client fears and learning opportunities

[Stretch]

In July my partner and I had our twin 18 foot tall giant puppets at a very respected top end art festival in Denver. Very High income neighborhood and presumably highly educated. The shopping district is FILLED with high end art galleries and boutiques.

As puppeteers, we wore black including a black hood. As puppeteers we are invisible, right?

WRONG! I can't tell you how many times we had supposedly educated adults tell us we looked like terrorists. Ya right, terrorists with 18 foot tall puppets strapped to our back! Good news, we did overhear a 10 year old kid telling his friends why we were in black (pretend to be invisible so as not to distract from the puppet, etc.)

We concider the puppets art as much as entertainment. Art to enjoy and stretch imaginations.

We could take the Disney approach and not wear the hood, and wear costumes to match the puppets, but I prefer not as a matter of artistic preference.

Any suggestions for next time? By the second day in the hot sun, some of my responses were, shall we say, less than ideal.

Walking tall and stretching imaginations, but not always to the desired effect!

Bill "Stretch" Coleman

http://Stiltwalker.com/

Home of Stretch the nine foot clown and his giant puppets!

[ 11-04-2002: Message edited by: Stretch ]</p>

[Pyromancer]

[quote]Originally posted by Stretch:
<strong>We could take the Disney approach and not wear the hood, and wear costumes to match the puppets, but I prefer not as a matter of artistic preference.

Any suggestions for next time? By the second day in the hot sun, some of my responses were, shall we say, less than ideal.</strong><hr></blockquote>

Seems like you've given the answer yourself already... If you want to hold on to your current styl, what kind of suggestions are you looking for?
Just don't take your frustrations out to the public you are working for. If the responses bother you that much, consider doing something esle.
If the puppets are good, they'll attract so much attention, that no one will really notice you, even if you'd walk around stark naked. In the end it's the imagination that has to do the job anyway.
And if black is really what you want, try some different clothing. You don't necissarily have to wear a hood and not all clothig reminds people of terrorists. I don't think someone will mistake you for a warrior if you walk around in a skin tight catsuit... ;-)

[ 11-05-2002: Message edited by: Pyromancer ]</p>

[Stretch]

&gt; If the puppets are good, they'll attract so much &gt;attention, that no one will really notice you, even if you'd walk &gt;around stark naked.


Now there's a thought! With sunscreen! Urban Camo' sunscreen!

&gt; In the end it's the imagination that has to do the job anyway.

And THAT is the truth!

Not too crazy about the cat suit, that would be even hotter I think, but it does give me some ideas. Maybe a different fabric, or finish would be less threatening. Will see. Thanks for the feed back.

Anyone else?

Bill "Stretch" Coleman

StiltWalker.com

[HiveQueen]

You could wear grey or beige instead of black. Neutral and cooler in the sun but less ominous than black, especially if you're wearing jeans or khakis and a button-down, polo or t-shirt.

For visible but innocuous, you could probably wear blue jeans and a white t-shirt or button-down witht the sleeves rolled up on the forearms, and no one would really notice you (adapt outfit to match setting; if you're working a black-tie event, dress accordingly.)

You could also try matching the outfit to the puppet's legs, though you might end up creating the appearance of a three-legged puppet.

Just some ideas off the top of my head. Good luck.

[Stretch]

Thanks for suggestions. I thought I would share this suggestion from a good friend and my responce. enjoy!

Bill


&gt; Perform it the way you think it ought to be performed, and don't compromise
&gt; your style.
&gt;
&gt; And if you REALLY want to be an a$$, carry around a box-cutter knife with
&gt; you when you perform, and if you hear anyone say you look like a terrorist,
&gt; walk over closer and "accidentally" drop it on the ground near them (not
&gt; with the blade sticking out, of course), then ask them non-chalantly if
&gt; they would mind handing it back to you.

Re the box cutter! Next time, I'll remember that and start laughing! Thanks for the dark humour, sometimes it's the best. As to actually following through with your "tongue in cheek" suggestion, I promise NOT to, at least not before noon!

Walking tall and grinning!

Bill "Stretch" Coleman

http://Stiltwalker.com/

[Stretch]

&gt; You could wear grey or beige instead of black.

I saw a puppeteer recently that wore cammel colored robes and hood with a black blindfold. Looked pretty interesting.

Bill

[Rich Potter]

How about a white robe with a white pointed hood?

I hear such an outfit would blend right in in parts of the U.S.

Seriously, how about a simple I.D. tag hanging from your black outfit? Give you the image of being "official" while still being mostly invisible. Or one of those strip bracelets they give out at some street festivals to show that you paid?

The idea is some little stand-out accessory that is obviously not "terrorist".

My other thought though, is were these people genuinely concerned that you were a terrorist, or were they relieving their own tension by joking about the guy in black with a 18-foot puppet? In the case of the former, you should never expect "affluent, educated" people to be logical when it comes to their fears. 9/11 really shook up the U.S. and many people are still recovering.

It does amuse me that it's the kids that were explaining it to the grown-ups.

--Rich

[Steven Ragatz]

Your situation reminds me of a stilt routine that I tried may years ago. The character, "Mr. Big", is a classic gangster with the long trench coat. He (I) did this silly little song about dancing, popped behind a screen for a moment, and emerged with an extra leg. I then did a three legged dance number on stilts.

Visually, I thought it was really nice, but in the context of the number I was giving the audience a completely different picture. It turned out to be one big dick joke.

All of the references to the "third leg", dancing, etc. were all interpreted as being lewd. Then, when I appeared with the extra leg, it became obscene. (Not that it is always bad, but in this case, the family show didn't approve!)

Another case that comes to mind was at a juggling festival year before last. One of the guest performers did a beautifully choreographed manipulation routine with a large ball. He obviously was emoting and being very passionate about whatever the ball represented. But to me, I saw a grown man making googley eyes to a volleyball. He saw romance, I saw a parody of "Castaway".

The lesson learned is that, as performers, we often don't see what the audience sees.

Steven Ragatz

[Spinners' Wacky World of Tops]

The days of old are gone for sure.I just got a response from a client and I quote "there is one thing though--I checked out your website and are you always a clown when you perform? Some of our kids and a few of our grown-ups experience anxiety around clowns... Maybe I'll dump this gig and start a recovery center..... man, the party is over!!!

[Doctor Eric]

There is always this naive idealist inside of me that starts screaming at the top of his lungs whenever situations like this arise "Aren't we, as artists and performers, supposed to shape the way that people think, and NOT the other way around?"
I say, if you're not going to use the box-cutter gag then just stay in character, since your charachter is non-existant, don't even justify the morons with a response.
By the way ever since the protests at WTO, and especially DC, puppeteers have been considered terrorists at any sort of political rally. I have quite a few freinds that went to jail for building things like giant dragons and paper-mache shields.

[fracksfreakshow]

no way???????????????

yep yep frack attack

[scot]

It sure is good that people know what a terrorist looks like now. No more of those problems.