FestiFools Fall Report
Sep. 27th, 2009 12:21 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
nemorathwaldI showed up to the Festifools Fall carpool to find that the entire group is college students, with four teachers. I appear to have been the only one driving in from out of town or unaffiliated with the University. I looked at the registration list and saw my name in a column with the header "Student".
So I found myself in a minivan full of teen girls. I introduced them to the game "Are You The Traitor?" It was a hit.
In Grand Rapids, the teacher urged us all to do more than just carry the puppets-- to perform them. As always, I threw myself into the performance with all the gusto I could generate. I volunteered to be rigged to a very heavy clown puppet, with an articulated mouth I could operate with a string. Students carried the arms. I frequently tripped on the hem, but that was fine because it was in character. The weather cooperated beautifully. The crowds adored us and engaged with us. I was predictably exhausted and sore by the end, but it was a good kind.
I spoke to some of the teachers about my desire to make a puppet for Festifools this year. It's possible they will provide their workshop space, and the most common materials, if I provide the labor, design, and volunteers to operate it. I need two of you to volunteer to operate the arms on Sunday, April 11, 2010 on Main Street in Ann Arbor! Please mark your calendars and commit as soon as you can. This has a side benefit for us that I will tell you about later. For now it's a secret.
When we returned to the campus, I found my car had been ticketed. The organizer explained that she told us to meet there, not park there. I own no actual money right now, have almost no income, and don't qualify to receive unemployment, so we'll see what can be done about this. It was a dreadful, stressful end to an otherwise good day.
So I found myself in a minivan full of teen girls. I introduced them to the game "Are You The Traitor?" It was a hit.
In Grand Rapids, the teacher urged us all to do more than just carry the puppets-- to perform them. As always, I threw myself into the performance with all the gusto I could generate. I volunteered to be rigged to a very heavy clown puppet, with an articulated mouth I could operate with a string. Students carried the arms. I frequently tripped on the hem, but that was fine because it was in character. The weather cooperated beautifully. The crowds adored us and engaged with us. I was predictably exhausted and sore by the end, but it was a good kind.
I spoke to some of the teachers about my desire to make a puppet for Festifools this year. It's possible they will provide their workshop space, and the most common materials, if I provide the labor, design, and volunteers to operate it. I need two of you to volunteer to operate the arms on Sunday, April 11, 2010 on Main Street in Ann Arbor! Please mark your calendars and commit as soon as you can. This has a side benefit for us that I will tell you about later. For now it's a secret.
When we returned to the campus, I found my car had been ticketed. The organizer explained that she told us to meet there, not park there. I own no actual money right now, have almost no income, and don't qualify to receive unemployment, so we'll see what can be done about this. It was a dreadful, stressful end to an otherwise good day.
