Encore Performance! "The River Otter Circus"

I am delighted to get to do this show "once more, with feeling". If you're in the area, come see it!

Ray D Prueter Library
510 Park Ave.
Port Hueneme, CA 9304
Ray D Prueter Library

From the Road: Dublin Library

Uh-Oh! Marshmallow is looking hungry!


One of my roadies from last year, Gabriel, came to see the show and Marshmallow decided to say "Hi!"

Water Color Puppets

Whilst i was in SoCal for rehearsals, I got to see some of the work for "Water Color"




Elizabeth Luce helps stitch up stuff for "Water Color"


Russ Walko


Artie Esposito

Rest of the River Otter Rehearsal Pics

Buster tries on his clown costume.



Sean makes the ruffle for Buster's costume



The Animal Trainer, Esmeralda and Alfonso, the Daredevil - hanging backstage for rehearsal.

Buster and Me

First show today! In San Jose!

River Otter Rehearsals!

Here's the new stage for "River Otter Circus"!


Puppets set up backstage for rehearsals.


Momma River Otter practices the on the High Wire!

Thanks Guys!

This year, I had several amazing interns to assist me with the set-up and tear down of my shows. It made it much easier (and less painful) to perform!



Thanks Crystal! You rock!



Merci Stacey! It was a pleasure having you aboard!



Gracias Gabriel! You were a life-saver (and just as sweet!)

Also shout outs to Qarly and Jason (I didn't snag photos of those guys--it was early in the run, and my mind was focused on the shows! Still, they were awesome).

I can't imagine my summer without ya!

- ATG

Redwood City Main Library

A pic of the set up from Redwood City! Always a great show!



Love the room set up! The Redwood City staff did an amazing job of getting the room ready for the show. It makes getting ready a snap!

S. San Francisco July 18th

Here's the show all set up for "Bugsy Brown: Private Fly" at the South San Francisco Municipal Building. It was their Summer Reading Program Finale and there were loads of folks who turned out for the performance! Once the show was over, the Librarians and volunteers served cake and juice to the attendees (I got a piece of Chocolate cake with chocolate frosting - YUM!). Now that's a good time! A puppet show and cake! What could be better?

I'm off to San Diego this week to enjoy Comic-Con! If any of you folks happen to be there, stop by the Red Window booth (#4800) and visit us! We'll be selling Jeff Pidgeon's Happy Beaver toy alongside the amazing talents of Bill Pressing and Scott Morse

NW Santa Rosa

Just finished my sweep of the Sonoma County Libraries! Whew! Lots of shows in a week! They were all wonderful and PACKED! Thanks Sonoma County!

The pic above is a snap of the sign left for us at the NW Santa Rosa Library. The staff there kindly arranged for yummy snacks (cookies, fruit, water) and gave us a little quiet time in their break-room. NW Santa Rosa, you are very gracious hosts!

I've got more puppet pics to post...keep your eyes peeped for them sometime this weekend!

TIME CHANGE! Mountain View 7/19

My show on July 19th (Saturday) was changed to 11:30am. Since we're all on tour, it's tough to update the main site--this blog, however, is strictly up to me to update (which, I've been neglecting for the tour too!).

So, mark your calendars if you were planning on going to the Mountain View show and please, note the time shift!

See you all at the shows!

Space Bugs - Zeta

Sean is touring with Space Bugs Zeta. I took this pic of Bobby Drone while Sean was rehearsing the show. I gotta' tell ya, I love these Space Bugs shows! They stand alone but, really, you should see them both! It has a sweeping epic feel to it! A puppet show epic! Who knew?!

I'm off to Sacramento tomorrow, so it's unlikely I'll get to posting. I'll try tho! See you at the shows!

Puppet Pile - Space Bugs Alpha

The pile of puppets on the floor between rehearsals. This one is a close up. I think I've got one from further back!

Robo-Locusts

A pic of the Robo-Locusts in Space Bugs Alpha. These puppets are so cool! They look like they're made from metal. They move great too!

Space Bugs Alpha is on tour now!

Space Bugs - Alpha

Patrick is touring with Space Bugs Alpha and I got the chance to see the rehearsals for this show. It's a really great one! Here's a pic of StarFly with the mini-locust.

Summer 2008 Rehearsals!

So, here we are again! Rehearsing puppet shows galore! This is a shot of the Space Bugs set up. Both Space Bugs shows have similar stages but, wow! The puppets for each are so amazing! In addition to rehearsing two Space Bugs shows, we're also touring "The Magical Misadventures of Walnut the Wizard" and "Bugsy Brown, Private Fly". That's a lot of stuff to get done in a week!

Northern California Tour Now Booking!!

Bugsy Brown: Private Fly is available for booking in Northern California only! To book this show, please contact the Northern California branch at 510-684-2637 or email anita@swazzle.com!

Last of Livermore

Rex and Lady Fromage. I really like the Lady Fromage puppet! She's a rod puppet, fairly easy to manipulate, and her character has some sass--which I enjoy.

