Geeking out on Puppet Slams with Beau Brown

In our latest Lives of the Slam Artists series, PSN interviews Beau Brown, curator of Atlanta’s Puckin’ Fuppet Show, The Puppet Slam at DragonCon and the National Puppet Slam. 

Beau has been involved in Puppet Slams for the past decade. The Puckin’ Fuppet Show is one of PSN's more prolific slams, clocking in at eight slams per year. Recently, Beau curated the very first National Puppet Slam, showcasing some of the best Slam pieces from the PSN, at the National Puppetry Festival. The next National Slam will be August 3^rd – 5^th , 2012 at the Center for Puppetry Arts.

photo courtesy of Beau Brown

Marsian: So, when did you start performing at Puppet Slams?

Beau Brown: My first puppet slam piece was when I fresh out of college and had just moved back to atlanta from Dallas in 2002. It was at the Puppet Slam at Dad’sGarage Theatre. It was called Beef and it was about a small army of steaks liberating some other steaks from a cow.

M: Sounds like a serious political piece... And what are some other Puppet Slams you have performed at? 

BB: We do some many slams here in Atlanta.  I have no idea how many I have done now. I have performed in Slams in Atlanta, Asheville, New York City, and New Jersey. I have had some of my videos and films screen in other cities. I suppose New York City is the furthest I have physically gone. I think the most rewarding was the first National Slam at the Puppet Festival last year. I have received such great feedback from both other puppeteers being inspired to start their own slams back in their cities because of it, and from the older generation of puppeteers who had never really understood what Puppet Slams were about, thinking it was just a bunch of cussing puppets with no real artistic merit. I think they got a better understanding of the short form puppetry format and that Slams aren’t just “Potpourris.”Just being able to bring together some of the most talented puppeteers out there and get them all on stage together was a real honor.    

M: Where did you get the idea to host Puppet Slams?

BB: Lucky Yates at Dad’s Garage Theatre in Atlanta started one of the oldest slams in the country [after Great Small Work's Spaghetti Dinners - running since 1985]. That and another show at that theatre called Late Night Creepy Horror, which was more of a variety show that was heavy on puppets.  I had never had any real formal puppetry training and sort of cut my chops at his shows for many years. It was a really supportive fun environment that focused more on comedy rather than “high puppet art.” That slam was four times a year and it really gave me a deadline and a reason to write shows.

It was at the slam that I created the piece that would later become my web series The Sci-Fi Janitors. About three years ago, Caroline Masclet started The Puckin’ Fuppet Show, which was a competitive slam with cash prizes.  After a few shows she moved to France and asked if anyone wanted to take over and keep the show going.  I volunteered.  At first I didn’t host the show.  I just organized it and had local actors, puppeteers, and stand up comics host it.  It was after hosting at the National Festival, where I had such a good time that I started hosting my own slam.  The Slam at Dad’s Garage was a sort of best of Atlanta’s puppeteers getting together to put on a show.  The Puckin’ Fuppet Show is much more like a loose open mic amateur hour type event where new people are encouraged to give it a shot.  Like I say at the show, “Atlanta has a lot of really incredible puppet art, this isn’t it” I usually have no idea what the show is even going to look like until about an hour before it starts and everybody who is going to perform has shown up. Which is really stressful and nerve wracking but I just try and remind myself that it always works out.

M: When do Puppet Slams go wrong? 

BB: I have been at some slams that have done a great job of pushing the envelope only to have been criticized for it. The idea of censoring a puppet slam goes against every bone in my body. No one ever got sued for doing a puppet show. That is a really unhealthy and unsupportive artistic environment and not what the Slam Network grant is for at all. I am very fortunate to be my own boss with my Slam and I don’t have to answer to anyone else with it. Some other slams are tied up in the politics of their local puppet community and don’t have the kind of freedom.   

M: Tell us about a fabulous failure and what you've learned from it.

BB: Never try and simulate the sound of someone’s pelvis cracking by breaking celery into a microphone. It won’t work.

M: The more you know! Now why are Puppet Slams important to you? What gap do they fill that is not filled by other forms of puppetry? 

