Moose Crossing finale for 2012 12/20-23!

Another season of "Moose Crossing USA" draws to a close this coming Thursday through Sunday.

 
Show Times: 1030 1130 130 230 330 430. After Sunday you'll have to wait a whole year!
 

Now we know you are planning on attending. After all, you wouldn't want Mischief Makin' Miner Bob to send some of his Christmas offerings your way . . .

Would you?

"Moose Crossing USA", 8th floor downtown Minneapolis Macys. Be there!

Happy Holidays!

Moose Crossing 12/13-16/2012

Only two more performance runs left, this weekend and the final Thursday to Sunday before Christmas! We've had great crowds with many local puppeteers in attendance.

The prize for the audience member coming the longest way: a Russian puppeteer! She got a special backstage tour of the Moose Crossing set (wish we would have taken a photo!).

Remember, show times on Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays:

1030, 1130, 130, 230, 330, 430

We hope to see you there!

At the Mooseltoe Lodge . . . 12/6-9

Planning on getting down to Macy's to visit the gang from Moose Crossing USA but just haven't had the time yet? Never fear, we're still here. But, with only three more Thursday to Sunday runs you're cutting it close!
 

Moose Crossing USA on the 8th floor of Macy's Minneapolis store.

Moose Crossing shows next weekend, Thursday through Sunday:
1030, 1130, 130, 230, 330, 430.

Next time, throw down with MC Moosehead! Arrroooh!

Moose Crossing 11/29-12/2

Opening weekend and Thanksgiving weekend may be past but Moose Crossing is still going strong!
 

Members of the Twin Cities Puppeteers guild (chartered guild of the Puppeteers of America) attended this past Sunday's performances.  Son, Pat, was up from Austin TX for Thanksgiving and finally caught the show (and is still wondering how he survived 24 years in Minnesota cold . . . ).
 

Photo by Patrick Krefting

The puppeteers of Team Moose Crossing and Ranger Cheryl invite you to join in the fun this week.

Photo by Patrick Krefting

Shows:
November 29, November, 30, December 1, and December 2 are 10:30, 11:30, 1:30, 2:30, 3:30, and 4:30. Come on down! Santa is hanging around waiting for you . . .

Photo by Patrick Krefting

It's that time of year again!

And there really is no stodge, either!

Macy's Moose Crossing USA begins performances this Saturday, November 17 and runs through December 23rd.

Here's the schedule:
Sat. November 17 shows: 1030 1130 130 230 330 430
Sun. November 18 shows:  130 230 330 430

No shows Thanksgiving
Fri. November 23 shows: 1030 1130 130 230 330 430
Sat. November 24 shows: 1030 1130 130 230 330 430
Sun. November 25 shows: 1030 1130 130 230 330 430

See a pattern?

The rest of the shows are: Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays at 1030 1130 130 230 330 430 through Sunday December 23rd.

This is a fun show for the whole family. 8th floor downtown Minneapolis MN Macy's. Be there! Arroooh!

Recreating Punch article published

The second part of my article on recreating the 18th century Punch and (originally Joan, her name became Judy by the 19th century) has been published in The Journal of the Early Americas.
 

Punch at Grand Portage Minnesota

A number of puppeteers have expressed interest in this article and wanted to buy a copy of the journals for Parts I and II.
  
By arrangement with the editor/publisher, if you are not a subscriber and would like to purchase a copy of the two issues (Part I and Part II) contact me at wayne@otisrabbit.com and I can mail you both issues at cover rate plus mailing.

Otter and Death at Madeline Island

Puppeteer or history buff the Journal of the Early Americas has some really cool articles on, well, early history of North America. If you're not a subscriber, check out the issue preview at The Journal of the Early Americas and I think you will be convinced to become one.

Uncle Gus' Puppet Stage Rescue Shelter

Otis Rabbit's Uncle Gus runs an occasional shelter for good puppet stages in need of a loving home, or at least a puppeteer who understands and can work with these gently used theaters.

Right now, for puppeteers in the Twin Cities (because honestly you probably aren't going to drive cross country and shipping would be astronomical), he has two stages.

The first is a  shadow puppet stage designed and built by Paul Eide and used by Joan Mickelson, I performed Poulenc's "Babar the Elephant" with Joan using this stage. As you can see it has a large screen area, but is quite adaptable. The stage has a wooden frame and a painted canvas covering. The electrical grid is a grounded three prong, but I would update the wiring if I were using it. All in all, a very, very nice stage.

Free to a good home or at least a nice puppeteer.

Second, this is a folding divider stage. As you can see it "accordians" out and folds to a relatively small space. Great for those school or church programs who don't have a lot of storage, but want something to "play" behind. Originally, this divider was part of a larger commercial trade show booth configuration. Again, a mighty nice stage at a fantastic price--FREE.

If you are interested in either of these stages, please contact Wayne or Otis Rabbit by email at wayne@otisrabbit.com.

Punch and family

Punch, Judy, and the Baby: The original Roadrunner cartoon characters. The characters here and in the following posts were all carved out of basswood, after classes with Cecilia Schiller, puppeteer and woodcarver exceptionale!

I left the carving a bit rough rather than sand them smooth as I wanted to convey the rough edged nature of their origins, character-wise, amongst the lower classes.

Punch's Merry Band takes shape

The carving is done and Punch's family is ready to take the stage. I'll have some images of the cast in the next few posts. But first off, neighbor and professional photographer Nick Felice caught the final finishing touches . . . Thanks, Nick!

Forest Floor Players do Valentine's Day

Shhh! Don't tell anyone, but Valentine's Day is also Solly's birthday. Well, that's just the problem, and no one can take a simple misunderstanding and create a mess better than the Bil Bug and rest of the Forest Floor Players . . .

Stillwater (MN) Public Library, 10:30 am Saturday February 11.

Recreating an 18th century Punch show, carving pt 3

After a bit of carving, sanding, and painting, Punch has his head on his body. But for how long . . . ?

Ollie at Heart of the Beast in Minneapolis

So it may not seem like summer just yet . . . But Ollie and his friends are going to heat things up with a beach party this Saturday, January 28th at In the Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theater in Minneapolis with shows at 10 am and noon. There's a make and take program in between sponsored by HOTB.

Surf's up while Ollie explores the beach. With hungry crabs, singing clams, pesky fish, and a bit of pirate booty--and a bit of "gnarly" surfin! Join us. Come on in, the water's fine!!' msic, too! Don't get wet!

Recreating an 18th century Punch show, carving pt 2

After a few days of learning to handle the carving tools (thank you, Cecilia Schiller), Punch's head is coming along nicely. I'm going to leave the head without much in the way of carving features, preferring to keep the "look" simple and clean. I liked the look of the former head and think it read well. I want to continue this in the wooden one.

Recreating an 18th century Punch show

One of the projects crowding my "to-do" list is creating new heads for the characters in my Punch show.

Currently, made of non-period materials, I want wooden heads to match the period puppets for my show. The heads are patterned after Cruikshank drawings and I want to reproduce the same look in wood.





This is the start of the process and I'll update progress on this project from time to time here as well as on the "Clerk of the Fur Trade" blog. I hope the heads will be done sometime this summer so that all future shows will be totally period correct to the 18th century.

I will also post about the process of building the show, stage, and other aspects, too. I am writing a longer article for publication in the Journal of Early America and possibly the Puppeteers of America's Journal.