Comedy Video Night.

Come on by and support us. Only $5 to come and see our videos and many other super talented comedians.

Here are all the details you need.

Friday October 23rd 2009
LINEUP

- The Gas
- NSFW VIDEO SHOWCASE SHOW
- with comedians Jenny Z
- Dave Boz
- videos by: Sam Haber
- videos by: Jonathan Little

SHOW DETAILS VENUE INFO
- Age Restrictions: 18+
- Doors Open: 7pm
- Ticket Price: $5.00
- Advanced: NA

The Gas 10/23 NSFW VIDEO SHOW Jenny Z Dave Boz Emma Willmann Wes Hazard Rick Canavan Morgan Smith with videos by Sam Haber, Jonathan Little

Venue info
Great Scott
Harvard and Comm. Ave
Allston MA 02134

- 617-566-9014
- http://www.greatscottboston.com

FOR MORE INFORMATION


- Anderson Comedy Group
- http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/andersoncomedy?ref=ts

Anderson Comedy Group
Harvard and Comm. Ave
Allston MA 02134

- 617-566-9014

Well I hope I see you all there.

Puppet Pandemic

I will be performing next week in NYC as part of a fundraiser for the O'neill Puppetry Conference.

Please read the following note from the amazing Honey Goodenough (yes that is her real name).

Hopefully I will see you all there.

Dear You,

I would like to invite you to become a sponsor of an exciting new Alumni Scholarship to attend the National Puppetry Conference at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center. The Fundraiser is called Puppet Pandemic:It's Infectious!

Puppet Pandemic: It's Infectious is showcase of works developed at the National Puppetry Conference. This collection explores the infectious nature of puppets. From marionettes to papier mache mayhem, artists redefine conventional notions of puppetry and breed new strains of creativity.

All profits from these performances will fund a new Alumni Scholarship to attend the National Puppetry Conference, in order to continue propagating provocative theatrical works.

I would like to invite you and all your friends to support this exciting new event. There are several ways to contribute. I am offering "Donor" status to anyone willing to donate funds from $20 to $99 dollars, "Sponsor" status to any contribution of $100 to $499, and "Star Sponsor" status with a contribute $500 or more. The contributors will have their name printed in the program as a thank you. All donations are tax deductible.


To Donate to the National Puppetry Conference Alumni Scholarship:

Please make checks payable to "Flock Theater"
Please note: Alumni Scholarship.
Send to: Flock Theatre
c/o Alumni Scholarship
66 Union Street
New London, CT 06320

We are also conducting a raffle to help raise funds. We are accepting any puppet/puppetry related items items, such as books, puppets, tickets to shows, or services. Please consider this another fantastic way to contribute to the scholarship.

This will be an exciting event! We have gathered some outstanding pieces from throughout the years. Pam Arciero is attending and is planning to say a few words, and our hosts, Jim "Nappy " Napolitano and Leslie Carrara-Rudoph will help make the night a full evening of entertainment.


Like a pandemic, the passion for puppetry is spreading! The only cure-- a prescription of puppet performances!

Hope to see you!

-=Honey Goodenough

What: PUPPET PANDEMIC: It's infectious!

Where: The Tank - 354 West 45th Street, NYC!

Tickets: $10 online, $15 at the door.
http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/77490

When: Sept 25th 7:30pm Jim "Nappy" Napolitano and friends
Sept 26th 3pm - Jim Napolitano of "Nappy's Puppets"
Sept 26th 7pm - Leslie Carrara-Rudolph and Lolly!

To Donate: Please make checks payable to "Flock Theater"
Please note: Alumni Scholarship.
Send to: Flock Theatre
c/o Alumni Scholarship
66 Union Street
New London, CT 06320

Public Performance

Hey everyone,

We have been extremely busy here. We have been building puppets, performing at birthday parites, and working on our new stage show that will be debuting in the spring.

I would like to let you all know that you can see us this Saturday the 20th at Macy's in Hanover at the mall between 12-4. So come on by we will be doing little sketches and peformances during that time frame.

Also in November we will be participating in the open studios at Joy Street we will have a ton of puppets for sale and will be a great opprotunity to get some gifts for Christmas.

Frogtown Mountain Puppeteers

I hope everyone enjoyed their memorial day weekend. We spent a bunch of ours out and about at BBQ's and enjoying the weather. We also got the opprotunity to see the Frogtown Mountain Puppeteers at the Brookline Puppet Showplace theater. The Frogtown Mountain Puppeteers are based up in Bar Harbor, Maine and consist of three siblings Erik, Brian, and Robin Torbeck. They performed their original piece titled "everyone loves pirates".

