
Future e-mail are going to be much shorter.
At least, that is the plan.

April is set, and so is May.
I've just e-mailed Les, the director of the Homestead Valley
Community Center in Mill Valley. Depending on the availability of the
place (which is sooo beautiful!), we are either shooting for Sunday,
May 20 (3:00 to 6:00 p.m.) or Saturday, May 19 (3:00 to 6:00 p.m.).

Program:

1.) "How to make puppets come alive" -
first part of a five-part-workshop series on puppet manipulation.

Mike Vick and I are going to stick our heads together to create and
present really fun and helpful exercises. Basic training for
performances/performers. Can't wait to get started. The book we are
going to use is just awesome!

2.) "RUMPELSTILTSKIN" - my 40 minute hand puppet version of the famous
classic by the Brothers Grimm
3.) Guild Meeting

Future meetings need to be scheduled.
There is going to be one in June with the second part of the workshop
series and hopefully another performance or another interesting
workshop.
I will ask Liebe Wetzel whether she is interested/available to do a
workshop for us.

No meeting in July (summer break).
SUN SUN SUN - Relax...

Meeting in August tied into the Day of Puppetry at Children's
Fairyland in Oakland (with part 3 of our workshop series).
For September or October I will ask Ellen Schulze from Long Beach to
teach us how to make foam puppets.

Request:

Please e-mail me the answer(s) to the following questions:

a) your preference with regard to Saturdays or Sundays for upcoming meetings

b) any ideas for good locations - core idea is to maybe have two
permanent meeting points and go there alternatively. One of them
could be the Homestead Valley Community Center.

c) your ideas for workshops, puppetry related activities, guests we
could invite to talk to us/teach us in the areas of dramatic art,
music, writing,
lighting, painting, etc.

Activities could including watching and talking about puppetry videos,
introducing books/media to other members, etc. This could be a good
way to make the library really interesting to people.

Anyway, look forward to hearing back from you soon.

Herbert
(in Germany from March 30 to April 8, but will do my very best to
collect your thoughts)

Just a reminder that the newsletter deadline is coming up the 25th for the April Newsletter. Send your articles, calendar listings, reviews,
classifieds, committee reports to mail magicalmoonshine dot org. If you are sending an attachment or photos, send to magicalmoonshine gmail dot com
REMEMBER: I AM JUST YOUR EDITOR. IF YOU DON'T SEND IT, THERE WILL BE
NOTHING FOR THE NEWSLETTER. YOUR FELLOW GUILD MEMBERS WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU! EMAIL YOUR NEWSLETTER EDITOR TODAY.

--
Michael Nelson
SFBAPG Newsletter Ed.

PuppARTry Productions LLC, is looking for puppeteers to join our team in the production of 26 episodes of a children's television series, The Magic Paint Box, for KRON's fall line up. Shooting is due to start the third week of June, and rehearsals in April.
Auditions will take place, Saturday, March 31st., noon - 4:30 p.m. @ Bars&Tone Studio, 550 Bryant St. San Francisco, 94107.
Margaret M. Rex
Executive Producer
PuppARTry Productions, LLC
P.O. Box 3353
Santa Clara, CA 95055-3353
408-296-5006
408-497-7798 (Cell)
408-247-2733 (Fax)
m_m_rex yahoo dot com

Reminder: SFBAPG Guild meeting is this Sunday, March 25 at the Sonoma
Community Center. Puppet performance starts at 3:00 PM. Meeting
begins around 4:00 PM. (Bring snacks!)

Everyone is welcome to go out to dinner at 6:00 PM. We are making
reservations at Rin's Thai Restaurant (one block away), so please
RSVP to Lee Armstrong if you plan to join the group for dinner.

Lee's email is images vom dot com.

See you there!

