Puppet-Making

One delightful afternoon after our Theater Company meeting, the three of us met together in Skidmore's MakerSpace, the IdeaLab, to create and assemble the puppets to be used in our performance. Our puppet-making efforts were wonderfully scaffolded by Nina's previous puppet-making experience from working at SPAC. Starting with a couple of empty quarts of yogurt, we drilled holes in the top to make room for dowels, which extend outwards into the blossom of the flowers for each character. The blossoms were created by crumpling old newspaper into a ball and covering it in a layer of felt. After doing some research on how cup plants and coneflowers looked, we found some fabric scraps left over from other projects in the IdeaLab that we could use within our designs. Not only is the IdeaLab great for student-sized budgets, but sharing a space with other people who create things makes it easier than anywhere else to access and repurpose the scraps from other people's projects.

Seed Packet Assembly

Seed-packet making was a simple task that truly was a labor of love. First, taking some recycled newspaper (I chose one that was once a children’s magazine, with lots of cute designs) I folded the paper into an envelope. The envelope had a large base that would then hold a spoonful or two of the seeds we had ordered from Vermont Wildflower Farm which were then closed into the envelope ready to be opened for planting. I wanted to ensure that everyone would have the amount they wish, so the envelopes varied in size. I also had lots of fun placing the designs of children’s magazine artwork out front, just for a bit of fun. When we passed them out, I felt such joy at the response. There was excitement and curiosity, this feeling that we as a group were giving them seeds of power to make change in our community. With such anxiety and fear over climate change, especially with the idea of an impending doom to especially younger generation’s futures, the seeds felt like a kind first step that makes a big difference in our community

Make Your Own!

Rehearsal

When organizing the rehearsals for Selling Baby Prairie, there was limited time based on the multiple other performances and shows that the actors and artists involved in this production were in. We were able to squeeze in about 3 rehearsals before the final performance. The first two were mainly about getting the actors comfortable with emoting with their puppets. Our two puppet actors (Lucrezia Zichichi 24’ and Olivia Berenson 24’) were very quick to learn the ropes of basic puppetry, and with the help of Nina Renkert (who had previously directed puppetry work with younger children) our process was moving smoothly. The final rehearsal was on location outside of Skidmore’s Wilson Chapel. While scouting out the location, we found two trees that beautifully formed a natural proscenium stage that was perfect for our performance. The rehearsal process for this production of Selling Baby Prairie went incredibly smoothly thanks to the combined efforts of the entire team.

Performance

Our final performance and passion for guerilla gardening were embraced by our audience. The weather was perfect, not too hot and not too cold. There was a breeze that made all the remaining leaves shake on their branches. We were first to go that day, so we made sure we were all ready to go before class began. When the class arrived, as well as some visitors (which was so exciting!) we introduced our performance and got to work. We set our play between two trees in front of the Chapel. The trees served as our proscenium and the grass in front was our stage. There was laughing and awing, and the audience really enjoyed the performance. The only negative was the mower noise becoming a real nuisance in the background, but it served as a reminder of how obsessed people are with how plants look versus how they actually are. Once we finished, everyone applauded and we spoke about guerilla gardening and passed out the seeds, allowing each participant to pick their very own package. We then took questions, answering curiosities about our puppets and our process. Afterwards we handed the performance off seamlessly to the foraging group who brought us into their presentation. It was a wonderful afternoon!