Celebrating Christmas doesn't always mean that you have to have many presents, wonderful decorations, tasty foods, or new clothes. Together with some children, PuppetO actually celebrated Christmas in a very simple way.
No luxurious room, no Christmas tree, no bright light, nor decorations. Just as simple as it could.
But that didn't stop us from having a wonderful Christmas celebration. The kids were happy and enjoyed the puppet show.
Here are some pics when PuppetO was doing a show for them :
It was always fun to share something good with the kids. This had became more meaningful when PuppetO had a chance to do a Christmas show for the orphans. Yes, we did a show in a charity event held by a Christian community from one of the largest telecommunication provider in Indonesia. The event took place in an orphanage, somewhere in southern Jakarta area.
We had so much fun with the children, and did some activities there, like singing, playing games, making Christmas tree decorations, and of course doing a puppet show! You know, it was wonderful to see their faces smiling and laughing to each other. Some friends from the community actually cried when they saw those smiles. Yes, we were all touched by that...
Well, we surely felt so blessed because we could be there to share the joy of Christmas....We hope that we can come again sometimes...
This October, we were invited to join the National Heritage Festival, held by Lippo Cikarang Mall, on October 19th and 26th, 2013. They held this in order to commemorate the Indonesian Youth Pledge Day that takes place every October 28th.
In these two shows, we came up with two different stories, adapting from some of the famous Indonesian Folklores. On the first day, we played the story about Joko Kendil, which was very famous in the Central Java area. While on the second day, we brought the story of Malin Kundang, a Sumatran folklore about the relationship of a mother and her evil son.
Talking about the Indonesian Youth Pledge Day will surely lead us to the urge of appreciating our own culture and tradition. And this was exactly what we were trying to address to the children. We encouraged them to love their nation and culture, for example through some of Indonesian traditional songs and games. It was a relieve knowing that they were very keen on doing such activities.
Well, we hope that we can always spread this message of loving our nation and culture, to many children.
After doing some shows, I found out that some things needed
to be fixed. That included the puppets, the stage and other props. Well, some stuffs didn’t last long, and
sometimes we need to readjust, reset or repair them.
For example, this
puppet suffered a massive pressure by the puppeteer’s hand during the show. One
of its part in the mouthplate was ripped off from the plate and now I need to
attach it again. Well, I was not surprised, since my fellow puppeteer did have
a big hand! Hahahaha…..
I guess recheck and
inspection are important to do after performing some shows. And I couldn’t
agree more…! So, this guy would go to the “surgery room” in order to get his
body back to normal! LoL
Ah, it’s been a while since I post something here…
Me and my team in PuppetO have just finished our rally
show, and it’s been such a wonderful
experience to do the shows 3 weeks in a
row. Our shows took place in a mall, east to Jakarta, in a small city called
Cikarang. The mall asked us to perform during the school holiday and to
entertain children who visited the mall with their family. And just like we
thought before, there were so many kids
visited the mall just to hangout with
their family. Yes, kids would love to visit the mall, especially when they
didn’t have a chance to go places with their family during their holiday.
In every show we didn’t just do a puppet show, but we also
held some interactive activities, like singing together, playing games and
quizzes. We came up with three different themes for every performance. In the
first show, we reminded the children to keep their environment clean. The
second show was to persuade them to love their culture and tradition. While in
the last show, we encouraged the kids to have a willingness to help other
people. It was good to see the children were very actively involved in every
activities. O ya, since most of them came with their family, there were also
moms and dads who watch the shows.
We would like to thank the children and their family who
have joined us in our shows. Also to the Lippo Cikarang Mall who invited us to
perform there. Hope we can do another show here in the future!
Well, usually a puppet is played by a person. But you know what, it doesn't always happen that way.
A famous ventriloquist from UK could show you how it really worked. Her name was Nina Conti.
Yup! She's an English actress that also did ventriloquism. Not just the ordinary one, but the awesome one!
Here's a clip that shows how Nina asked one of her audience to be her puppet. She put a kind of mask on the volunteer's face. The mask's shape resembled a human cartooned-face, and she controlled the movement of the lower jaw with a kind of button connected to the mask. Perhaps it's more like pumping air through the hose right away to the lower jaw. This was so awesome since Nina successfully managed to synchronize the jaw's movement, the button operation and her voice. It's like the volunteer spoke for himself, responding every single sentence Nina gave him.
What made it so funny was that the volunteer just couldn't resist everything Nina said. She kept talking and talking, while it seemed like the guy didn't have a chance to defy her. Hahahaha...LoL!
Last week, we had a chance to do a show in a mall. This mall is located about 20 km east of Jakarta, in Cikarang, a small town known for its industrial area. The mall held a series of events, with the theme : "My Happy Family".
