Frankenstein Build: Week One (and a Half)

More Frankenstein!! building is afoot in the Rogue workshop. I'll skip the introduction for today and just give you the pictures...they just about speak for themselves.

Here's Becca (we met her when she worked on the crew for Mr. Punch) working with a puppet head. Pat glued several layers of foam together, then sculpted out the shape he wanted. Now Becca is covering the whole thing with tarlatine and Sculpt or Coat to make it stronger.

Our mess of a worktable. You can see the puppet head Byron was working on last time, a candelabra Pat made, lots of coffee filters (they're good for papier mache), and--if you look closely--the Frog Belly suit hanging in the background.

Pat considers a job as a pizza delivery man while standing in front of a large cardboard tree.

Tyler, just back from Disneyworld, is working with the removable werewolf features that attach to the mask I made last weekend. You can see a closeup below.

Frankenstein Build: Week One

So far, my predictions about 2008 have been right on the money: the Rogues have never been busier, and it doesn't look like it's going to stop anytime soon. Every time we finish a project, something new comes along and we're right back in the workshop, building more puppets and masks and generally making a mess. I'm tired, but it's pretty satisfying to be able to tick off a half-dozen projects already, less than two months into the year.

Last weekend, we started really working on Frankenstein!!. Pat and Joyce have been working hard on this project for weeks, but we're just now starting to work together as a group and crank out the bulk of the stuff we need. Friday, we filmed this insane video about Batman, Robin, and Superman...I can't even describe it; it has to be seen to be believed. Joyce made this incredible two-room set and had all these tiny props, and Pat, Byron, and I puppeteered the action figures while Joyce's friend Mike filmed the whole thing. I wish I had taken pictures, but the video (once we edit it and get it uploaded) will have to be enough. It's hilarious.

Saturday, Pat, John, and I met up with Byron and Elizabeth (two of our students from the UCI workshop) to start building the puppets and masks. I started sculpting a full-face werewolf mask (I called dibs on that project, inspired by my recently renewed obsession with Buffy the Vampire Slayer), Pat worked on a three-foot rod puppet, and everyone else...well, why don't I show you.

Here's Byron (possibly the nicest young man I've ever met, for the record) adding layers of Sculpt or Coat and tarlatine to a puppet head. I've been assured it's going to be a girl, but right now it just sort of looks like something from Pan's Labyrinth. Or a wet football.

Here's Elizabeth, doing the same to a mask. We have big foam eyeballs to stick in those eye sockets, but not until the Sculpt or Coat dries. I think it's going to look pretty cool.

And Pat, getting ready to cut PVC pipe for his rod puppet.

That's all for now, but we've got a full week's worth of building ahead, so expect more updates in the days to come.

I'm outta here!

After far too long I'm leaving on a small trip with Tyler and Emily. Any guesses to where? Golly-shuckz, I won't tell!

Too bad that this comes on the eve of one of the busiest times in the history of the Rogues. I have the utmost confidence though that my fellow Ensemble members will carry on while I'm away and do brilliant, wonderful, and potently magical work!

As Usual,

WED

Hmm...

"Swan T. Cawelti" is way better than what I was thinking...

...namely, "Gloria Swan-son."

At Long Last!

Finally, we can talk freely about our wonderful work with Blind on the "Sound of Color" campaign! It feels like we've been sworn to secrecy forever, though it's only been a few weeks. As you can see from the videos on our main page, the end product is SO crazy cool...though I am shocked they never really used the footage of the awesome "crouching wolf" Joyce built (you can see all three of us puppeteering it in the making of video).

So there you have it...I'm sure everyone else is just as excited as I am about the unveiling of Owl-fred Hitchcock*, Wolf Blitzer*, and George Hare-ison*. Enjoy!

*named by the incomparable Cari Turley

Pictures, Poe, and Secrets

Here's an interesting link, apropos of nothing: http://soundofcolor.com/

I recommend checking back on February 15th. I have no idea why. :)

In less-classified news, the media galleries are finally online! They've been a labor of love for me especially, and I'm happy to say that our history in pictures is now available on the website. Phew! We have literally thousands of photos from our shows over the last five years, and sorting through them was challenging, but also really inspiring.

I've been around in some capacity for every show from HYPERBOLE: changes on, but the earlier shows are totally foreign to me. I forget sometimes what it's like to see a Rogue show from the other side, without knowing what went on backstage or how each mask was made, etc. So because of my immersion in the photo archives, I've sort of fallen in love with The Poe Play. I never saw it, I don't know most of the people who were in it, but if the photos represent even half of the spectacle that happened onstage, it must have been one heck of a show.

Submitted for your approval: selections from The Poe Play production photos (click here to see the entire Poe Play section in the media gallery).