BB: I feel like Slams fill a several important roles. It is great way to get your feet wet in the art form [of puppetry].  Other than doing full-length kid shows or doing videos online, there isn’t really another way to get started.  It is a way to try things out in front of audience and see what sticks.  For me it was crucial to have a deadline. I would love to be the kind of artist who is inspired to build puppets and write shows because it just came to me, but I’m not.  I have to sit down, usually with someone else and say, “Okay we need a show.”  The structure of the slams gives me the kick in the pants and I need to write something.  Since puppetry is the synthesis of all art forms (visual art, voice, and movement), it opens so many doors to so many different kinds of artists.  Puppetry allows us to tell any story we can imagine… ANY. The possibilities are truly endless. The only other art form that I think allows that is animation.  I would love to have the patience to do animation, but I don’t.  So puppetry allows me to tell those stories. However most of those stories aren’t an hour long.  So how else can I get them front of a live audience? Puppet Slam.   

M: Do you have any upcoming slams you plan on performing at or organizing? 

BB: The 2012 National Puppet Slam is coming up August 3^rd, 4^th, and 5^th at the Center for Puppetry Arts. All of the slams in the network will be nominating their best pieces. The Puckin’ Fuppet Show will continue to chug along with its eight or so slams per year. I plan on performing in the new Spork in Hand Puppet Slam in Columbia, SC, and I am going to try and make to the Wham Bam Puppet Slam in Asheville NC. Then there is the Puppetry Track at DragonCon, which is a beast unto itself. It will be like a mini puppet festival inside a 50,000-person convention. I am really excited about that.  

M: Where do you find the impetus to do a Puppet Slam piece? 

BB: A deadline, a song, a pun, a visual gag, half-awake/half-asleep thoughts, wanting to experiment with a new style.

M: Which Puppet Slam artists inspire you?

I really love Madison J. Cripps - we have a bromance. His process is so completely different than mine. He makes a puppet first and then writes the show around the character and I start with the story first and make the puppets from that.  I think I would really like to try start from a character place first.  I would also like to try my hand at marionettes, which I have never done.  I really love Honey Goodenough’s work. I would love to get some tears out of the audience sometime.  Dr. Gregg vanLanningham is an incredibly witty dialogue writer. I would love to write with him sometime. 

M: What pieces do you have in circulation to perform in puppet slams?

BB: The Moon is about the real transmissions from NASA’s first touch down on the moon. In Doris and the Orifices, Doris and her a cappella band cover Don’t Stop Believin. In A Man and his Gay Horse, a cowboy helps his faithful horse understand himself and they both learn about friendship.

M: I’ve seen that! It’s very Broke-back-I’m-not-sure-what… Anywho, what are you looking forward to?

BB: As a performer I really like traveling and performing at other slams and would like to do more of that. As a producer I really look forward to discovering new talent out there and giving artists opportunities to perform and get recognition.

M: Where would you like to see the Puppet Slam Network in the near future?
BB: I would really love to see the tour show idea come together, but I can see why it is hard to get together. I defiantly want to continue with the National Puppet Slam. I think it is really awesome and important for the best of the Puppet Slam Network to get recognized and to put all of those people together in the same room.

M: What advice do you have for puppet slam performers just starting out?
BB: DO IT! Start a slam! Crash an open mic night with your puppets! Make videos! Keep throwing stuff at the wall till it sticks! Something will and it will be awesome!

Beau has a degree in Theatrical Design and works at the Center for Puppetry Arts. He has a taste for Buffalo wings, He-man, and comics. His dislikes include: throw pillows, listening to people chewing, and people using his birthday as an excuse to eat cake. 

  

As a puppet filmmaker, Beau created the web series, The Sci-Fi Janitors  and also collaborates with The New Puppet Order, which produces puppet shorts seen at several film festivals. Beau’s Puppet Slam at the DragonCon convention in Atlanta was such a success that the convention asked him to program the Puppetry Track, a full range of puppetry events including a slam at the 2012 convention. Stay tuned for details!

Lives of the Slam Artists: An Interview with Valerie Meiss

In our latest profile of Puppet Slam Artists, PSN chats it up with Valerie Meiss, curator of the Wham Bam! PuppetSlam in Asheville. When not hosting Puppet Slams, Valerie tours the country with a band of musicians and puppet shows. Valerie plays accordion and novelty instruments such as the saw, ukulele, or toy piano. She lives and works in her studio known as “The Vaudeville House” in downtown Asheville.