The performance was all done with mouth and rod style puppets. The story based around two little kids that went fishing and ended up catching a treasure map. The children decide to go for the treasure but little do they know the are being chased by three fearsome pirates. This story is an amazing tale for both children and adults. The characters are all well defined and the story is jam packed with hilarious situations, great puns, and fun for the whole family. My personal favorites are Lobster Boy and the Jet Ski Guy who refers to everyone as "guy". Well if you hear that Frogtown Mountain Puppeteers are performing near you it is worth every penny to go.

After the Perfomance we saw, we sat and chatted with the Torbecks for a while exchanging puppet stories, building tips, and chatted for a while about their stage show. They invited us to come back the next day and watch the show again from behind the curtain. We couldn't pass up that opprotunity. Stephen and myself watched the show a second time from behind the curtain. In my opinion I wish I could watch all shows that way. The did some very innovative things in their show to make it all work and the transitions from one scene to the next are seemless. When you go to watch the show there is a great moment that we couldn't figure out till we were backstage. In the production after the kids dig up the treasure there is a scene with the two children and the three pirates and some how they grow and extra hand to be able to carry the treasure away. We found out how they did this but we'll never tell.

All in all some great people all around and if you get the chance please go and see their show. Well we are excited about seeing them again and the regional puppet festival in July.

For More info on Frogtown Mountain Puppeteers go to http://www.frogtownpuppets.com/

Performance May 10th

We are once again performing at the Brookline Puppet Showplace Theater. This Saturday May10th there will be the last of the seasons Adult puppet slams till next fall. If you would like to come and see us perform this would be a great chance to do just that. I highly reccommend calling ahead due to the usual soldout performances.

If you would like to reserve tickets for the performance call 617 731 6400

Hope to see you all there

National Day of Puppetry

Saturday April 26th from 10-4 at the Brookline Puppet Showplace theater. Come on by and check it out.

For More info: www.bagop.org

Puppet Slam

Hey Everyone,

Last night we performed in another puppet slam at the Brookline Puppet Showplace Theater. 

I love adult puppet slams it is a great opportunity for us to see other puppet performers as well as a chance to see puppeteers who usually only perform for kids and see their adult humor.

Here is a brief review of last night.

The show opened up with The Newport Cultural Enrichment Committee Showcase.  Performed by Margaret Moody,  Maggie Whalen, And Sparky Davis.  This was a very humorous piece with a great sense of humor in regards to censorship and Politically correctness.  

Sparky then performed a solo piece titled The Foolish Man.   A very comical tale of a little foolish man looking for riches but not aware of the riches under his nose.

Paul Vincent Davis performed Waltz Joke.  This was an amazing piece from Paul. He performed this piece of a ballerina dancing.  Paul's manipulation of the dancer was wonderful and very delightful and he had a great twist at the end of the piece. 

Kathleen Conroy Mukwashi doubled as both host and performer doing an excellent job on both she performed a  piece titled Untouchable.  She used shadow puppets to tell this emotional story of a person infected with aids.  She used many great effects to allow the viewer in a world of dreams and reality.

After  the intermission Puppet Master Jake started off the second half of the show with A Feminine Retelling of Judy Strikes Back.  This was a great contemporary twist on a Punch and Judy show Including a Devil, Alterna Girl, Punch and Judy, and one character who is too racy to mention here.

We then followed Jake with Mogre performing our version of the story of Cinderella.  We also were part of the peanut gallery assisting Kathleen with her host duties.  Prinderella went well and we got people laughing which we always strive to do. 

Margaret Moody performed her piece titled turning 50 which was a great little story talking about giving her puppets some exercise. 

The show closed out with Maggie Whalen with an excerpt from the Emperors New Clothes.  This was a fun piece with lots of audience participation. 

All in all it was a very successful night of puppetry to a sold out crowd the next show will be May 10th at 8pm hopefully we will see you at the next one.  Remember to buy your tickets early.

Dancing

Please watch this clip these guys have taken dancing to a new level. Being a dancer myself I love to see awesome dancing. But, this goes beyond dancing these guys have elevated themselves and the artform to a new level.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9L7exvltPg&feature=PlayList&p=19A8B0219816359B&index=6

Improv Everywhere

I recently saw a clip on youtube of some amazing improv. The group is Improv Everywhere. They excel in large scale improv performances. My favorite by far is the performance the did at Grand Central Station in NY.

