If you’ve ever wanted to learn how to puppeteer moving-mouth puppets like you see on television, or if you’ve wanted to up your YouTube game or even write your own puppetry musical, this is the workshop for you! I really do hope you’ll join us in discovering just how fun and rewarding puppeteering can be. Learn how to bring the inanimate to life, and you don’t even need to be a level 3 wizard for it!
Already know a little? Then we'll not only reinforce the basics, but also give you the practice you need to build confidence in your performances!
Our guest artist for this workshop is Bakari Prigg--someone I admire for not only his technical skills, but also for his character choices and comedic force. He's one of my favorite people on the planet, and if you've been to the Gen Con Puppetry Program, you'll know him as the man who saves the day over and over again!
WHAT: In this 90-minute puppeteering workshop, you'll get to learn and practice the basics of moving-mouth puppetry from insanely talented puppeteer and performer, Bakari Prigg. You will be led through skills such as focus, breathing, posture, movement, lip sync, arm rods, and emotion to help make your characters come alive.
This workshop is perfect for beginning and early-to-intermediate puppeteers, librarians, teachers, play therapists, youth leadership, or anyone who just wants to learn new skills and add to their puppeteering toolbox. (If you come in with skills, we'll to expand on those. If you come in with none, you'll get oh so many skills!)
BRING TO THE WORKSHOP:
A puppet with a moving mouth & good eye focus*, OR a pair of fixed-focus (no wiggle/googly eyes!) practice eyes. We highly recommend using Peepers, which can be purchased here: https://puppetpie.com/collections/all-puppets-1/products/peepers (*Good eye focus means both pupils are aimed in the same direction, without wiggling. If you have the knockoff version of peepers, or a puppet with googly eyes we’ll kindly ask you to leave those aside, since they don’t maintain eye focus.)
WHEN: Saturday, February 10th, 2024 from 3pm - 4:30pm Mountain Standard Time. Please consult your favorite internet-robot for your local time zone.
WHERE: Zoom! Which means ANYWHERE!
**A pdf will be emailed to you after checkout, which will contain the zoom link to the workshop from n oreply@digital-downloads.com. It should also be available by viewing your order after your purchase. From your receipt email, click "View Order" or "View Order and any available downloads," and be sure to check your spam folder for an email from noreply@digital-downloads.com.**
WHO: This workshop is designed for ages 12+. One purchase is required for each person in attendance. If you are or have a student younger than 12 who would like to attend, please contact us before you purchase to find out if this workshop would be appropriate.
TASKS REQUIRED: Holding your arm up for extended periods of time; muting and un-muting yourself when requested; opening and closing your hand; speaking in front of a group (Please test your sound and video ahead of the workshop in your zoom settings menu); changing your name in zoom to match the name of the ticket-holder before you click the zoom invite (which you will receive approximately 1 hour prior to the event).
EXTRA DETAILS/TECH SET-UP:
One purchase is required for each person in attendance.
You do NOT need to be in the Phoenix area for this workshop, however you DO need a computer/device with a camera and microphone so your instructor can see and hear what you’re doing. You’ll also need a stable internet connection. Headphones are also a good idea (as in, please use headphones, especially if you have a noisy background). You’ll receive an email from Puppet Pie with a zoom invitation/link approximately 2 hours prior to the event. Please check your spam folder and then reach out on our contact page if you haven’t received it 1 hour before the event.
ABOUT THE GUEST INSTRUCTOR:
Bakari Prigg has been a puppeteer for over 18 years. He’s professionally trained by puppeteers of Sesame Street, Jim Henson Company, and other Muppet projects. In 2017, he created an Alabama-based puppet troupe, Under His Strings. In 2019, he performed at Sesame Place as a puppeteer for the inaugural year of their first puppet-based show “Our Street is Sesame Street.” In addition to his puppetry career, Bakari is a concert and theatre light designer in the IATSE union.
