The other way I get the audience's attention

So silly of me. I thought about that last post, wrote it carefully, reread it, edited, posted and shared on various social networks, completely forgetting the MAIN way I get the audience's attention. Thanks to Margaret Meyers for pointing it out! 

When I'm working with kids under age 10 and with family groups, I use puppets to get the audience's attention. In the beginning of the show, often after pied pipering with my harmonica, I say, "I brought a friend with me today, in my bag. I usually travel with my friends in a bag. Don't you? You know, you say to your friend, "Hey, jump in this bag and I'll take you down to the library.' Right?" I reach in the puppet bag for Trixie. 

Then Trixie and I have a little chat. I ask her if she remembers why we're here. Sometimes she does, and sometimes she thinks we're here for the big basketball game. Kids love correcting a puppet who is wrong. I remind Trix that we're here for stories and ask what she recommends. 

Frequently, kids say Trixie is a witch. She does look like one, and I always acknowledge this when a child says it, but she's not. She's afraid of witches. Trixie is just old. She's 111 (hasn't aged a day since I picked her up in1994). She likes to rest during the stories, so she sits quietly next to me on the chair while I tell.

Trixie and the other puppets draw the attention of the audience and help me manage the energy in the room. If it's too wild, a quiet puppet will come out of the bag to calm everybody down. If it's subdued, one of the puppets will bring up the laughter. If a child is afraid of Trixie (her eyes can be extremely piercing), she does something silly like chew on her foot, or she'll get shy. Sometimes she goes back in the bag for a longer nap and another puppet comes out. 

Here's the 2-minute puppet lesson, for when you're visible to the audience and you don't happen to be a ventriloquist.

Video of Peeps at Maple Valley School

A friend was looking me up on youtube and found this--I didn't even know it was up. It was filmed at Maple Valley School in Kansas City, MO, during the Kansas City Storytelling Celebration earlier this month.

I had two different groups at this school. The kids responded really well. I think my favorite part was walking around after the stories inviting each of the kids to shake hands or touch my puppet Trixie. She's quite gentle in this kind of setting.

By the way, I DO have my own youtube channel. Check it out!

Puppet gallery

The other day, I discovered that a good friend thought I only had three or four puppets. Oh, my! Here's a picture of most of my collection:

I was trying to get them all, but they just wouldn't fit. In all, I think there might be about 75, not including the multiple Trixies and Babies (backups, for when these most-used puppets wear out). Here's a picture of them:

Trixie's little sister Roxie is sitting on the Baby's lap. Roxie is 103 years old; Trixie is 111.

I'm going to do a series of puppet groupings over the next few posts. Stay tuned!

Caveat emptor!

Dang. I got so excited about ebay having three Trixies that I didn't read the description well enough. Good thing I didn't buy all three. The imposter just arrived:

She's smaller than the real Trixie, has a wart and a snaggle tooth, and her hands aren't gloves. She's definitely a witch. Trixie is clear about not being a witch. She's just an old lady. "If you get to be 111, you might look this good," she says. The black dress? Very slenderizing.

Ah, well. I know Folkmanis means well, but still.

Anybody looking for a witch stage puppet? Let me know!

Puppet longevity

(Who's that infiltrator?!)

I hate to bring up a taboo subject, but here it is: puppets don't live forever.

I've had Trixie since 1994, when I found her at the Raven Bookstore, wearing a black pointy hat She's not one of THOSE, as we live in a place where some adults are afraid of witches. I cut her hat off and she took up her 111-year old personality. Trixie has been my main host puppet since then.

After a few years, her mouth began to get thin. I put in a patch. Then her fingers started to wear. Folkmanis still made the puppet, so I ordered another. I put the old Trixie in the puppet closet--how could I toss her out? Then the new one wore out so I ordered another. And another. The closet is a bit crowded now. A friend replaced the hands on one of them. I also did a bit of facial surgery, cutting a stitch that gave her a mean-looking brow. Amazing how smoothing that out made her look much more benign.

This year, I discovered that Folkmanis has discontinued this puppet. Yikes! Time for ebay! I lost a couple of auctions, then won one. The latest Trixie is quite wonderful, with even bigger hands than the other three. One more is being shipped to me to keep in reserve.

Baby's mouth is sturdier than Trixie's, but still, the first Baby got quite dirty from all those tiny hands reaching for her. I spritz them both with alcohol every now and then to try to keep the germs down. That does nothing for the gradue. I'm going to get a third one soon.

Last week I had my picture taken for the upcoming issue of Lawrence Magazine. I suggested I use a puppet, then went to the office for the newer, cleaner baby. Lately my sweetie and I have been watching episodes of Battlestar Galactica on DVD. There's a race of robots called cylons who can replicate themselves. As soon as I put the new baby on my hand, she said, "I'm a cywon!" Sheesh. Still, it would be easier and cheaper if these puppets could replicate themselves like the cylons. It might resolve some of those end-of-life puppet issues.

Speaking of silliness

Trixie has entered the social networking sphere. I think she's sneaking out of her bag at night to get on my laptop. She's not yet Twittering, thank goodness, but she now has her own Facebook fan page (and it turns out you don't even have to sign up for Facebook to see it). Where will this end?!

"I could skip lunch"

After one of the performances today at St. Nicholas School, a student stopped me in the lunchroom. "Tell another story, please!" I said it was time for lunch, for both of us. "I could skip lunch," she said.

This was another really nice school, following on yesterday's good performance day at Red Brick Preschool. At both, it was clear that the children understood English (and puppets) and were having a good time. Just as important, the teachers were having fun. Cris and I noticed that at both schools, there was an atmosphere of kindness and respect for the children. I love that. 

Here's a picture from Red Brick. We're doing a finger story.

And these are some of the attentive listeners at St. Nicholas. My sister Mary is right--the children enjoying the stories in Brazil look very much like children enjoying the stories in the US. 

When there's time and there aren't too many kids, Trixie likes to shake hands with the children as they leave the performance space, if they want to. If they don't, she sometimes just blows them kisses. 

Here we are at Red Brick, saying goodbye:

And at St. Nicholas, with a bouncy child: 

Yes, that's my Halloween vest. I'm also wearing socks with skeletons on them. I don't mind starting a little early for my favorite holiday.

NaBloSlogMo

Oh, the long slog of this blogging month. I'll probably post more often than I did before this challenge, but not every day.

On days like this, when I've spent hours balancing my checkbook, I'm not sure you want to hear about a storyteller's life. It's not so interesting. This office stuff is also necessary, so when I go to visit my favorite tax advisor in the spring, I'll be ready. Boring, though.

I did have a nice break this afternoon. I responded to a freecycle request for a bubble wand this morning (I had an extra bubble gun, a battery operated item certainly made in China). I've received quite a few things from this freecycler, so I was happy to be able to give him something he wanted. His six-year-old son has been listening to my stories on a nifty stuffed animal mp3 player (hard to describe, but it works). They came over for the bubble gun and I showed Alex some of my puppets. He was an excellent audience. I also showed the puppets to his baby brother, who was startled by them all. Sometimes children who are the same size as Trixie find her unsettling.

Then on to the post office, the bank, the library. I'd better stop this before I fall asleep. ZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz