Steve Whitmire: Prespectives "The Sentient Puppet" Classes and Lectures

[ZombiePencil]

I was quite surprised not to see this pop up in the events section.

http://www.puppet.org/edu/stevewhitmire.shtml

Steve whitmire is doing a couple lectures and classes on an exploration of the essential techniques and methodologies that have allowed hand-and-rod puppet manipulation as developed in the Muppet-style to become an exemplar in both the world of entertainment and the world of puppetry.

If there are still any spots not taken, I highly recommend nabbing them. this sounds like its gonna be awesome!  I'm going to be there on the Jan 17th for the lecture and the 1pm class!

[Wonderologist]

Wish I could go!    :'(

I'd give him sucha big hug.  I loved bean Bunny so much as a little girl.

Maybe he will come to California. 

I sure hope so

[ZombiePencil]

I'm hoping they will let me record the class i'm in on my camera.

[Wonderologist]

Pssst...You better tell me all about it.

[ZombiePencil]

Super duper pinky swear XD

[Wonderologist]

Way cool.

Thank you ZombiePencil.
  

[ZombiePencil]

HOLY CRAP...This was an awesome thing to go to!  Meeting Steve was SO COOL!!  *shakes the fanboy out*

Ok, lemme start at the beginning.  I have never been to the Center of Puppetry Arts, so this was a great new experience.  Just inside after getting our tickets (i 'dragged' a friend along), we passed through the main hall, this was part of the muppet exhibit, big bird just standing there and looking cheery! There were a few fraggles to the left of us, some dark crystal characters to the right, but we needed to rush to grab a seat for the lecture! (I'm very sorry to say that no pictures or film was allowed in the center or at the lecture/classes at all.)

The lecture was held in their downstairs theatre, Steve walked out, hair straight from the 70s, and a big smile on his face.  He explained a little about himself and the purpose of this lecture and how experimental it was.  He then launched into his presentation. "The Sentient Puppet" is talking about how the muppets work as puppets, how the puppeteer and the puppet have to work together to create a persona for the muppet( ie, how kermit will ALWAYS be kermit and MUST always be kermit.  He explained how tough it was when he was asked to carry on as kermit after Jim died that it was amazingly huge shoes to fill, having to take that character and keep evolving him as Jim had been doing.).  It was also important that the muppets appear the same in every form that they appeared, like with the recent muppets showing up at disney, its important that its the puppets of the characters at the park, not some guy in a huge kermit costume.  It was also important that the puppets do real things, like if they were on the today show, they would be sitting on the couch, rather than behind it.  This helps to keep people thinking that "Yeah, i know thats a puppet, but I also know that its kermit! THE KERMIT!"  Most of the lecture continued, showing a few examples of characters and their evolving over time, and how each character has their own quirks and problems to help relate with the audience.  It was a very interesting lecture!

The workshop shortly after was also VERY cool.  My friend and I were worried that since so many people with puppetry experience were at the lecture that we'd have a bunch of experienced people in our workshop (12 people a class), but there were some people with no clue like us either. XD  We were each given an armless, bald puppet (kinda looked like an earthworm) and Steve had us each get up in groups of three in front of a camera.  He'd go over some of the basics of how the muppet puppeteers associate left and right on the monitor, proper way of standing and holding the puppet, and then going over lipsyncing with a few snips of songs. Steve had his own 'worm' puppet and joined in each time to help everyone keep on center with the camera.  He'd start playing around and do some funny stuff during the songs.  Learning the proper way to move your hand while moving the mouth WHILE holding my arm at its maximum height was really hard on my shoulder and hand muscles.  I commented on Muppet puppeteers being able to probably deck someone with their main puppeting arm and Steve laughed at that.  At the end of the class, he had everyone getting together on camera and doing a big group lypsync of the songs.

Sadly, at the end of the class, Steve had to get ready for the next class (he had 3 two and a half hour classes he had to teach, with a 30 minute space between each class), so I didn't get a chance to get a picture or shake his hand.  He was a very busy man!

This was a GREAT day, if he does this anywhere else in the country or does anymore at the center of puppetry arts, I HIGHLY recommend making the trip out if you can.

OH, and don't miss a chance to see the museum itself!  Its admittedly pretty small, but its still fun.  Theres this room of puppets, though.  Its the size of a large closet and the puppets are all on a timer and one will randomly move every couple seconds.  Its kinda terrifying XD.  At the end of the exhibit though is the skesis chamberlain.  It was friggin awesome!

But yes...its was money well spent.  I'd totally do it again if given the chance.  If I end up moving up to Atlanta, I plan on either 1) getting a membership or 2) becoming a volunteer at the center.

[Wonderologist]

WHAT A FANTASTIC EXPERIENCE!!!!!! Thank you soooo much for sharring that with me.

I really wish with all of my heart that I could have been there. I would have loved to see the man with"hair straight from the 70s, and a big smile on his face."

This whole article just makes me so happy.
It must have been fun to work with a monitor and do group lip syncing. Did he bring Kermit with him? Oh, that whole thing is just soooo cool. I really hope he does that in California. 

[ZombiePencil]

No problem   If this thing proved successful for Steve, maybe he'll take it on the road.  He was also really trying to promote the center too "Its one of the best places with the right type of space for this type of thing."

Nah, he didn't have kermit.  He kinda stated at the beginning of the lecture part "This lecture is a bit more geared toward puppeteers, but I'm glad everyone is here.  I just hope people that are just fans of the muppets don't get bored or anything."  It was anything but, he also kinda encouraged a little discussion because this was all experimental for him.

Glad your enjoyed the recap

[Shawn Sorrell]

Thank you so much for reporting back on this!  Sorry I did not say something earlier.  Your review of the day is inspiring and your enthusiasm contagious!

I agree with you that the Center in Atlanta is well worth any cost you may have to pay to see it.  I've been once many years ago and really need to get back and check out the new exhibits!

[Jon]

Thanks for sharing your experience at the class with us.  I would love to have been there.  I've heard Steve in interviews a few times and he was a very engaging talker.  Would have loved to been able to attend buts its a fair commute to Atlanta from MASS.  Maybe if his gets asked to NY or Boston I'd be able to attend.

Jon

[SHould]

Reminds me of a series of video's on youtube where we see Jim Henson himself doing these kinds of lectures in europe (if I am not mistaken). Great recap, I felt as though I was right there with you.

[Macie]

Wow, that's awesome ZombiePencil!!!  I was sooo sad because I just heard about the lecture/workshop yesterday... otherwise I would have been there with bells on!  I've been doing a whole Fraggle Rock marathon on Netflix and I'm obsessed with Wembley and Sprockett, both of which I think Steve Whitmire puppeted!  He's super awesome!!!

[ZombiePencil]

I'm glad everyone had liked my recap!  Steve probably could've gone on FOREVER if he hadn't been on such a tight schedule.  He really wanted it to be more of a dialogue than a lecture, to get ideas and other views from the audience, but I think it ran too short to really take advantage of that.

Yeah, Steve did both Wembley and Sprocket!

But yeah, the whole experience was very inspiring.  I hadn't touched my ConMonsters designs for a while (still need money to get my materials together) and found myself reworking several of the designs (I may post them in my gallery later when I get my computer to operate photoshop correctly again).  Steve's excitement is very infectious.

[cvzdesign]

Thanks for the recap.  I wish I could go, but I don't see a trip to Georgia any time in the near future.
I was also reminded of the Jim Henson training class from overseas.