Puppets . . . Finally going to the moon?

Today I've got rehearsal for a pilot shoot for a kids' TV show: The Magic Paintbox . . . it's been pending for a couple years now, while they go round with different sets of finance people and TV execs. Maybe this time it will happen?

It's kind of weird that I've been on two prospective TV shows without ever *really* seeking out TV. I mean, I feel pretty unphotogenic. Maybe I've got a face for puppetry. :o)

On the other hand, none of the student films I was featured in during college ever got completely finished. And so far, neither of the TV shows. So maybe I'm cursed.

Here's to the future! Magic Paintbox, you've been warned: I may be cursed. Here's hoping I'm not! I always thought in the back of my mind that I'd be a puppeteer on a kids' TV show someday. Seriously. It's your fault, Sesame Street.

Puppets in Chicago?

We got invited to perform The Great Puppet Bollywood Extravaganza at this year's Chicago Improv Festival (CIF). Isn't that cool?

We're trying to make it work, and it seems promising. Latenite Saturday improv! We'll keep you posted.

Rock!

Working in the theater is weird. or, Use More Vaseline!

For what other job (or in my case, one of several jobs) do you have to get up at 3 in the morning so you can finish a lifelike severed head (or in my case, totally still fail to finish it)? (No worries, SF Playhouse; I'll stick the hair on and gory it up for tomorrow.)

This is one reason improv is much easier: no pulling all-nighters for props. As we move into Un-Scripted: unscripted, this is one thing I remain totally thankful for. (I think we almost pulled a couple of all-nighters for the Shakespeare set -- CHRISTIAN -- but it was supercool and we've already used it again. :o)

On the other hand, I now have intimate knowledge of life-casting using silicone, and of some liquid latex artistic usage. (AND of how stupid one feels when one has inadvertently entombed one's eyebrow and eyelashes in purple silicone, and must resort to tiny scissors to remove both the aforesaid eyebrow and eyelashes, AND the giant purple floppy mold of half one's face that is dangling from one's severely watering eye. Good thing I tried it on myself before I tried it on the 13-year-old! You really do have to use quite a lot of vaseline.)

Plus, latex is a medium you can use to make puppets with. I mean, new art techniques are ALWAYS useful.

Come see Landscape of the Body at the SF Playhouse to see my handiwork! And also, handily, see *by* my handiwork, since I also hang the lights there.

Master Electrician out!

Bollywood Extravaganza . . . it's coming!

Hey all!

Just a note: the Great Puppet Bollywood Extravaganza! is well on its way! Fun cast, new puppets, all Bollywood. I super can't wait for it to open. Hee!

Best of the WHAT WHAAAAAT?

Un-Scripted just got voted BEST THEATER COMPANY in the San Francisco Bay Guardian's Best of the Bay 2008 issue! Wooooooooohooo! Can I get a what what?

Thanks everyone who voted for us!

We rock!

Puppets on the Horizon . . .

Hey y'alls!

Just FYI: puppets are once again coming on the horizon . . . in November/December I'm directing The Great Bollywood Puppet Holiday Extravaganza! or whatever the heck we're gonna call it. The important things: it's gonna have puppets. It's gonna have Bollywood. And it's gonna be SO FUN!

I, being myself, have already started doing research. Not the fun movie kind, but the picky books kind. What can I say -- I have an English degree. Research is fun!

My current goal . . . to make a few puppets that look like Bollywood stars. Like: Amitabh Bachchan,



Shah Rukh Khan,




And Ashwarya Rai, perhaps.



I'm gonna do tons of research, along with my intrepid Assistant Director Dave Dyson, and we're gonna work on Bhangra and hip hop and Bollywood Dance, and watch a lot of movies, and make more puppets, and get some costume pieces together, and teach people how to fold saris . . . etc. It's gonna be, as I believe I mentioned, SO FUN!

but in the meantime, come see Theater: The Musical -- May 1-31, Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays.

And check out 3dayslater.net. Unrelated. But you might recognize some familiar faces . . .

#&$*@%@%#%$%$$$!!!

Ahh, look at his green face. Never more to be seen.

It's been awhile, sports fans. By which I mean, Improv fans.

I think one of the reasons that I haven't posted in so long, is that I've been in mourning, I think, ever since a HORRIBLE THING happened. OK, it wasn't that horrible, AND, I wasn't that upset. But let us take a moment to remember Mel: oh, green, fuzzy, two-handed, softhearted puppet. Where are you? Some BASTARD broke the window of my car and stole you, along with your friends the little penguin, the little crab, and a whole host of storebought hand puppets. WHAT KIND of PERSON breaks into a car to steal PUPPETS? And ONLY puppets? It was a snatch-and-grab; had anyone looked in there, they might have found other stuff to steal, including a set of well-hidden keyboard speakers. But no, the door was never even opened. &$%#@. It could have been worse. Mel was the only one taken who I actually made. But still. They broke my WINDOW! Bastards.

Study that picture well, ladies and gentlemen. If you see that green puppet anywhere, get him the $%@& back for me!

Anyway. We've moved on. Next show is Let It Snow, and I'm the dance captain. Hooray! It's a super fun show, we have a lot of great guests, and I get to make people dance! Heeeee hee heeeeee. :o) It's my favoritest thing to do. I say that about a lot of improv-related things, but dance is right up there. Curious, since I HATE going "clubbing," or other kinds of freeform dance. I need structure.

I even took a couple of classes from the venerable Richard Powers (he's not that old, but he sure is venerated) at Stanford, in Club Two-Step and Cross-Step Waltz, so I would remind myself that I know what I'm doing, social-dance wise. Since we're kicking the dance up a notch (bam) this year, I wanted to go more in-depth about dancing together, to complement the things we already know about diamond dances, and other kinds of formation-based improvised choreography. It's great to get people to dance together, especially in a social-dance mode. It gets people to know each other, stand together, touch, etc. It makes people do something they don't know how to do, and that maybe they can't get right away. Plus, it makes other dance stuff that we do seem way easier. I'm a sneakypants.

And just in case you're missing the puppets, never fear, boys and girls. There's been some talk at season-planning meetings about . . . wait for it . . . Improvised Puppet Bollywood. For the HOLIDAYS. (Improvised Puppet Bollidays?) It's just talk, right now.

But it could happen.

Srsly.

I'm just sayin'.