(supplied by The Puppet Company)
Our Annual Day of Puppetry was held last month at the San Leandro Library. The whole event lasted from 12:00 noon to 9:00 pm. The day was very successful with the guild bringing in revenues of $453.00 from sales of tickets and raffle tickets. With the expenditure to the guild of $675.00 in the form of honorariums for performers and workshop leaders, the raised revenue left us with a guild expense of only $222.00. Not bad for an entire day of puppetry. Over 50 members appeared on and off throughout this fun-filled day. Congrats to workshop leaders: Pamela Brown, Tia Smirnoff, Elisheva Hart, and Michael Burroughs. Your workshops thrilled many children and their parents. San Leandro librarian Penny Peck also led two workshops. One for Rec. leaders and another for a presentation of The Three Pigs by young library visitors. Lee Armstrong from Images in Motion was busy (and very popular) leading young kids and parents in the proper way of doing television puppetry. Former guild members Ron and Barbara Johnson shared their puppet petting zoo with many happy families. (This was another special highlight of the day.) Kudos to Kevin Menegus for putting together a first rate display of puppets by guild members. The exhibit took up one whole wall of a very large room. And thanks Lettie Schubert for not only creating signs for the whole day, but also for supplying the framed “Petroushka” puppet painting (won by a very determined Mary Decker) that brought ticket sales so high for the raffle. And…speaking of the raffle – Couldn’t have done it without the tireless work of Mary Decker, and Nick and Rose Barone. You guys are the best! And speaking of the best. We can’t forget our performers. Tim Giugni of “Il Teatro Calamari” thrilled a full auditorium with his found object presentation of “Rapunzel”. He created the tower and the puppets all from his janitorial push cart he was using in his disguise as the Librarie’s cleaning custodian. The kids loved him. He also did some adult work for us in the evening from his show “Oddities”. In the afternoon, Michael and Valerie Nelson did a spectacular performance of “Animal Folktales of the Americas”. With live singing and musical accompaniment, the show was spectacular! As one guild member said: “watching the two of them onstage having such great fun reminds me of why I wanted to be a puppeteer.” Later, in the evening at an adults only show, Elisheva Hart shared with us her storytelling skills (which are wonderful), and Lewis Mahlmann presented his take off of “Sunset Boulevard” – “Upset Boulevard”. With help from writer David C. Jones, and Happy Hollow puppeteer Jesse Vail, Lewis and his Lilliputian Players treated us to a “naughty-but-nice” evening out. Nothing is ever sacred to this group of comedians! The whole day was very successful, with the only down side being the lateness of the last shows. Perhaps we shouldn’t try to do a late night venue next time? Penny Peck and the library are very interested in hosting this event for us each year. I might add that the building didn’t cost us a cent, and the publicity was handled by Mary Decker and the Library. It would be nice to have a permanent home.
