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What Should I Do When Critiquing Other Puppeteers?

The last two posts have talked about critiquing in order to improve your puppet skills. Critiquing is when someone out front watches your performance and gives suggestions to improve the quality of the puppetry.

Critiquing, when done properly, is one of the greatest ways a team can help a puppeteer improve their skills. When practicing, those puppeteers not in the play should be out front watching and critiquing. Not only does it help improve the puppet skills, but it can also build the team. When members genuinely watch out for each other, it strengthens the team.

So, how do you critique properly? Here are some suggestions:

• Number one is to always remember that it’s not about you. You’re not trying to make yourself look better, or show off your puppet knowledge, or impress the director. Critiquing is about the team and is an opportunity for you to help strengthen the team.
• Critiquing is not meant to tear down, but to build up. Phrase your comments in a positive manner. Here are some key phrases you can use: 
  “Bernie, you can strengthen your performance by not leaning on the stage.” 
  “Priscilla, the audience needs to see more than your head. It would help if you were a bit higher.” 
  “Skip, it would look more natural if you didn’t hold your arm out for an extended period of time.” 
  “Priscilla, your voice sounds great for the part, but it would help if you were louder. The people in the back of the audience might not be able to hear you.” 
• Also comment on what they do well. All the comments don’t have to be on how to improve. Commenting on what someone is doing right will help to reinforce that action and encourage them to keep doing it. 
• Critique others the way you would like them to critique you. If everyone on the team followed that advice, it would be fantastic. Sometimes they don’t. Even if someone critiques you poorly, resist the urge to give it back to them when it’s your turn. If you do, you’re making it about you and will just compound the problem.  
• When you’re being critiqued try not to take it personal. To do that, continually remind yourself that the comments aren’t being made against you, they are being made to help you improve and ultimately to help the team improve. Be thankful that someone cares enough to tell you what you need to hear so you can become the best puppeteer you can.

Proper critiquing is a definite plus for any puppet team. It has helped my puppet skills tremendously and I highly recommend it.

What Shouldn’t I Do When Critiquing a Fellow Puppeteer?

The last post talked about the importance of critiquing in order to improve your puppet skills. Critiquing is when someone out front watches your performance and gives suggestions to improve the quality of the puppetry.

Here are some things to keep in mind when critiquing:

• The goal is to improve the puppeteer’s skills.
• It’s not a contest to see who’s the best on the team.
• Comments need to be phrased in a positive manner and not come across as put downs.
• Follow the golden rule: critique others the way you would like to be critiqued.
• The attitude needs be one of genuine concern to help build skills, not pride that says be like me.

With that said, what are some things you should not do when critiquing a fellow puppeteer?

• Don’t address the puppeteer. When you call something out, use the puppet’s name, not the name of the person who’s working it. The puppeteer can’t see what his puppet looks like. The ones critiquing are helping him visualize his puppet.
• Don’t criticize…critique. Criticism is giving negative comments in a blaming or condemning manner. Critiquing is giving suggestions to help improve the performance in a positive and uplifting way.
• Don’t use harsh language. “Hey Skip, that last motion you did was dumb. Don’t do it again.” Or “What’s the matter Bernie; you’re wimping out on us. Get that puppet up.” Negative comments like these cause the puppeteer to put up a defensive mental wall that hinders following any further comments no matter how good they may be.
• Don’t approach critiquing from an “I’m better than you attitude.” If you have that kind of an attitude, your comments come across as condescending and actually become more harmful than productive. Also, if you have that attitude, you are less likely to follow any advice given you when you are being critiqued.
• Don’t nitpick. In other words, don’t address every single issue you see. A puppeteer who gets a barrage of comments can quickly become discouraged. If the performance is poor, choose one or two things that if corrected would have the greatest impact and concentrate on those.

The next post will focus on things you should do when critiquing another puppeteer.

Critiquing Puppet Plays-What’s That?

One of the things that helped improve my puppetry the most is called critiquing. Critiquing is when someone watches your performance and gives hints, helps, and suggestions to help you improve.

The first team my wife and I worked with had a director who was a stickler for details. He didn’t work the puppets, but expected quality from us. As we practiced, he regularly called out things to do.

• “Priscilla, you’re sinking…get back up.”
• “Bernie, stop leaning on the stage.”
• “Skip, keep your mouth closed when not speaking.”