*******************

Coming from Kansas City, Missouri!
Paul Mesner Puppets perform True Story of the 3 Little Pigs by A. Wolf
(used with permission by Jon Scieszka)

Think you know the real story behind the huffing and puffing? Think
again! There's only one individual who knows the true story about
one wolf, three houses and three little pigs: Alexander T. Wolf. In
this revealing no-squealing adaptation of Jon Scieszka's popular
book, A. Wolf has a chance to tell his side of the story. He only
wanted a cup of sugar and he did have a cold. For years we have only
known this story from the pigs pigs' point of view. Mr. A. Wolf
tells all about what really happened to those three little houses
made of straw, sticks and bricks and the three pigs who lived in them.

and....

World Literature through the Wonder of Puppets
An Exhibition of Selected Works from the Alan G. Cook Collection at
the Conservatory of Puppetry Arts

Enchanting puppets made by the Tatterman Marionettes, Turnabout
Theater, Tony Sarg, Coad Canada, Bernard Paul, Ralph Chesse, Dolores
Hadley and many more incredible puppeteers.

and....

A talk by Paul Mesner about how he runs his very successful puppet company!

Sunday, March 25 from 3:00 to 6:00 PM
Performance begins right at 3:00 PM

Tickets to the show: $12.00 for general public; $10.00 for Community
Center members and SFBAPG members.

Exhibit is free.

Sonoma Community Center
276 East Napa Street in Sonoma

Directions from Golden Gate Bridge, going north on 101:

Take US-101 past the Golden Gate Bridge and go 20.9 miles. Merge onto
CA-37 East toward Napa/Vallejo and go 7.6 miles. Take CA-121 North /
Arnold Dr / Carneros Hwy toward Sonoma / Napa and go one block. Stay
straight to go onto CA-121 North / Arnold Dr / Carneros Hwy.
Continue to follow Arnold Drive for 8.7 miles. Turn RIGHT onto West
Watmaugh Road and go 1.2 miles. Turn LEFT ontl Broadway / CA-12 and
go 1.8 miles. When you come to the plaza (basically a T in the
road), turn RIGHT onto East Napa Street. (Do not turn onto Napa
Street which comes several blocks earlier.) The Community Center is
down a couple blocks on the left side of the street.

***********

During the last 15 years, Paul Mesner has become a fixture in the
Kansas City theater and arts scene and in the national community of
puppeteers. Every year he produces a full season in Kansas City, and
logs 30,000 miles in travel presenting shows in schools, community
centers, festivals and theaters to more than 100,000 children and
adults. Paul collaborates frequently with the Kansas City Symphony,
the Kansas City Ballet and many other arts organizations.

Paul Mesner has received numerous awards for his work, including the
Citation of Excellence from the American Center of l'Union
Internationale de la Marionnette. The Company has received many
prestigious grants, including grants from the National Endowment for
the Arts and The Jim Henson Foundation.

Paul Mesner's audiences are life-long fans of his hilarious
enterprise. An avid reader, Mesner has made a name for himself
reinterpreting classic and contemporary juvenile fiction or, as he
says, "presenting fiction like a juvenile." He prefers the classic
repertoire of tales and myths because they offer life lessons
intertwined with engrossing stories. He incorporates slapstick humor
and a break-neck performance pace to make stories simultaneously
entertaining to children and amusing to adults. "Averting imminent
disaster is what theatrical production is all about," says Mesner.
"Kids know this, and I like to keep them thinking things are about to
fall completely apart at any moment. This way, I slyly trick them
into paying more attention."

Job Posting: Puppeteers for Noah's Ark at the Skirball Opening Events
(select dates in May and June 2007)

NEEDED: Performers/puppeteers with the experience or desire to work
in adult puppetry, particularly in the rod, marionette, and
bunraku-styles. Applicants should have experience in dance, a
willingness to work in an ensemble, and the skill to improvise with
the public. Experience in parades/processionals a plus.

Auditions Monday, March 26,2007,1:00 - 4:00 p.m. or Wednesday, March
28, 2007, 6:30 - 9:30 p.m.

Each person will be given a call time. Please specify when applying
whether you prefer the day or night

audition.

