GUILD CONNECTION KURT HUNTER
Hope Springs Eternal–Even in These Times T
here is no denying that 2020 has been a rough year, filled with injustice and insecurity. There is an underlying sense of trepidation that is hard to shake. In the midst of it all, though, are glimmers of hope that a better world can grow out of the pain. I am hopeful that disparities laid bare will get much-needed attention. New ways of thinking and doing are ap- pearing in ways large and small. Puppeteers are especially good at finding new ways to make what is necessary happen. The amount of online puppetry in the past few months has been staggering. In our isola- tion, we are somehow more connected than ever before. This has been especially true of my guild, the Twin Cities Puppeteers. Our VP, Kathleen Conroy, has taken advan- tage of our virtual guild meetings to bring in presenters we would have never considered before. In May, Alissa Mello and Claudia Orenstein gave a fascinating talk about their new book, Women and Puppetry: Critical and Historical Investigations. In June, Chad Williams of WonderSpark Puppets gave an excellent presentation: “Take Your Puppet Show Online!” In July, we even managed
to pull off a surprise 80th birthday party for our dear Paul Eide via Zoom. Everyone got on the call early. When Paul arrived, we could jump out or—more accurately—jump in front of the camera or—even more accurately—have our puppet jump in front of the camera. Paul was first greeted by Phillip Huber’s star marionette, Taffy. Other out-of-towners joining us included Steve Abrams and Fred Thompson. Video and live tributes were presented, finishing with a video of birthday greetings from A-list puppeteers assem- bled by Tim Nielsen and Bill Delong. The best part was that Paul was truly surprised.
Another guild bringing together people from farther afield is the
Greater Houston Puppetry Guild. Their May meeting, a vari- ety puppet program, brought in new people from the Puppeteers of America Southwest Region, a storyteller’s guild, and the Houston Cheerful Clowns Alley. Unfortunately, their big fall event, the Annual Greater Houston Puppetry Festival, had to be canceled, which also meant that the teachers who usually attend would lose the opportunity to earn their needed Continuing Professional Education (CPE) hours. Rather than just wait for next year, the guild restructured the festival into six months of online puppetry workshops from July to December, complete with CPE hours. With the cancellation of their regional festival, the National Capital Puppetry Guild is stepping in to fill the void with their own virtual National Capital Puppetry Festival. The event will include a puppet slam hosted by Alex and Olmsted, shows for families, and a wide range of workshops. The guild also has a new president: Yolanda Sampson. It’s a hopeful step in the right direc- tion to have an African American woman leading one of our guilds. The July–August newsletter of the Detroit Puppeteers Guild, edited by the timeless Nancy Henk, lamented the ongoing
string of cancellations: Day of Puppetry, Kuklafest, the summer picnic, and the Great Lakes Regional Puppeteers Potlatch. With- out these events to bring people together, the newsletter was filled with news about members to keep everyone together. The June newsletter of the Orange County Puppetry Guild was a photo-packed look at the meetings from the past year. They normally don’t meet in July or August, but Lois Harmeyer sent out a July newsletter to help people keep in touch. The Connecticut Guild of Puppetry has a tradition of meeting at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center at the end of the O’Neill National Puppetry Conference. Tak- ing their lead from the conference, which had to move online, the guild had their meeting online to elect officers and catch up with some show and tell. The Atlanta Puppetry Guild had a long-distance special guest for their July meeting. They were joined by Rob D’Arc from Seattle, a very talented builder of pup- pets and masks, and the pop-up puppets that he sells in Pike Place Market. The Los Angeles Guild of Puppetry was gathering information about the unique
health and safety issues for pup- peteers related to COVID-19 for the SAG-AFTRA Puppe- teers Caucus. In August, they presented an online program, “Activism Through Puppetry: Using Art to Make Social Com- mentary and Enact Change.” The San Francisco Bay Area Puppeteers Guild has been helping members navigate the new waters of online pup- petry. For their May meeting, they presented “Virtual Video for Puppeteers” by guild media experts John Arnold and Gabriel Galdamez. They covered topics from the iPhone to Open Broad- caster Software (OBS) system. In August, they continued to expand the knowledge with “Craft Your Puppet Show for Video,” with filmmaker and puppeteer Alex U. Grif- fin, designed for puppeteers transitioning from live shows to video. Eventually the time will come when social distancing is no longer necessary. Eventually we will be together at performances, festivals, and puppetry guild events. I hope we will find ways to hold on to the virtual, long-distance ways of connecting that we have been discovering. For now, I’ll settle for hearing how your guild is keeping puppeteers connected as we find our way forward. I’ll be waiting to hear from you.
2020 has been a rough year, filled with injustice and insecurity. There is an underlying sense of trepidation that is hard to shake. In the midst of it all, though, are glimmers of hope.
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