Those instructions were fine for him; he wasn’t the one working the puppet. When your arm is tired, the last thing you want someone to tell you is to stop leaning on the stage or get your puppet up, but we listened and followed his directions.

The result of his critiquing was quality puppet programs. I learned more about proper puppetry in six weeks with him than in all the seminars I’ve attended combined. His teaching wasn’t just theory, it was practice, and that practice wasn’t easy.

Now, I’m the director with a team of my own. I’m the one hearing “Do we have to do this play? My arm is tired.” My natural tendency is to give in and say we’ll do it later, but I know we won’t have quality if we give in every time our arms are tired.

When I hear the complaints about arms being tired, I know that strengthening and conditioning is taking place. Muscles are being built and strengthened. So my answer is, “Yes we need to do it again. Let’s go.”

Our team is made up of Middle Schoolers, so I don’t push them quite as hard as I was pushed as an adult. But in the six or seven months we’ve been together as a team, I’ve seen notable improvement in their skills.

Critiquing helps build quality into your puppet team when done properly. The better the quality of your team, the better the quality of your programs and the greater impact you can make on the audience. But it needs to be done properly.

My next couple of posts will cover how to critique properly.

Need a Quick Puppet Theater? Use a Doorway.

Sometimes you may be asked to perform a puppet show in a place you don’t have enough space to set up your theater or don’t have a theater available. What do you do?

You could find something in the room to hide behind, a piano, a standing chalkboard, or a desk.

If you’re presentation involves using only one or two puppets, you might want to consider a doorway stage. They are simple to make, are adjustable to fit different sized doorways, and are inexpensive.

For materials all you need is a spring tension curtain rod and a twin sheet. Determine the height of the theater and trim the sheet so it is about four inches longer than that measurement. For the width, you want it to be at least one and a half times as wide as the widest doorway you’ll use. That will allow you to bunch the material across the rod to give it a nice appearance. 

Sew a one inch hem in the bottom to give it a nice even look. At the top, fold about two and a half inches over and sew a seam across, making a pocket.

Adjust the curtain rod so it is about an inch or so wider than the doorway. Set it in place and lightly pull down on it to make sure the tension is correct. 

Once the curtain rod is set, thread it through the top pocket in the curtains and put it in place.

If there is a lot of visible clutter behind the theater, you may want to make a second, shorter one that attaches at the top of the doorway and hangs down at least six inches below the other curtain as a backdrop.

The advantage to this theater is that it sets up and comes down in just a couple of minutes. That way, working with a Sunday School teacher, you could pop in to the class, do a quick play, and leave or go to another class. 

NOTE: If you want more information on puppet stages, including plans, cutting diagrams, and step-by-step information on how to build a PVC pipe frame theater, you can find it in Course 101 for $7 on my website at http://www.experiencepuppets.com/.

Energize Your Puppet Scripts – Part 2

In the last post, I talked about the importance of maintaining proper volume when doing scripts. If the audience can’t hear the play, having great puppet skills doesn’t help.

If you want to energize your play and make it one that the audience will remember, there is one key element you have to have. Enthusiasm!

• Keep in mind it’s not about you performing, but what the audience receives. In other words, do it for the audience, not yourself. If it’s an entertainment type play, focus on presenting it in a way to give the audience as many laughs as you can. If it’s ministry related, understand that if done well, it has the potential to bring real change in some audience members.

• Don’t just read the lines, but play the part. Become the character you are portraying with your puppet. If your character is happy, think about how you act when happy and have the puppet act that same way.

• Read through the play from the perspective of your character. How would you feel if you were going through that situation? What kinds of emotions would hit and how strong would they be? Add that drama to your play when performing it.

• Know the play. The only way to do that is to practice it over and over. You don’t have to memorize the play, but you should know it well enough that you only have to glance at the script while performing. If you have to read the script, it takes a lot of concentration and the enthusiasm drops off.

• The better you know the script, the more confidence you’ll have. The more confident you are, the more enthusiastic you become. If you aren’t prepared for the presentation, apprehension can set in which robs your enthusiasm.

I’d much rather watch a team with great enthusiasm and mediocre puppet skills than a team with great puppet skills and no enthusiasm. But the ideal is to watch a team with great puppet skills and great enthusiasm, a goal every puppet team should strive for.