Noah's Ark at the Skirball, a new permanent destination for young
children and families, will open to the public in June 2007 as an
integral part of the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles. Rooted
in Jewish values preserved over 4,000 years, the Skirball works to
create meaningful, down-to-earth experiences that forge connections
between families, generations, and cultures. Noah's Ark at the
Skirball embodies the institution's communal mission.

Of the over 200 unique handmade animals in the exhibition, which
occupies nearly 8,000 sq. ft. of gallery space, 15 of them will come
to life as fully articulated puppets, modeled carefully on the actual
behaviors of specific species of animals.

The Skirball Cultural Center is now building a team of 30-40
puppeteers to train and to work the Opening Events during May and
June, as well as to become part of our puppet roster for future event
employment.

Some of the animal puppets-a rod-style Gryphon Vulture, for
example-are operated solo, while others require ensembles to work
them. The Asian Elephant, for example, takes four puppeteers to walk,
turn his head, lift his trunk, and flap his ears. The task of the
puppeteers is to have the animals interact with visitors for brief
periods of time during each event day in a trained but improvised
manner.

There will be a required two-day paid trial/training period for the
position with Chris M. Green, the New York-based designer and
puppeteer who created all of the puppet exhibits for Noah's Ark at
the Skirball. The mandatory trainings for all selected puppeteers
will take place on Saturday. April 21. 2007, 9:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. and
Sunday, April 22. 2007, 9:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m. Trainees will receive an
hourly wage of $8/hour during these trainings; the hourly wage will
be $15/hour for all scheduled events.

Thirty-four puppeteers will be selected and contracted for one
Community Event Day (Sunday, June 24) puppet parade utilizing all 15
puppets. These puppeteers will be required to participate in all of
the following four dates-three days of mandatory training and one
Community Event Day.

Thursday, June 21, time TBD Friday,June22,timeTBD Saturday,June23,timeTBD

Sunday, June 24, 11:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m.

Ten puppeteers will be selected and contracted for the following
event dates for improvisational ambient puppetry on some or all of
the following dates, which include mandatory trainings:

Friday, May 4, time TBD

Saturday, May 5, 11 :00 a.m.-3:00 p.m. Sunday, May 6, 11 :00
a.m.-4:00 p.m. Tuesday, May 22, 4:30-6:00 p.m. Saturday, May 26,
10:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m. Sunday, May 27,10:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m. Saturday,
June 2,9:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Sunday, June 3, 11 :00 a.m.- 5:00 p.m.

Thursday, June 7, 12:00-9:00 p.m. Friday, June 8, 12:00-5:00 p.m.
Saturday, June 9, 10:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m. Sunday, June 10, 10:00
a.m.-5:00 p.m. Tuesday, June 12,4:30-6:00 p.m. Thursday, June 14,
12:00 - 9:00 p.m. Friday, June 15, 12:00-5:00 p.m.

If you have experience in puppet-theater, dance, improvisation,
education, museum work, story- telling, or have an avid interest in
being challenged in these fields, please email a cover letter and
resume describing your interest in this position to
humanresources skirball dot org or
fax to (310) 440-4595.

Or send copies to:
Human Resources Department Attn:Puppeteers

Skirball Cultural Center

2701 N. Sepulveda Blvd.

Los Angeles, CA 90049

www.skirball.org

Here are 2 pages of Larry Carroll's pick of the ten top TV Puppet
Groups. Could be of interest to SF Guild members.
http://tv.msn.com/tv/mastersofpuppets-1

I have been asked to make a presentation for a community group on using puppets in parades and pageantry (and on associated pageantry street theatre). I would like to have various photos and some video clips to help show what kinds of things are possible. My goal is to excite representatives from various community groups into working together or within their own organizations to create some parade puppetry & theatre. This can be political puppetry, artistic representations, community activities, or whatever. If anyone has any photos or short videos that might help demonstrate this or stimulate ideas and would be willing to share them with me, I would greatly appreciate it. I am especially looking for images that would show the various possibilities or serve to stimulate members of the community to want to create their own parade art.

