8/26/82 Agenda & Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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SITE LOCATION AVG. ATTENDANCE/WEEK TOTAL ATTENDANCE IIISunny Square Park 25 200 Hidden Oaks 40 320 Creekview 10 80 240 Freedom Park 30 Community Resource Center 7 56 Windsor Green 22 176 Edgewood Community Center 35 280 400 Greenfield Park -2- 50 Groveland Park 30 240 --6- 5-6-8- Before I begin to discuss the positive aspects as well as the problem areas that we experienced during the 1982 season , I 'd like to share the philosophy we attempted to work under during the '82 Summer Puppet/Theater Wagon program. Our major objective for establishing and developing the Sumner Puppet/Theater Wagon program is to reach out to that segment of our society interested in the creative/perform- ing arts. All too often, recreation departments become immersed in the youth athletic programs and we fail to reach those young people interested in performing arts. We attempted this summer to go beyond the one dimensional Summer Puppet Wagon pro- gram by expanding our program to involve more than puppetry with the addition of magic, mime, creative dramatics , make-up, audience participation, poetry and actual puppetry construction. It was the feeling of the staff that through audience part- icipation we could get a greater involvement of the residents and have them begin to establish an ownership in the program which could be improved upon in future • years. This audience participation culminated in a half hour one act melodrama which involved fifteen Mounds View/New Brighton young people and was performed eight times before over 500 residents. Although we feel in general that the season was a success, there were some problem areas that we feel should be called to your attention. The major issue centers around the puppet wagon itself. As it is a used 1966 mail truck, the mechanical condition .of the truck was lacking at times. Although we never missed a show due to mechanical problems, the truck is in need of repair with the brakes, tie-rods , tires , and muffler currently needing immediate attention. The most difficult prob- lem involving the truck is ventilation, because it gets extremely warm in the vehicle and the staff is sometimes doing as many as eight live shows a day which was very physically draining because of the poor ventilation. Besides the truck, the biggest area that staff commented on which needed improvement was for additional prep time. With the staff being responsible for all scripts, sets, puppetry con- struction, truck maintenance and any musical background, the need for additional preparation time is of major importance. We did experience some hecklers during the summer which were dealt with fairly efficiently by just stopping the show and letting them know we would not continue until they settled down. The major accomplishment would be the involvement of the audience in the weekly shows and show production. We had audience participation in each of the weekly shows which again was culminated with the 4nvolvemerit of fifteen young people the one act melodrama at the end of the season. Audience participation came through acting , stage makeup, theater games and crowd response. Specific items • that we found to be successful was the use of magic, the weekly serial of Pinnochio, singing with the taped music, having a visible narrator during the puppet show, special gimmicks, i .e. flash powder, dry ice and the year end melodrama.