Calling All Puppet Lovers, part 3

We've decided to offer another Puppet Date w/ How About We dot com. July 26th at 3pm. We'll build, we'll drink, we'll play, we'll have a bouncy good time. Check out the event. It just might be perfect for you and the puppet lover in your life ;)

Actually, I like to talk about my process

Hey there. Awhile back, Dr. Lennie and I did a really fun podcast that combines D&D with talking about The Artistic Process. Check it out here, episode #16 of The Artist Rolls.

Calling All Puppet Lovers part 2

Are you tired of the typical dinner-and-a-movie date?
Do you have the great fortune to be dating a puppet freak?
Then have we got an interesting idea for you!

Through HowAboutWe.com, I'm going to be doing a puppet class date Saturday, June 28.

We'll build a simple eye puppet, I'll teach you the basic basics of puppeteering and you and your sweetie will make a puppet video together.

This is an exclusive HowAboutWe event, so you have to be/become a member to take advantage of this. Thus, if that doesn't appeal to you, no worries. However, I do suggest checking them out, and if it _does_ sound like something you'd be interested in, please consider a puppet date. We'll have drinks! And snacks!

BONUS: HowAboutWe has teamed up with Glamour Magazine to do a National Date Night. Check that out here; there are discounts and free things and other good stuff.

Calling All Puppet Lovers

My first 4 week puppetry class went so well, I've scheduled another one for May; squeezing it in before the languor of summer makes it hard to cajole any same adult in Seattle into an indoor activity.

The class is Sunday afternoons again, 1-4pm.

Sign up now (and/or get more info) here: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/615386

Puppet-y Wedded Bliss

In November of 2013, I married two of my firneds with a puppet. (As seen in American Theare Magazine.) 
Here is that story:

One of the great bonuses available in Geek Theatre for an actor is the chance to get to play the same character in several different plays, since geek genres lend themselves so well to sequels, trilogies, serials, etc. This is both a rare gift as an artist and also in real life…..those of us who worked on all 3 Team of Heroes plays got really really close and we still hang out, which can be rare once a play is over. Our assistant director even officiated Madam Mayhem’s wedding

So one day the actor that played The Cap’n (Jason Sharp) approached me and said he had a crazy idea. He wondered if I would be willing to marry him and his fiancé Jayson Potter with a puppet officiant. Naturally, I was totally on board with this (and I was already ordained, so that was no problem). We met a couple of times to talk about what sort of officiant and ceremony they would like, I sent them some sketches to choose from, had faux fur swatches sent to them so we could make sure we matched their ceremony colors, etc. And that eventually led to The Right Honorable Ruth Monster Ginsberg.

Jason Sharp, The Right Honorable Ruth Monster Ginsberg and Jayson Potter.
Photo by Ian Johnston, Dangerpants Photography

The hardest part about the whole thing was keeping it a secret. But somehow, we managed it. We had The Right Honorable Ruth Monster Ginsberg hidden in a box on the ceremony platform and after the Processional, I did the Welcome/Invocation and then paused and said it was now my privilege to introduce the actual Officiant and then, yeah, I brought out the puppet. We had no idea what that moment was going to be like, by the way. I think we were all a little afraid someone was going to storm out or something. But no, everyone totally embraced it.

Jayson and Jason were fully commited to the idea too, it wasn’t just tacked on. They had me work in a bit where they asked if this was even legal, so that Ruth could recite all the states where same-sex marriage has been legalized; they asked for me to have her linger awkwardly close to them after she gave them permission to kiss…and I constructed the part of the ceremony where you define marriage as “The ABCs of Marriage,” so it all made tons of sense…in a crazy geek way, of course.

I really don’t think this would ever have happened if we hadn’t spent three years working together on a superhero play.

(More thoughts on the wedding, etc, from the photographer can be found here.)

New for 2014: Singing Telegrams

Don't know what to get that special someone for Valentine's Day? Live in the Seattle Area? How about a romantic Singing Puppet-Gram?

Dr. Lennie, Doctor of Puppetology and Love, will be dispatched (with puppeteer escort) to a destination of your choosing to surprise your valentine with a singing telegram. After serenading them, he will read them your special message and give them a valentine as a memento of his visit.

To book your Puppet-Gram, or learn more, click here (or use the menu tab above).

Creepy Cute? Or Just Creepy?

My friend Daimon did a mini-documentary on me for one of his graduate classes last semester. Here's hoping he got at least a B minus!

Puppet Passion from Daimon Eklund on Vimeo.