You can contact me at magicalmoonshine gmail dot com - If you have digital picture or clips you wish to email, you may just send them along (if it is a large amount, contact me first...perhaps some other form would be better than email). If you have any stories or examples of experiences in developing community through parade puppetry, that could be applicable as well. My talk is next Wednesday the 21st. Thanks in advance for any help in this,

Yours,

Michael Nelson

Magical Moonshine Theatre

"Puppets, Puppets, Puppets" Fest

A puppet festival happening in
L.A. - here's the info & call for entries
http://www.arroyoartscollective.org/

Raven Kaliana

Please share this with your guild!
We are very excited about our 5th annual PuppetFest MidWest (July
10-15, 2007) in Trenton, Missouri. All of our Workshops and Performers
are confirmed and ready. Our goal is to provide a relaxed, professional
environment where you can really focus on one aspect of puppetry in a
twenty-hour workshop. You can learn a lot in that length of time!
This year’s workshops are:
* MANIPULATION BOOT CAMP with Drew Allison, Grey Seal Puppets
Intense workthroughthatwill focus on creating and developing puppet
character through movement and manipulationwith an emphasis on
non-verbal puppetry.
* HANDS UP! with Luman Coad, Coad Canada Puppets
Participants will create a comfortable, durable, and performable
hand puppet with a papier-mache head.
* NEEDLE FELTED HAND PUPPETS with Pam Corcoran
* ADVANCED MARIONETTE MANIPULATION with Phillip Huber, The Huber
Marionettes
* VENTRILOQUISM: AN ANCIENT ART DEMYSTIFIED! with Randel McGee, McGee
Productions
* ROD PUPPETS AND PERFORMANCE with Paul Mesner of Paul Mesner Puppets
* SHADOW PUPPETRY with Jim Napolitano, Nappy’s Puppets
For more details, please look on our website www.puppetfestival.org .
Our website wizards, Nick and Rose Sage Barone, continue to work
technical and artistic wonders to capture the excitement of our unique
puppetry event. You can also read some great reviews written by
participants of last year’s PuppetFest MidWest.
We hope to see you at this year’s PuppetFest MidWest. Please let me
know if you have any questions. And PLEASE, we’d appreciate it if you
would Share this Information with Everyone who might be Interested.
Thank you,
Debbie and Peter

Contact Information:
PuppetFest MidWest
Festival Directors,
Peter Allen & Debbie Lutzky Allen
P.O. Box 14
Jamesport MO 64648
Phone: (660) 684-6eight25
email: dlpallen grm dot net
puppetfestival.org

Hello Guild Members,

Your March 2007 Guild newsletter is online and ready to download and read or
print out. To get right to your newsletter go to: http://www.sfbapg.org/newsletter/archives/000798.html

This month's newsletter has calendar events starting right away, so be sure
to check it asap. Also enjoy an article about U Tube by Lee Armstrong, and
photos from the Taiwan Global Puppetry Festival, as well as classifieds and
bits and pieces from all over. The Sonoma Community Center Winter Puppetry
Festival continues this month with a great exhibit of puppets, and shows and
workshops, and our next guild meeting (March 25th…mark those calendars) will
be there in conjunction with Paul Mesner's show (if you have never seen
Paul, don't miss this Kansas City star and former president of Puppeteers of
America…his shows are hilarious!) And now, all SCC Winter Puppetry Festival
events offer a GUILD DISCOUNT! Just show your membership card at the door.

All the best,

Your newsletter editor

GUILD BOARD ELECTIONS ARE JUST AROUND THE CORNER. ARE YOU READY?

March Guild Meeting -- Three special treats in one day!

Coming from Kansas City, Missouri!
Paul Mesner Puppets perform True Story of the 3 Little Pigs by A. Wolf
(used with permission by Jon Scieszka)

Think you know the real story behind the huffing and puffing? Think
again! There's only one individual who knows the true story about
one wolf, three houses and three little pigs: Alexander T. Wolf. In
this revealing no-squealing adaptation of Jon Scieszka's popular
book, A. Wolf has a chance to tell his side of the story. He only
wanted a cup of sugar and he did have a cold. For years we have only
known this story from the pigs pigs' point of view. Mr. A. Wolf
tells all about what really happened to those three little houses
made of straw, sticks and bricks and the three pigs who lived in them.

and....

