The Collegian

Issue date: 9/24/09 Section: Arts

Media Credit: Michael Mayday The theater department plans to use Sadler's puppets for the production of "Red Herring."

Media Credit: Michael Mayday

It is 7 p.m. in the basement of Sage Center for the Arts, and junior Kirsty Sadler has the dressing room to herself. She's making company for herself, however, out of foam, felt and fur for the upcoming play "Red Herring."

"It's meant to have some element of not just a straight forward play," Director David Griffiths said of the play set in the 1950s. "But it had a gimmick in the first place. So we just revised the gimmick to hopefully make it funnier."

This isn't the first time Saddler has made puppets for production. Sadler said she first began making puppets in high school as a senior theatre project based on the play "Avenue Q." The 2004 Tony Awards prize winner for best Broadway musical featured a mixed cast of puppets and humans in an adult comedy.



Sadler said while her high school theatre teacher didn't require her to make the puppets for her project, she did it anyway. And she hasn't stopped since.

Sadler said she enjoys making puppets for fun and for people as well. Before graduating she made a puppet for her high school teacher, Mrs. DeWulf. She also made a puppet version of her friend, junior Heidi Schweizer.

"We're taking advantage of Kirsty's puppeteering talents both in terms of making interesting-looking puppets and manipulating those puppets, but also to expand that to a lot of our actors," Griffiths said.

Sadler, who will be an assistant director for the play, said she is beginning to finish some prototype puppets for the play and hopes to begin training those in her puppet club how to manipulate puppets for the play for effect.

Contacted by Griffiths after last year's play Hedda Gabler, Sadler said she was first introduced to this play which could use her puppet skills.

Griffiths said he has used puppets in the past, but not to the extent he's hoping "Red Herring" will require. "Red Herring" originally casted a half dozen actors playing multiple parts. After reading the play, he said adding puppets may add to the comedy.

"When I read through it, it struck me: this would be perfect for puppets," Sadler said. "In fact, there's this couple that are in the show that I can't even imagine as human characters. It was funny though, reading through it I was automatically going, 'Oh, that person is gonna be a puppet, and that person is gonna be a puppet!'"

Sadler's drafts of what she hopes the puppets will look like show big eyes, noses and a lot of personality.

"There's a huge thought process that goes into the design, and then there's a lot going on with the construction, too," Sadler said. "Sometimes you're like 'Oh, it'll be fun giving them a face like this!' And then you're like, 'Oh wait a second, how do I give them gigantic cheekbones?'"

Currently, Sadler said she is practicing constructing puppets with foam rather than the felt she's used to. Foam, she said, helps give puppets structure and a base for body features and can be sturdier than felt puppets.

Junior Cory Drewry said he plans to be involved with the play and as an actor looks forward to working with puppets. He said the addition of puppets gives him a chance to play roles he normally wouldn't get to play.

"I could see it being a little challenging at first," Drewry said. "The vast majority of us have never done puppet work before, and the mechanics of actually using the puppet is going to be the hard part."

Drewry said the acting, such as emotions and character, is still in place, but he'll also have to compensate for manipulating the puppet's mouth and hands while acting.

Griffiths said the theatre department will be holding auditions for puppeteers Sunday afternoon and Monday evening, and looks forward to it.

"Actors use a variety of skills, and anytime you can say, 'Oh yes, I have puppeteering experience' just like if you said, 'I have experience walking on stilts' or something like that, who knows when that might get you a job," Griffiths said.

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