So, not only did we do a puppet show, we also did some interactive games with the audiences. It was good to find out that some kids were very excited about the show and the games. Hey, it's like having fun with some new friends...!
Here's a short clip about the show, and some pictures too....check them out!
Yup..that is one of some theme songs performed in a DVD titled "Aku Berharga" (I am Precious). This is the DVD that contains a Christian Educational program for kids, including children songs, Bible stories, Sunday School activities, Bible illustrations, etc.
In this video, the song was performed by one of my close friends, who shared an interest in music ministry. In fact, we have been together in a band, doing ministries in music. The song is simple, yet it has a very sweet lyrics.
I shared this video because the song was performed together with a puppet show. So check this link out!
Last March 2013, PuppetO took part in an Easter Celebration for Sunday School. We decided to perform without a stage, and this is a short clip about how we played it.
I finally finished my new puppet!
This was designed as the "Elder" character in my collection.
And for his costume, I chose one of the Indonesian traditional fabrics, called : Batik.
I sure did like this....
So check it out! Grandpa's coming.......woohooooo....
Puppet shows are for children only?
Naaahh....
You're wrong if you think so...
You should check this one: Avenue Q!
Avenue Q is an American musical show, well known for the use of hand puppets, alongside the human actors. Most of its stories are addressing and satirizing the issues and anxieties associated with entering adulthood. This musical show has a uniqueness : puppets are animated and voiced by actor/puppeteers who are present, unconcealed, onstage, but remain "invisible" relative to the story line. It means, the puppets and human characters completely ignore the puppeteers, and the audience is expected to do so as well. Here's an example of their performance. Take a look at how the puppeteers master those puppets very well.
See? I told you, puppet shows are not just for children only....:)
For those who loves to do puppet shows, there is always one important thing : a SCRIPT!
You can't do a good puppet show if you don't have a script. Unless you are a very well-experienced puppeteer who have an ability to create a puppet story in a minute...!
Well, here's a good example of a book that talks about puppet scripts. It is written by a woman who has been doing ministries in many churches, mostly in children ministries or Sunday school.
It provides you a lot of puppet scripts , especially for you, Sunday School teachers, who want to use hand puppets as your unique media in Sunday School teaching or activities.
It's worth to buy, since the price is very affordable. Affordable? Yes! Because a friend of mine gave it to me as a birthday present LOL
Haha....No...seriously, it will only cost you less then Rp. 100.000,00.
So, what are you waiting for? Go grab one!
Oh, by the way, this book has been published in Indonesia only.
Have you ever watch Muppet Show, Fraggle Rock or even Sesame Street on TV?
They were some of the greatest children's television shows that used hand puppets as their main characters. Well, at least Sesame Street still IS a great one today!
Even though they were mostly watched by children, it was hard to put aside the fact that grown up people also loved to watch them.
Why? Because puppets are fun and they can be very effective for various purposes like entertainment, education, etc. Different kinds of puppetry appeal to different ages. They also shared the same kind of humorous characters that could stir audiences' imagination into the world of fantasy. This might sound so childish, but hey... there is a "child" in every people's soul, right?
This is why puppets could also be used in a program like Trauma Relief or Natural Disaster Preparedness and Safety education. There was a great example of the program, made by No Strings, a charitable Non Governmental Organization based in UK.
As we know, in 2004 some giant tsunami waves hit the Sumatra Island of Indonesia, following an undersea megathrust earthquake that occurred in the Indian Ocean, off the west coast of the island. The waves killed over 230,000 people in some countries.The number of casualties was mainly caused by the lack of people's awareness about natural disaster.
So, to generate the awareness among the people, especially to those who were affected by disasters and emergencies, No Strings made several movie clips using hand puppets. These movies were used to educate people to know how to stay safe and well. The targets of that Natural Disaster Preparedness & Safety program were the children, young people and also their families and communities. The movies were made by some of the leading names in puppet entertainment, including those who were actively involved in the original Muppet Show and Fraggle Rock.
Here is an example of the movie clip. See how the professionals worked ! :)
Since the first time I tried to do a puppet show, I thought there was only one way to play a hand puppet, especially when we have to play live in front of the audience.
What I knew back then was like this : playing a hand puppet by sitting or kneeling down, and put the puppet above our head by raising up our hand(s).
I found out that this method could give us problems, since this position would force us to keep our hand(s) above our head during the show. It would also limit the puppet's movement, because we couldn't move freely.
Hey...I never thought this could be another way of playing hand puppets!
You know, this really gave me a new insight of how to do a puppet show. It seemed that this kind of method would give us more flexibility in playing the puppets.
I also understand that even the puppeteers appeared clearly on the stage together with the puppets, the audience would still think those puppets were really "alive". One thing for sure, the puppeteers wore black costumes so that they would not distract the audience from the puppet show.
