09/05/2016
Hey Fairbanks,
I am assembling a crack team to make a children's play for Halloween. The show is called "Alone in the Dark: Monsters of the Arctic from the Countries of the North."
Here's the pitch: Dark Crystal meets Circumpolar North mythology. To scare little kids for fun.
Many of my friends are children. I want to do a play for them. The Seward's Follies crew hasn't done a children's play OR a puppet show since 2003's The Snow Queen. Although shout out to Jasmine for her Fat Cat puppet in What the Hell is Wrong with Me (2012).
8 puppets made of trash, er... recycled materials from the transfer site. I'm shooting for scary to a 5 year old, but not pants peeing, screaming scary. I'm researching for one beastie from each country in the Circumpolar north.
Ideally, each country's piece will have a puppet maker, puppeteer, someone doing the recorded voice over in the native language and someone being the cultural adviser. Each piece is 5 min. or less with scene change, so virtually no set. In the three quarter round, kids on the floor, folks in the bleachers. In and out in 47 min. It is not confirmed, but I am hoping for the UAF lab theater.
So far I have:
Iceland- The witch Grila (Mimi VO and cultural advising). She has a Christmas Cat that eats children. She eats her husbands and has 12 little elvish sons that cause mischief.
Siberia- Baba Yaga (Hannah as puppet maker and Baba Yaga expert) A witch that rides around in a cauldron.
Alaska- Qallupillaq (Inuit) A scary woman that lives under the edge of the ice and steals children. David Leslie is working on this one with the "A promise is a promise" story.
Finland - Varpu is helping and will be the native speaker.
Oct. 28-31. Friday and Sat at 7, Sun at 2 and Mon (Halloween) at 7. I was thinking we could ask one of the groups that does trick or treating events (or a UAF club) to do candy in the Great Hall before or something.
Ways to Participate:
IDEAS/Cultural Advisors:
Do you have knowledge of a mythological creature from a country in the circumpolar north? Do you know or are you a speaker of the language? Alaska can have more than one. We have something for Alaska, Siberia, Iceland and Finland (but feel free to add more ideas). Still need Greenland, Sweden, Norway, and Canada. So far all the mythological beasts have been female identified. If we can keep that up, that might be cool. Also, it would be cool if there was a good message to the myth about sharing, not running off, stranger danger, not lying, etc.
Actors:
IF there is a family (or two) super into the idea of having a child in the play, that would be great. We can tailor practice times/line load and responsibilities to the child. If not, then child puppet it is.
Adults who want to perform can do beast voices or act as parents in the play.
TRaSh ColLecCTors! Go get it! Save it up! I will have a time/place for puppet building and you can bring materials there/then.
Puppet Makers: Dreams of puppet making? Let me me know if you want to commit to a whole puppet or just show up at a build party.
Puppeteers: Lorien will be Puppet Master. Looking for at least two other puppeteers to manipulate the puppets during the show. If you want to make the puppet and act as the puppeteer, then even better.
Stage Manager/Production Assistant:
I need one. I can pay you a little something. Someone tidier than I am with some free time and regular access to a car, phone and internet. If you don't have one of those, we can talk.
Children! We need kids and parents to be involved to advise on making this the perfect amount of scawy. Please feel free to volunteer to be involved even of you don't have a lot of time. We will need kids/parents to stop by and advise.
And the most important job: Audience Members and Friends who say nice things about the company and the show. It takes a village to pack the house.
Thanks for always helping with my crazy ideas. Call me at 907-347-3637 if you need to discuss. PM me, reply here or email to [email protected]. It's gonna be magical and terrifying.