2011, Photo: Zen Southerland

Marsian: What was your very first Puppet Slam experience?

 

Valerie Meiss: I've been performing in puppet slams for a little over two years. My first slam experience was one I was not puppeteering in, my band was asked to perform our strange puppet musical stage show, The Hellblinki and Cripps Puppet Spectacular (with Madison J. Cripps of Cripps' Puppets), for the South Eastern Puppetry Festival in Wilmington, NC. It was my first exposure to the Puppeteers of America, The Puppet Slam Network, UNIMA, and nearly every professional puppeteer I know. There, Madison and I took full advantage of our complementary puppet festival badges and became immersed in the festival. The rest of my band, I do believe, went to the beach. At the regional festival, we met Beau Brown, who became not only a fast friend, but also our biggest supporter and colleague in putting on puppet slams - which we would be doing in the near future.


M: In all the slams you have performed at, what was the freakiest show you have seen?

VM: I've performed or been involved with five or so puppet slams, mostly in the Asheville area, and Atlanta. The freakiest show I've ever seen would probably have been Keith Shubert's “Chair” piece. It was in the 2011 Wham, Bam! Puppet Slam, it was 4 seconds long, and consisted of: Returning from Intermission. A scream. Lights up. Keith, still screaming is naked, strapped to chair, and a puppet, that is where his unmentionables ought to be, is waving around a collapsible lock blade knife. Lights out. It was sensational, and caused some controversy, but the audience loved it! And it served its purpose beautifully.

M: What was the worst puppet slam you’ve been to?  

VM: I have been lucky to have not been in any disastrous puppet slams. Though the worst slam I've been at was probably a couple years ago, it was a fine slam with many wonderful pieces, but it was too long, and the audience seemed to have been misinformed that it was an adult show with adult content. We discovered later that many of them had come to see a specific piece and didn't understand the nature of the show as a whole. This was a fantastic learning opportunity and now I feel when promoting a slam, nearly half of my publicity is putting out a disclaimer.


M: What is the Wham Bam! Puppet Slam like?

VM: I am one of the coordinators, along with Madison J. Cripps and Keith Shubert (Toy Box Theatre). Wham, Bam! is not so much unique as it is ours. It's in Asheville, a thriving arts community that needed it, and has embraced us. We are trying out various formats for the slam as well, we've done fancy multiple show runs with it, but on National Day of Puppetry, we'll be trying to do a one-off quick and dirty, low tech show, to see if we can involve more people in Asheville who are not professional puppeteers, per say.


M: Are you part of a slam circuit of nearby cities to perform at?

VM: The closest city that has a regular slam is Atlanta's Puckin' Fuppet Show, and we're about to be a part of the first puppet slam in Columbia, SC, Spork in HandPuppet Slam. I feel more and more a part of the Puppet Slam network since the first National Puppet Slam at last year's Puppet Festival in Atlanta, also the Slam Symposium workshop let slam coordinators, participants, and potential colleagues meet and share ideas, strategies, and just network and make new friends.


M: What was it like hosting your first Puppet Slam?

VM: The first slam I was a major driving force in was last year's Wham, Bam! Puppet Slam. It was thrilling, challenging, fun, teetering on the edge of chaos, but just coming round to be a spectacular show. I loved it, I learned from it, and I am ready to do it over and over again.


M: Tell us about a fabulous failure and what you've learned from it.

VM: Oh wow... maybe my reluctance to say means that the wound is still fresh? . . Lets just say, technical requirements and Murphy's Law make wretched bedfellows. I have learned to cope with technical disasters in fun and friendly ways, to curb egos in a non-defamatory manner, and to (most importantly) take control of a situation (which is easier said than done), but I have certainly learned its importance.  

Oh, also, don't ever ever use a smoke machine!


M: Why are Puppet Slams important? What gap do they fill? Who cares?

VM: Well I care, for one. I like to laugh at jokes that are on a more adult level of humor, whether it's bawdy, or sophisticated, it's still not for kids. Also I can't write a 45-minute puppet show to save my life, yet. But I can make vignette scenes that are beautiful, touching, funny, creepy, whatever. Short form puppetry happens to be my favorite sort.


M: Are you hosting any upcoming slams?

VM: On April 28^th, The Wham Bam! Puppet Slam presents The National Day of Puppetry: Quick & Dirty Puppet Slam! It's a lengthy title, but there was so much information to get out.