Energize Your Puppet Scripts

In judging at the Teens Involved competition each year, I’ve seen several hundred scripts performed. Some I still remember, but others faded from memory on the way home.

What made the difference? Here’s some insight I’ve gleaned from these presentations.

The First is Volume. Puppeteers have to speak loud enough, without yelling, for the audience to hear. Why?

• If an audience member has a hard time hearing a puppet, they usually do one of two things: lean forward and listen intently, or lean back and stop listening. Those who work to hear, often miss key words or phrases, can get frustrated, and the message is lost. The ones who stop listening, miss the whole message.

• Sometimes if you can’t hear someone, but observe their lips while they talk, you can determine what they’re saying. (Try it while watching TV. Turn the sound down, focus on the person’s lips, and see how much you can discern.) The problem with puppets in that scenario is you can only see the mouth move up and down. You can’t see the lips forming the words.

• If you have one puppet that is so quiet the audience has to strain to hear and a puppet with a booming voice talking together it’s hard for the audience to follow. They have to strain to hear one, but back off on the other. Often, they’ll sit back and opt to miss lines or words of the soft spoken puppet.

• Some puppeteers only speak loud enough for those in front to hear. The further back the audience member is, the less he or she hears and the odds increase that they may tune out.

• The easiest and best solution is headset microphones for each puppeteer. That way the sound person can adjust each volume so they all speak at the same level. It’s the best, but also the most expensive.

• Another option is to put a microphone on a stand inside the theater. The key is to position it closest to the soft spoken puppeteer.

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A Simple Step to Use When Writing Your Own Plays

Through the course of our puppet experience, we’ve written several scripts. Some can be found on my website (www.ExperiencePuppets.com/puppetscripts.html) as free downloads.

When writing a script, one basic thing to keep in mind is that you are telling (or acting out) a story. To write a story well, you need to keep in mind the four parts which are the introduction, the sequence of events, the climax, and the conclusion.

The introduction: This is the place you want to captivate the attention of the audience so they will want to watch the rest of the play. I did a series of blog posts earlier on introductions, so I won’t go farther here.

The sequence of events: List the events that will take place in the play one after another in a numbered outline form.

The climax: This is the high point of the story where the problem is solved. All the previous events lead up to or build up to this point. The more obvious it is the better. For instance in the story of David and Goliath the climax is when Goliath is struck by the stone from David’s sling. It’s an obvious climax because the problem is neutralized and it’s done in an unexpected way.

It’s importance that you don’t reveal the climax too soon. Once the climax is reached and the outcome shown, you will begin to lose the audience’s attention.

The conclusion: These are the couple of events that wrap up the story and lead to the application. Make sure you keep this part brief so the audience doesn’t begin to check out on you.

By following this outline for writing your story, you’ll be following a proven system of story preparation and will be well on your way to another great story that your audience will want to hear and watch.

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How Can I Make it Easier to Plan Programs?

When it comes to planning a program for your puppet team, it is important to know how much time you have, what plays you have, what plays you’ve done, how long each play is, and where they are located.

When all our plays were on cassette, I used to get the tapes out and look through them to figure out what plays we could use. I’d write down the name of the play and the time. (Most of our cassettes had the time next to the title.) Then I’d list them in the presentation order and figure out what puppets we needed and who would work what puppet.

It worked, but then I found a way to streamline it and it may be something you’d like to try.

Using a spreadsheet program, develop a puppet program planning chart. On the top row, list things such as: the name of the play, time, where it’s located (cassette, CD, hard drive), the theme, names of the characters in the play, what puppets you will use, which puppeteers will do the play, and any needed props.

In ours, I use a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet with three worksheets: one for puppet plays, one for puppet songs, and one for puppet scripts. Now, when I plan a program, I’ve got all the information I need in front of me and it speeds up my planning time.

It also makes it easier to assign who will work what puppet because I already took the time to plan out each play.

Since I’ve developed the charts for my team, there’s no sense in you having to set up the charts yourself (unless you want to).

If you head over to my website (www.experiencepuppets.com/worksheets.html), you’ll find them as a free download. Once downloaded, you can change them to fit your needs. Also, I know everyone doesn’t use Excel, so you’ll find them in 3 formats: Microsoft Excel, Lotus 123, and Open Office Calc.