I was flipping through my photos of the show and realized that I didn't have a single pic of her in action! So, thanks John! (the Livermore pics were supplied by John Weaver, the Librarian at Livermore).

To learn more about Lady Fromage, check out Sean's Blog. He began posting a step-by-step building tutorial back in September 2006! You can follow her progress to completion!

Enjoy!

More from Livermore!

Here's Rex checking out the crowd and looking for clues at our Livermore show this summer.



Rex and Boots examine the case in "Rex and Boots; Super-Sleuths".

Photos from John Weaver.

Sorry I haven't posted in a few weeks. I fell AGAIN, on Halloween. I seem to be REALLY good at busting up the right knee! I'm a champ! And I spent last week rehearsing our Holiday show "Polly Polar Bear and the Prince of the Sea", which will be touring Northern California this Holiday season!

I'll be resting my knee until then but, will try to post regularly!

Pics from Livermore!

A picture of Rex during the July show in Livermore! Courtesy of John Weaver. John had emailed me a few Livermore pics but, silly me, I kept forgetting to post them in my Swazzle 2007 photo album! Finally, as I was clearing out old emails, I "found" them and put them up immediately.

It was a great show, with a great crowd, see?!

More pics from Antioch

This one was snapped right before I stuffed Rex back into the bag.



This one was right before we pulled the background down. I just realized you can see most of the lower part of the background! I really loved this particular background...Sean painted it and it has a beautiful floor!--which none of the audience ever gets to see!

Backstage: Last Show

Antioch.

Tim had already gone home since the primary summer was over. However, we had one last show in Antioch that he had to come up for!

I made sure to bring my camera and we goofed off a little before the show started. This pic cracks me up! "The Goofy Thinker" or something!

It was such a pleasure getting to perform another season of "Rex and Boots; Super-Sleuths" this summer! It's one of my favorite puppet shows--probably because I get to play Wilberforce, the comic-relief! I hope many of you got to see it! Next summer will have a new theme, and a new show!

Tim on the Bridge

Here's a shot of Tim, looking very cool (look at the face!), standing on the little bridge that leads to Domaine Chandon.

Like I said, it's always fun when you can take some time to check out the local flavor of wherever you are performing! Last year Sean and I found time to check out a Heritage Square in Santa Fe Springs before a show (you'll find those photos in the 2006 summer tour set!)! You just never know!

Mushroom Art

Here I am on the walk up to Domaine Chandon. I've always loved the little mushroom rock sculptures on these grounds. Tim kindly snapped my photo in front of them...since I don't usually get pictures of myself during the summer tours!

Here's a close up of those mushroom rocks. I feel like there should be little fairies flitting amongst them, don't you?

Domaine Chandon

The last stop on our Napa tour was Yountville--which is where the above mentioned Champagne House is located! I happen to be a member of said place and took Tim there for some after show fun! It's one of my favorites! The place is just so beautiful!

We took a wine tour, and sampled some of their fab Champagne!

Woo-hoo! I mean, if you're going to BE in the Wine Country, you should be able to get some!

This is the life!

For our Napa shows, Tim and I decided to eat lunch right! We stopped at a cool little French place, Bistro Jeanty, to sample some of the deliciousness that is Napa...sans vino...we gots shows to do people!

The above dish is foie gras with poached pear. So yummy!

Last from Nevada City.

And so we complete our Nevada City shows and begin the drive back. I was too tired to snap pics from the road...although the drive was just gorgeous! Hopefully, next time, I'll snap pics on the way UP to the shows...especially now that I know how lovely the drive it!

More Nevada City

More sidewalk art from our Nevada City puppet show (July 10th).

Grass Valley

The next stop on my photo tour was our shows in Grass Valley & Nevada City. I did miss a few shows along our summer.

This week was our busiest yet in the Bay Area! We arrived early (the day before our puppet show) and checked out the town. Grass Valley has a wonderful historic downtown area! It's very picturesque! Of course, we arrived so late most of the shops were closed! Tim and I did, however, managed to eat in the historic Holbrooke Hotel. It was a cute looking hotel and we'd have stayed there if we weren't already staying with friends!

The Secret to My Sucess!

Coffee!!



This (the procurring and drinking of coffee) is a MAJOR part of the summer tour! Especially on a three show day! The Redwood City Main library has a really cool coffee cart right outside it and since we had the time, Tim and I sat outside, enjoyed the sunshine, and sipped some coffee before heading inside to set up. You can see a little of the building behind Tim.

It's a tough job, I know!

Redwood City

Our June 27th shows. The first of the THREE show days.


First show: Schaberg Branch. A gorgeous day, bright and sunny. We arrived right on time (I love it when it works like that!), so we didn't have too much time to kill before the set up began. The library was small but felt so airy and light--the kind of place I could sit and read at all day! Especially when I've got so much choice!


Give me a cup of coffee and a free afternoon! I thought this show was FUN! A great start to a busy day; lots of laughs (Just what I wanted!).