M: What inspires you to create a puppet slam piece?
VM: beauty, chaos, unfinished stories in my head, songs, friends of mine, relationships, odd facts I recall from history class... anything and everything!

M: What other Puppet Slam artists are you are inspired by?

VM: Lyon Hill did a piece for us last year called Supine. It was very technical, but worked fluidly and an audience member even said, that it was “worth the price of admission.. The rest was icing on the cake”, I am all right with being icing on that cake. It was like live animation, paper puppets painted in watercolor, filmed and simultaneously projected onto a screen, it was stunningly beautiful. I work with watercolor and paper puppets, but not like this, it was inspiring and I am trying to think of ways to learn from it.


M: What pieces do you have in circulation to perform in puppet slams?
VM: Thirty Centimetres, is about a controversial preserved penis in a Russian museum. It is rumored to belong to Gregori Rasputin. It was an odd bit of trivia that I've known about since grade school, so I made a puppet show out of it. Finding a small pink party favor novelty penis at a thrift store didn't hurt either.

Doom & Gloom is about the end of the world, it's a self-contained suitcase show, where Madison J. Cripps and I try to sell “Doom and Gloom” insurance. It was inspired by a song we made up walking down the street about zombies and other doomy gloomy things.

I'm Just a Fish (and nobody loves me) is a cute bit about a fish (a head puppet) that is looking for love. It is the most pathetic song I could write about fish and play on the ukulele. It was supposed to just be a short distraction piece (so puppet shows could set up or tear down behind me) but it has developed a life of its own.

M: Where would you like to see the Puppet Slam Network in the future?

VM: I would love to see a puppet slam tour, it would be a feat to find time when enough people were available to do it, but a week or so touring up a coast or the Midwest, or somewhere, putting on puppet shows and maybe workshopping in cities to help them start puppet slams would be a really lovely endeavor.

I also like the idea of encouraging slams to get video projectors and screens and have a system where slams can show other slam's work, either as filler, if it's needed, or to show some brilliant show that just happened in Seattle to the fine folks of Asheville, because how else will they get to see it?


M: What advice do you have for up and coming slam artists who are just starting out?

VM: Do it! Do it now! And promote it, and promote it as an adult show, so you don't have to deal with upset people. (It shouldn't be a big deal, but sometimes it is.) And have fun with it! And send me an email if you have questions, I feel like I'm able to help out sometimes! And I've asked a bunch of questions myself, so I know whom to recommend.

M: One last question, what’s the story with your photo?!?

VM: Its a still from street performing with Thomas Butler as a can of Beef Ravioli, and Madison J. Cripps in his Walking Theatre Project - a day in the life.

Open Calls for Puppet Slam Acts - February 2012

PUPPET MELTDOWN #Chicago 
Submission Due: March 1st, 2012
(Performance: April 14th, 2012)

Greetings and salutations, puppeteers and puppet fans alike! Puppet Meltdown has been officially selected to host a puppet slam at C2E2 (that's the Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo, for the uninitiated)!

So here's the deal: C2E2 is April 13th through 15th at McCormick Place in Chicago, and the slam itself will be held at 3:30 on Saturday, April 14th. So now we move on to the next step: CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS!

Anyone interested in performing at this amazing event contact us through the Sea Beast Puppetry website, www.seabeastpuppetry.com and we'll get you an application form ASAP. March 1st is the deadline for submissions, so get your puppets ready to rock, cause we're taking the comic and entertainment world by storm!!!


NATIONAL PUPPET SLAM  #Atlanta 
Submission Due: April 8th, 2012 
(Performances: August 3rd-5th, 2012)

ATTN Slam Curators: The 2012 National Puppet Slam is accepting nominations! 

The mission of the National Puppet Slam is to recognize excellence in the art of short form puppet theatre. The featured pieces were nominated by their respective slams and then curated by The Puppet Slam Network and the Center for Puppetry Arts. As the largest non-profit organization in the country dedicated to puppetry, the Center for Puppetry Arts is invested in supporting and showcasing the next generation of puppeteers. These performances showcase the beauty, ingenuity, and hilarity of Puppet Slams from all across the country.