World Literature through the Wonder of Puppets
An Exhibition of Selected Works from the Alan G. Cook Collection at
the Conservatory of Puppetry Arts

Enchanting puppets made by the Tatterman Marionettes, Turnabout
Theater, Tony Sarg, Coad Canada, Bernard Paul, Ralph Chesse, Dolores
Hadley and many more incredible puppeteers.

and....

A talk by Paul Mesner about how he runs his very successful puppet company!

Sunday, March 25 from 3:00 to 6:00 PM
Performance begins right at 3:00 PM

Tickets to the show: $12.00 for general public; $10.00 for Community
Center members and SFBAPG members.

Exhibit is free.

Sonoma Community Center
276 East Napa Street in Sonoma

Directions from Golden Gate Bridge, going north on 101:

Take US-101 past the Golden Gate Bridge and go 20.9 miles. Merge onto
CA-37 East toward Napa/Vallejo and go 7.6 miles. Take CA-121 North /
Arnold Dr / Carneros Hwy toward Sonoma / Napa and go one block. Stay
straight to go onto CA-121 North / Arnold Dr / Carneros Hwy.
Continue to follow Arnold Drive for 8.7 miles. Turn RIGHT onto West
Watmaugh Road and go 1.2 miles. Turn LEFT ontl Broadway / CA-12 and
go 1.8 miles. When you come to the plaza (basically a T in the
road), turn RIGHT onto East Napa Street. (Do not turn onto Napa
Street which comes several blocks earlier.) The Community Center is
down a couple blocks on the left side of the street.

***********

During the last 15 years, Paul Mesner has become a fixture in the
Kansas City theater and arts scene and in the national community of
puppeteers. Every year he produces a full season in Kansas City, and
logs 30,000 miles in travel presenting shows in schools, community
centers, festivals and theaters to more than 100,000 children and
adults. Paul collaborates frequently with the Kansas City Symphony,
the Kansas City Ballet and many other arts organizations.

Paul Mesner has received numerous awards for his work, including the
Citation of Excellence from the American Center of l'Union
Internationale de la Marionnette. The Company has received many
prestigious grants, including grants from the National Endowment for
the Arts and The Jim Henson Foundation.

Paul Mesner's audiences are life-long fans of his hilarious
enterprise. An avid reader, Mesner has made a name for himself
reinterpreting classic and contemporary juvenile fiction or, as he
says, "presenting fiction like a juvenile." He prefers the classic
repertoire of tales and myths because they offer life lessons
intertwined with engrossing stories. He incorporates slapstick humor
and a break-neck performance pace to make stories simultaneously
entertaining to children and amusing to adults. "Averting imminent
disaster is what theatrical production is all about," says Mesner.
"Kids know this, and I like to keep them thinking things are about to
fall completely apart at any moment. This way, I slyly trick them
into paying more attention."

A Celebration of Roger Mara's Life
October 20, 1953 - January 15, 2007

We are glad to announce a gathering for the celebration of Roger
Mara's life. Friends, Family, Cohorts, and Fellow Puppeteers are all
welcome! Please spread the word!

Saturday, May 26th
11:00 AM to 2:30 PM
Fireside Room, Lucie Stern Center
1305 Middlefield Road
Palo Alto, CA 94301

We have stories to share, puppets to see, friends to meet, songs to
sing, and video of Roger's work.

Since sandwiches and snacks will be served, it would be great if we
could get an approximate head count.... please email Elizabeth Luce:
elizabeth lucedesigns dot com (or call: 206-524-1O30) if you are planning
on coming. (Don't let it stop you if from coming if you forget to
respond, however!)

We look forward to seeing you there!!!