Mathieu Rene© is an amazing artist/mask maker and puppet builder from  Montreal, Quebec.  I ran in to him at a puppetry festival last summer and we exchanged praises.  I will continue that by talking a bit about his new puppets.  He has created a wondeful dragon and an excellent teddy bear puppet. These are amazing soft sculpt (foam) puppets that were made for some local clients.

What I love about Mathieu’s building is that he enjoys experimenting with techniques and materials, much like myself.  I think the results are fantastic.  Be sure to check out his blog for more wonderful updates and tips.

The long awaited second PlaySoup video on puppet building featuring Dave Privett is now available.  Both videos are available for a package price or owners of the first video can get a discount.  The first one was a great investment. 

Get yours today.

This little nugget of puppety goodness, though its been in circulation on the web for a while, recently resurfaced over at PuppetBuilding.com. The article was originally published in a 1969 issue of Women’s Day Magazine and includes a play, The Purple-Necked, Black Bearded Blatch, written by Jerry Juhl, and patterns and instructions for four puppets, the characters in the play. You can’t get much more “vintage Muppet” than this!

Here’s the article - Script, Pattern & Instructions

And, for your convenience, here’s the pattern pieces, full-size and ready to be printed - Full Size Pattern Print

Judging from the size of the pattern, it appears the puppets are just the right size for kids. Have fun!

Cross-posted from the Project Puppet Blog.

As I gear up to make my own online puppet show, I have been running across a bunch of indiviuals who I have gained inspiration from.  One of these people is puppet builder/puppeteer and all around amazing artist Michael Paraskevas.  Michael is perhaps best know for the book series turned kids’ show Maggie and The Ferocious Beast that he helped create along with his mother Betty.

Michael’s online puppet show called The Cheap Show is a great example of how you can make a small show that has a great look to it on a very small budget.  The funny thing is that for me the video I keep watching is the Michael Paraskevas Interview, in which he talks about the behind the scenes stuff he does for each show.

Anyone who is inclined to do some puppetry and have it online, should take the time to watch this video.

I have mentioned one of my favourite builders before named Matt Ficner (visit his flash site here). He is also a very talented puppeteer. Well Matt has been recently working with a company overseas on a few projects and one of the projects is called Planet Bizzaro.

This video clip is from that project and features puppets that were made by Matt. I’ve had the opportunity to try on one or two of these puppets and I must say I have never tried on a lighter puppet that has as much detail as these. Some of these puppets are latex rubber, some are foam. At any rate the puppets look amazing, as does the video clip.

Great work all around!

For those of you who do not already know, Swazzle is a California based puppetry company that specializes in quality live puppet shows.  The members are accomplished puppeteers, puppet builders and artists.  They have collectively a wealth of information that could impress anyone.

Well Swazzle has decided to put out a casting call and started looking for two puppeteers for a new live puppet show that will tour Southern California. The show will be bilingual and performed for Spanish speaking audiences at community events, so at least one puppeteer must be fluent in Spanish.

Auditions will be held on Friday July 13, 2007 at the Madilyn Clark Studios, 10852 Burbank Blvd., North Hollywood, CA. For more information, or to schedule an audition please e-mail Sean Johnson, sean@swazzle.com.

(Warning: Some of the language may be considered PG-13)

I had the opportunity to meet Ryan Dillon last summer briefy in New York.  I was fortunate enough to see his improv skills with puppets and I was very impressed.  Well it would seem that Ryan has posted some of his improv and puppet test on You Tube for all to see.

I am assuming that the other puppeteer is Ryan’s puppeteering partner Patrick Holmes (whom I met as well).  As you progress through the “levels of puppetry” (if there are actual “levels”), you will find that in the higher levels of professional television work there is a great need (as a puppteer) for high quality improv.  I recently auditioned for a role that I did not get.  The puppeteer who was successful was also very strong with his improv. 

My personal goal is to improve in this area.  If others are interested in doing the same I recommend finding a reputable improv troupe or organization that offer courses.  I plan on going to Second City here in Toronto.  At the very least it is worth it to watch some of these videos.  Who knows, you may pick up some tricks.  See all the videos here. Enjoy.

Sorry for the slip in postings, all contributors have been very busy with their “real lives”.  Anyways, here is some more news regarding Avenue Q coming to Toronto.

For their season launch, the creators of the Avenue Q puppets made an Aubrey Dan puppet. Here is a shot of the puppet with CAP Agent Julie Ugar.  Dancap (the company promoting and bringing Avenue Q to T.O.) are now promoting that 3 or 6 show packages are now on sale that include AVENUE Q and they are hoping to put individual tickets on sale in the winter - possibly as early as November 2007.  For early access to single tickets, they suggest signing up to be a Bronze Dancap Member. It’s free and can be done online at http://www.dancaptickets.com/.

An interesting side note is the number of seniors who are by far more interested in AVENUE Q than in the beautiful revival of MY FAIR LADY they are offering. Most might have thought it would be the other way around!

Thanks to Kevin John McDonald CAP Agent for the info.