Hope this helps.

How Can I Strengthen My Arm Muscles?

One of the complaints I hear most often during puppet practice is, “My arm is tired.” I remember making that same complaint when I began my puppet experience.

That brings up the question, “How can I strengthen my arm muscles so they don’t get tired so quickly?

The first and best answer is to maintain weekly puppet practices and during those practices refuse to slack off. In the gym while working out, you often hear the phrase, no pain, no gain. It works the same in puppet practice. In fact, when I hear a puppeteer complaining about sore arms, I know that strengthening is taking place.

I’m not a physical fitness expert, so I can only share what I’ve done. While weekly practices are important, there are other things I’ve done the rest of the week to strengthen my arm muscles when a puppet isn’t handy. Here are some that I’ve used.

1.    Play the piano. Sound strange? When playing the piano (properly, not the one finger method) the hands stretch out and back as they move across the keyboard. Many of those motions are the same ones used in puppetry. We’ve discovered that most people who play the piano consistently pick up puppet skills quickly.

2.    Play with a stress ball. A stress ball is a liquid or sand filled small ball to squeeze and work with your hand. It also seems to work the same muscles used in puppetry.

3.    A rubber band. I hold my hand out as though working a puppet, wrap a rubber band around my fingers and thumb, and then open and close my hand like when using a puppet. NOTE: I make sure to use a sturdy rubber band and keep my hand away from my face just in case it breaks.

4.   A hand exerciser purchased at a local sporting goods store.

The key is to use my arm muscles during the week in a similar manner that as with puppets. With some added exercise during the week, it’s easier to work my puppet for longer periods of time.

How Can I Make My Puppet Look More Lifelike? Part 4

For several posts, I’ve talked about how to make your puppet look more lifelike. I’d like to suggest one more thing in this post.

One problem puppeteers have is they can’t see what their puppet looks like while performing. You have to rely on others to tell how your puppet looks. The problem is that people aren’t always honest and often tell you what they think you want to hear instead of the truth.

One answer is to video tape a performance or practice session and play it back for the team during practice. That way, each one can see exactly what their puppet looks like while performing. They can note strengths and weaknesses in their performance and know what to work on.

Another route that I take is to practice in front of a wall mirror. It works best with a mirror mounted on the wall so both hands are free to work the puppet and move the arms. I usually do this at home by myself, but if you have a large enough mirror two or more can practice at the same time.

I usually run through the entire play and focus my attention on how the puppet looks in the mirror. I check the entrance and exit, lip sync, dropping the lower jaw, and the puppet’s posture.

I also go through some arm rod movements and see how natural they look. Many times I’ll like the way it looks and add it to the routine. Other times, the motion I thought would be great is not good at all and I’ll drop it.

By practicing in front of a mirror, I see exactly how my puppet looks which helps give me more confidence when performing. Combine that with having someone critique you during practice and you should see an improvement in your puppet skills.

How Can I Make My Puppet Look More Lifelike? Part 3

In the last two posts I’ve talked about the number one goal you should have when working a puppet: to make the puppet look as lifelike as possible. The first way we focused on was entrances and exits.

The second way is to maintain proper positioning while on stage. When two puppets are talking to each other, they should face each other and look at each other. It seems obvious but doesn’t always work out that way.

The ideal is to have the puppeteer on the left side of the stage use their left arm and the puppeteer on the right side to use their right arm.  That way the puppets naturally face each other and are lined up. (That’s why it is important to develop both left and right handed skills.)

If both puppeteers use the right hand then they need to face each other so the puppets can make eye contact. (If you try to face forward and talk to a puppet on your right, you have to twist your arm which causes it to lean to the side. As your arm gets tired, the lean will become more pronounced.)

When two puppeteers working with their right arms face each other, the puppets won’t line up. The one on the right side will be right next to the theater and the one on the left will be about two feet away from the theater. If they both look straight ahead, they won’t make eye contact.

You can either turn the puppets so they are looking at each other, or have the puppeteers stagger their positions. Have the one on the left side get close to the front and the right sided puppeteer move back from the curtain a foot and a half or so.

If you have three puppets on stage talking together, have the center one face forward and a bit behind the other two. The puppeteer to the left of the center works their puppet with their left hand and the one on the other side uses their right. That way, the two outside puppets are looking at each other and can easily look at the one in the middle. The center one can look at either one of the outside puppets with no difficulty.

