Last night I went to the Puppet Showplace Theatre‘s Puppet Incubator. It was a rainy night, so there were only two people there, but it was pretty interesting. I wasn’t sure what exactly the Incubator was, so I didn’t know what to expect. But basically, puppeteers use the time to get practical ideas from other puppeteers. Well, that’s what happened last night at least– Kathleen says they vary a lot. It was only Kathleen and Paul Vincent Davis, the Showplace Theatre’s puppeteer in residence, because the weather wasn’t very nice. They talked a lot about shows they were working on, from how to make a puppet perform a certain action to how to create a clear story arc in a show. Kathleen worked on a piece called “Untouchable” that she’s going to perform at the Puppet Slam that looks like it’s going to be really neat. It was interesting to hear about the kinds of issues that puppeteers run into while they’re creating a show. And it seems like it must be incredibly helpful to have an outlet like the Incubator to get advice.
