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SCENEWEST


By Christine Papalexis Creative Ways of Working Around COVID


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s the quarantine continues across the globe, puppeteers have found ways to be together, to work together, and to make the most of a difficult situation. Puppet slams now reach out beyond local venues to include perform- ers and audiences online from anywhere in the world. Puppeteers who normally travel to perform their shows have had to figure out how to reach audiences online. Teachers have found creative ways to en- gage students. Basically, puppeteers are doing what we do, adapting and finding paths to keep doing what we love to do!


San Francisco Bay Area Puppet Guild (SFBAPG) For their May Zoom, John Arnold and Gabriel Galdamez covered the ABCs of virtual video and how it can be applied to a puppeteer’s work. Nao Kobayashi dreamed up the July Ocean Challenge and the October Ghostly Experiment as Facebook/ Instagram events. There was interest from puppeteers as far away as Germany and Hawaii to explore new themes. Participation prizes included Folkmanis puppets and a remarkable felted witch created by Camilla Henneman.


August brought the “Craft Your Puppet Show for Video” workshop with Alex U. Griffin of Los Angeles. Monica Leo con- ducted two Zoom workshops from Iowa. The November topic was “How to Make a Bohemian Rod Marionette.” The dynamic Nelson duo, Michael and Valerie, produced the Forbidden Puppet Cabaret’s Pup- petLove in the Time of COVID, a virtual event with tech support by John Arnold.


Los Angeles Guild of Puppetry In August, Kate Katz offered her work-


shop “Activism Through Puppetry.” Also in August, the guild screened The Best of the 48hr Puppet Film Project 2020. For the October workshop “Figure Felting for Stop Motion,” Taylor Bibat and Rachel Gibas worked out a plan to provide kits in the mail to everyone who signed up. Multiple camera angles helped the participants see the intricacies of what can be done with felting. Alex U. Griffin led the 48hr Puppet Film Project 2020. All films had to be shorter than one hour and 11 minutes. We had 50 submissions, and one of the winners was


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As the quarantine continues across the globe, puppeteers have found ways to be together, to work together, and to make the most of a diffi- cult situation. Puppet slams now reach out beyond local venues to include performers and audiences online from anywhere in the world.


from the UK. As part of the guild’s commitment to sharing the art of puppetry, we offered our first Mentorship Program, pairing experienced puppeteers with new puppet artists to create pieces for our Halloween Puppetzilla Puppet Slam. Local participants were joined by puppeteers from Alabama, Mexico, and Trinidad. Huge thanks to Heather Henson’s Puppet Slam Network for the generous support. At the December holiday party, we welcomed new members from across the country. Even though we can’t meet in person, the small silver lining is that we get to include puppeteers from everywhere. Hopefully, this outreach will continue even as the world gets back to normal.


Other LA News The Bob Baker Marionette Theater has been struggling due to the pandemic and has launched a campaign to raise money to keep the doors open. They use creative ways to bring marionettes to the community, with beautiful window displays at the carousel in Santa Monica, and walk-throughs of small acts at their theater. Automata, the charming small venue in Chi- natown, has also had a tough time this year, but thanks to a few organizations that have pitched in to help keep the arts going during this time, it looks like Automata has created a calendar of events for the months to come. Congrats to Janie Geiser and her group for keeping this dream alive.


From the Pacific Northwest:


Seattle puppeteer Annett Mateo report- ed, “Ben DeLaCreme and Jinkx Monsoon didn't let the pandemic stop them from making a spectacular holiday special movie. Annett Mateo/Puppetlandia built Nanog, a sentient eggnog that helps with a comical holiday journey. The duo Jinkx and DeLa are a couple of fun souls, lovers of glamorous costumes and tasty cock- tails. We’re glad they like puppets too.” Dustin Curtis reports that all three


Pacific Northwest puppet guilds have pivoted to online presence to provide community and support. The Puppeteers of Puget Sound enjoyed a talk from LA- based Grant Baciocco on how to make money with puppets on the Internet. The Left Coast Love Fest regional festival is looking at options to remount in 2021, pending COVID developments.


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