The Number One Goal When Working A Puppet

When it comes to working a puppet there are a lot of things that you have to watch for: proper height, dropping the lower jaw, proper lip sync, eye contact, and more. But what is the number one goal you should have in mind every time you put on a puppet?

The answer is simple. Your number one goal whenever working a puppet should be to make that puppet look as lifelike as possible. You know when you’ve arrived when someone comes up to you and says, “I forgot that they weren’t real.”

Why is this the most important goal? Good question. When putting on a puppet program, the primary thing you want to communicate is your message and the puppets are a tool to convey it to the audience.

The more lifelike your puppet, the more the audience will concentrate on your message. The less lifelike your puppet, the more the audience will focus on your puppet.

When you watch a movie or TV program with great actors what do you focus on, the actors or the story they’re expressing? You focus on the story and you enjoy the program. What if the acting is bad? Even if the program had a great story or content, the bad acting detracts from it and you probably won’t recommend it to your friends.

When performing a puppet program that is teaching timeless truths and principles, how much more important is it that the audience focuses on the message and not the puppets?

I’m not saying that you have to have great puppetry to convey your message, but it sure helps. If you set a goal to make your puppets as lifelike as possible and work to achieve it, you will improve the potential of your message reaching more people.

In the next couple of posts, I’ll talk about steps you can take to reach that goal.

Important “Little” Things Part 3

When putting on a puppet presentation, if you aren’t careful, it’s easy to overlook some simple things that add to the professionalism of the presentation. This is the third “little” thing in this series.

When we train new puppeteers, we don’t rush to have them start working the arm rods. Their focus needs to be on learning proper posture, lip sync, and developing the arm muscles. Puppet arms are designed to hang naturally when not used, so it isn’t a problem.

When we do start training with the arm rods it amazes me what happens. In the instruction, I clearly state not to hold the puppet’s arm out for any length of time. Pick up the rod, make the motion and drop the rod back down. Invariably, many puppeteers still hold the arm out.

In talking with people, I’ve never seen anyone hold their arm out for any length of time. They may point to something, but drop their arm fairly quickly. If they kept their arm out while talking, I’d begin to wonder what’s wrong with them. That’s not a natural arm position.

People don’t do that, but I’ve seen puppets do it the entire time they’re on stage. If it doesn’t look natural when a person does it, it certainly won’t look natural with a puppet.

Arm movements should complement the puppet’s appearance, not take away from it. Try not to get in the habit of making motions just to move the arm. Think through the motions and have someone watch them to make sure they fit well.

It’s better to do fewer motions that are targeted, than to have a lot of motions just to make the puppet look busy. Sometimes too many motions will detract from the program and what’s being said. When a puppet does things that don’t seem natural, it draws the attention of the audience to the puppet and away from the message.

Important “Little” Things Part 2

When putting on a puppet presentation, if you aren’t careful, it is easy to overlook some simple things that add to the professionalism of the presentation.

Last post we looked at the puppet’s hair. This week we’ll focus on eye contact. When two puppets talk to each other, they should look at each other, not the audience.

I’ve seen many puppet shows where a puppet is looking at the audience or off to one side or up in the air while talking to another puppet. It’s ok to glance to the side or the audience, but the focus should be on the one you are talking to.

Next time you watch a TV program or movie, watch the characters. How often do they look at the screen (i.e. the audience)? They don’t. They focus attention on the one they’re communicating with. How distracting would it be to watch a sit-com where the actors are all looking at the studio audience?

Sometimes the lack of eye contact is caused by tired arms. As a puppeteer’s arm gets tired, they tend to lose focus on the puppet and put their effort into keeping their arm up. Other times, it is simply inattention to the puppet.

There are times when the puppet’s position makes it difficult to maintain eye contact with another puppet. As you practice your plays, it’s a good idea to get in the habit of positioning puppeteers so their puppets can make eye contact.

A left-handed puppeteer working a puppet on the right side of the stage will have a hard time looking to the left. The same is true for a right-handed puppeteer working on the left side of the stage.

There are times when the puppet will look at the audience, but those are usually during songs or parts in the play where the audience is recognized.

Where do your puppets look when they talk? Looking in the right places adds to the professionalism and impact that your team makes.

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