Puppetry:
Creating Audrey II in the Cloud Forest
In Spanish, the word títere means puppet, and the word titiritero means puppeteer a mouthful for sure! As for the títiritero for Little Shop, I’m working with Andrey, a really enthusiastic student who I feel will really latch onto the basic puppetry concepts of joining your breath with the puppets to make them come to life.
Design-wise, I’m having a lot of fun determining the shapes of each puppet, making sure the mouth curves into a jaunty little smile and creating framework that is both strong and light. However, when the mechanics and engineering come in, I find I’m at an impasse: How do I make this puppet’s mouth open and close? How will the puppeteer operate it? I’ve been brushing the dust off of terms like mechanical advantage, pulleys, and leverage that I haven’t used in conversation since 7th grade physics!
Design-wise, I’m having a lot of fun determining the shapes of each puppet, making sure the mouth curves into a jaunty little smile and creating framework that is both strong and light. However, when the mechanics and engineering come in, I find I’m at an impasse: How do I make this puppet’s mouth open and close? How will the puppeteer operate it? I’ve been brushing the dust off of terms like mechanical advantage, pulleys, and leverage that I haven’t used in conversation since 7th grade physics!
Smaller Audrey II hand puppet.
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Locally grown bamboo was used to build the Audrey II puppets.
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My personal themes for this journey so far have been exploration and experimentation. I brought as many materials as possible with me, the most important being round reed (the kind often used for basket-weaving or wicker furniture). Beyond the reed, I didn’t know what materials I would be using, but papier mâché, cotton batting and fabric have all been really useful. My most important tool is probably my trusty glue gun; I couldn’t do anything without it!
As I write this, I haven’t yet started on the biggest version Audrey II, but with Andrey, my glue gun and the rest of my enthusiastic helpers, I’m eager to face the challenges ahead and create the most ferocious Audrey II yet!
-Michelle Rodriguez, Puppet Designer
Seymour and the Audrey II singing.
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Audrey II in disguise.
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Audrey and the Audrey II puppet in a scene at the end of the show.
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