Puppet Nightmares!

Comment

Comment by Liz Vitale on February 24, 2010 at 3:17pm

In high school, we were put into groups in our history class to do our Black History Month projects. My group decided to a puppet show, since the others figured I'd build all the puppets and make the stage and everything. Much to their surprise, I said I'd build one puppet and everyone else would have to build theirs! Anyway, I built Martin Luther King, Jr, for him to give his famed "I Have a Dream" speech. On the day of our performance, everything went well--everyone remembered their lines and cues beautifully. But when I got up there behind our little stage, and Martin Luther King got to the most impassioned part of his speech...
...his head fell off.
..and rolled under the teacher's desk.

I don't think I've ever been so embarrassed in my life.

Comment by Jesse on February 10, 2009 at 7:00pm

A few weeks ago, I was performing with Francine (the puppet in my profile photo) during storytime in my library when she had a little accident. During the middle of playing a game we call "button, button" one of her arms suddenly fell off. Oddly enough, it was the dangling arm, not the one with the rod.

I quickly scooped it up, put it back in place, and then pressed that side of her against my chest so it couldn't fall off again. All I said was "Oops! That's no good!" (my usual phrase when something untoward happens).

The 20 or so 3-4 year olds in the audience never said a word, so I figured it was best not to press the point. During storytime the following week, Francine mentioned that she had just left the hospital, and was feeling much better now.

Comment by staceyrebecca on September 22, 2008 at 11:38am

oh! I also recently had a teacher get up onto the stage during the performance & turn off the stage lights...I'm still confused as to why...it left me mostly in the dark and thankful that my foot-switch for the music cues has a glowing sticker on it..

Comment by staceyrebecca on September 22, 2008 at 11:27am

Oh dear...since performing in schools I've nearly fallen over (only scootched the stage forward about 6 inches...only the teachers who laughed noticed), had music cues get way off track & forgotten lyrics to songs, had to stall for time, had teachers so close to my stage that she was blocking everyone from seeing the show as she told kids to sit criss-cross applesauce, etc. Thankfully I've never been attacked.

It also seems to get better with each show.

Comment by cougar on September 9, 2008 at 9:37pm

Well, it's bad enough when you're performing in a rock 'n roll nightclub where drinks are served. What's worse is when you come to the quietest, most awesome part of your show and a drunken idiot mumbles out loud from the back of the room, " ah, puppets suck. Come on, we're leaving." What could I say except:" well, thanks for coming anyway dad." Good laughs, show went great from there. anyhoo.....

Comment by Westpuppets on June 26, 2008 at 9:45pm

The video belongs to a science teacher that does pup shows for his school. He is a glutton for punishment! Ha! What did you when the head fell off? (besides stop the show)

Comment by Westpuppets on May 22, 2008 at 5:21pm

I had to make my marionette joints pull proof. To many times that reach out so fast and jerk them apart before you can stop them. During a backstage tour no matter how much you say 'look but not touch' they immediatly start touching. Has anyone electrified a puppet? Ha-ha!

Comment by Freggie Productions on May 16, 2008 at 10:50am

I like the fact that Michelle can claim she scared the piss out of someone. Funny.

The video above. I need to ask... What are the parents doing as their children rush the stage?

Another question is, Why do some kids feel they need to punch puppets? I was doing a walk around performance at a local night out event and some of the kids would punch or even pull the puppet's hair. While their parents looked on! After awhile I just started avoiding these kids like the plague. I don't get it. I would never have done that as a kid.

Comment by dragontheater on May 15, 2008 at 6:55pm

Another time I was performing the hand to a full size old man puppet for Tears Of Joy's Tell tale heart. During practice me and the 2 other guys were wearing the black bags on our heads on a black stage in almost complete darkness. The stage hand asked if I needed any glow in the dark tape and I replied "no, I can see perfectly" The next scene I promptly fell off the stage. We went ahead and added the glow tape.

Comment by dragontheater on May 15, 2008 at 6:50pm

This is typical of festival crowds, rare at schools. That is how decided to build my shows with the play board at least 5 feet off the ground! I used to do shows with a kid fence in front. Now the "Magic" line works OK.

As for my own puppet disaster: I was performing piece of "Peter and the wolf" for a tribute to a puppeteer friend of mine who had died. His show was performed in a puppet booth I had built for the library, so me an the cast got back together to play part of the show. The guy's puppets were not at all professional and I had since learned how to make better puppets. I had grown a bit of an ego over it, however the spirit of my deceased friend would get the last laugh. At the end the backdrop fell down and the entire booth then collapsed leaving the exposed puppeteers. We couldn't do anything else but bough. The moral of the story is: Even professional puppeteers screw up and you don't have to be a professional with fancy puppets to do a good show. Keep your ego in check!

• ‹ Previous
• 1
• 2
• Next ›
• Page