The online Nomination Form can be found here: www.puppet.org/perform/nationalpuppetslam.shtml

STRUNG OUT PUPPET CABARET #Cincinnati 
Submission Due April 15th, 2012
(Performances: June 2nd & 3rd, 2012)

Mad Slams announces “Strung Out Puppet Cabaret,” a puppet slam debuting on June 2nd and 3rd at the Cincinnati Fringe Festival. We are looking for short form puppetry acts for adults that feature a great diversity of puppet forms: rod puppets, humanettes, shadows, toy theatre, marionettes, animated objects, puppets combined with performing arts, films etc. Interested? Please, upload a video of your piece and send a weblink to inniculescu@gmail.com

Requirements for performance:
1. no longer than 7 minutes
2. set up for your act must be completed in less than a minute

We will provide:
1. assistance with travel expenses
2. lodging for up to four nights
3. artist passes for the Cincinnati Fringe Festival
4. CD audio/projector and screen for films

Deadline:
April 15th 2012

Contact: Irina Niculescu inniculescu@gmail.com

PUNCH #NYC #BROOKLYN
Submission Due: Open
(Performances:  February 20th, 2012, June, Aug & Dec TBD)
We’re gearing up for PUNCH 2012 and WE WANT YOU!

Why do Punch? Well, it's where artists can:
- Try out new material.
- Schmooze and drink with other people who like puppets.
- Get feedback on a piece that needs some work.
- Try out that piece you did for class in front of people who aren't your classmates.
- Get an equal split of the door.
- Try out a piece or scene with puppets even though they've NEVER worked with puppets before in their lives.
- Show a short piece they’ve developed for Puppet Playlist, at the Puppet Lab or at the O’Neill Puppetry Conference to a whole new audience!!!!
- Get a guaranteed $40 at least (courtesy of PUNCH’s puppet slam network grant!)

Perhaps the question to ask is WHY WOULDN'T YOU DO PUNCH?!?
There are only FOUR live PUNCH shows in 2012, so please let us know if you’re interested in any of the upcoming events:

- February 20th = general PUNCH @ Jimmy’s 43 pub
- June TBD = PUNCH Wizard of Oz Kamikaze
- August TBD = general PUNCH @ outdoors at a community garden
- December = the 2nd annual PUNCH Kamikaze Christmas Carol
- We will also have TWO film nights (April & October), so let me know if you’ve got a short film that uses puppetry and maybe we’ll show it!

So, think about it. Get back to me. Pass this on to other artists (puppet or not) who you think might be interested.

Kick ass.
Gretchen Van Lente
curator, PUNCH / artistic director, Drama of Works
PUNCH@punchpuppetslam.com

If you would like to submit an open call for the Puppet Slam Network, please contact puppetslam@mac.com with the details.

My Journey to The National Puppetry Festival, Georgia, Atlanta 2011

Unbelievable.

In so many words, I will not be able to put down in writing my experience at the National Puppetry Festival this past week. It was my first, and I am hooked for life.

Puppeteers are a very unique type of human. I have met quite a few of them, starting two and a half years ago, with the introduction to my lovely Erin Orr. She opened up this world of people to me, leading me to work with her, Lake Simons, Rima Fand and many other lovely, incredibly talented and generous people on my Wolfy film. But this past week, I got it in a full dose, morning to night, five consecutive days.

Puppeteers like to breath life into any object, animate the simplest of things to the most complex. Yes, I knew that already. I’ve done it all my life without realizing it, and also without any reciprocal action from those around me. I didn’t think anything was wrong with me (I thought something was wrong with them); I just knew that I was different, and that was that. These past five days, I have found that there are others like me, humans who respond to scarf or a simple stuffed puppet, with a genuine spirit of play, awe, tenderness and joy. I was shocked. I mean, we’re talking adults here, and they love it, they add sounds, they look at how it’s made, they’re curious, and they are really attentive people. This bunch is the most supportive, loving and accepting group of individuals (and audience) I have ever met.

Two years ago I performed a short Wolfy piece live at Lake’s living room, in front of eight people. Last week I performed it live, including singing (!!!), for the first time in front of a large audience. Even though I consider myself a filmmaker-puppeteer, I am branching out and I love it. I couldn’t have done it without their support.

I felt at home.

I’ve crossed the ocean with a dream and one suitcase. I have tons of stuff now, and I can finally, finally say, I have found my family.

Make puppets. Play. Share.

Leat Klingman