Go check them out they are doing amazing stuff. www.improveverywhere.com

New Production

We are currently working on a new comedy short skit. We have the script all done, I'm working on the scenery and puppets right now. If all goes to plan we should be able to perform this live at the next adult puppet slam in March.

We have also started working on our french accents for another possible project in the works.

Avenue Q and Rick Lyon

On Sunday Stephen and Myself got to attend an amazing lecture with the people who made Avenue Q. There was lots of great information throughout the lecture talking about the process and how happy they are that it has so much popularity. I always love stories of determination, that is what Avenue Q is they kept plugging their idea and kept pushing till the did it right. The true gem though was hearing all the stuff about the puppets. Rick spoke about the design process, his goals with the characters, color schemes, the different styles of puppeteering, etc..
It was also amazing to see him put on some of the puppets and bring them to life. Rick if you don't know also worked on Sesame Street for 15 years, built and performed puppets for Crank Yankers, as well as building and performing puppets for a tony award winning Broadway show.

After the lecture a truly amazing thing happened we had the opportunity to meet Rick Lyon and have a little conversation with him one on one. It was awesome he was really nice and gave us a lot of encouragement about what we are doing. He stressed that we should perform any time we get the chance whether it be for free, $5, or whatever. He also told us it is not about who you know its who knows you. This was an amazing conversation and experience for me. I'm sure I will be floating on cloud nine for a while because of this experience.

Performance review of slams

We had yet another busy weekend doing some live performances. Friday we went down to the Perishable Theater and performed Prinderella for everyone. But, were really happy to see all the other performers. We saw an amazing dancing peacock by Carole Simms D'agostino. Two performances by Sarah Frechette's marionettes, Seamos(who looked a lot like Evan O' Television) Emmy and Kirk performed War bride for everyone, and an amazing video piece as well.

Saturday we went to the Brookline Puppet Showplace for yet another amazing night of puppetry. We performed The Puppet Duel and everyone truly enjoyed it. We also loved seeing everyone's performances. Evan was there as well do his piece on the writers strike. Sarah performed with wally and Did an amazing shadow piece titled haunted projectile with the carrionettes. Paul Vincent Davis did his piece Battle of the Sexes. Julio Robles performed with his puppet Freddy. Puppet Jake was there with a wild tale about alternagirl. Dan Butterworth performed his new shadow piece. Z and Chad did there great toy theater puppet show about the history of jello. Emmy and Kirk performed once again as well as Carole's dancing peacock. There was so much to take in what a night. The place was sold out and everyone got one hell of a show for there buck. Next puppet slam is in March stay tuned for more info.

audience participation

Anita at Swazzle.com has written this great article about audience participation

read it here: http://swazzle.com/blogs/labels/audience%20participation.html

Also if you are in the general area of Boston check out some live performance from us at

The BFaT show in Providence Jan 18th 10pm
or the Brookline Puppet Showplace Theater Jan 19th 8Pm

we will be doing different stuff both days so feel to come to both if you want.

Improv

We have been doing a lot of Improv and working hard at it and I thought I would share some of this info with everyone.


http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Improvisational_Acting/Rules

Here is another gem http://www.pantheater.com/Articles/RulesImprovPartI.htm

I like rule number 20 on this one http://www.pantheater.com/Articles/RulesImprovPartII.htm

And last but not least here is a plethora of info
http://improvencyclopedia.org/references/index.html

I hope you enjoy these

All those crazy voices

So, I have been looking into voice character acting like the voices you hear on cartoons. It is amazing stuff!!!

I have found that a lot of it is practice as one would imagine. However a lot of it has to do with creativity as well. When creating a new voice for a character it is important to think about the motives, attitude, and overall personality. Some tricks in creating a voice are changing pitch, speed of speach, and dialects.

If you are interested in more about character voices be sure to check out Billy West the name may not be familiar but I'm sure his voice is. Billy has done voices for Futurama, Ren and Stimpy, Doug, as well as countless other cartoons.

My personal favorite though is Mel Blanc. If you don't know him he created all the voices for Warner Bros. cartoons. Mel has tons of range as far as different characters. I feel as though many people do lots of voices but usually I can hear similarities in all of their characters. Mel on the other hand is so good it is almost impossible. He is a one man show literally jumping from Bugs to Daffy to Elmer and back to Daffy it is amazing that he can even keep all the voices organized in his head.

well keep practicing those voices