Mark Thompson gave an excellent lecture on the elements of a show. (www.markarts.net) These were two important ideas

1. Start with your second strongest bit and end with your strongest. (Note: Library shows tend to have strays come in so you may want to hold off on the strong opener.)

2. Have a cute and cuddly character. (The "Aaaaah" factor.) Gene Cordova uses the dog in a bag to perfection. Mark has a cute girl puppet. I use a penguin, although when he talks he isn't so cute and cuddly.

3. Involve the audience.

4. Have fun yourself. I recently saw a marionette show and I was impressed with the props and the skill, but it looked like the performer was just going through the motions. I once repeated a joke in a show and realized that I was just going through the motions. Stop and do something that's fun for YOU! Endear yourself to the audience by focusing on one child. "What's your name? Any hobbies? What grade are you in? Do you have a pet?" This keeps you fresh.

One thing I forget to do is to pause for applause! This is especially true for magic. I take off on the story and when I finish, BOOM, I'm on to the next prop.

I have a friend who is an expert at getting applause. He simply pauses and drops his head for a moment. The world's smallest bow! It works like a charm!

For ventriloquism we should let the puppet take the bow.

Tony tell me more about library shows is it more then reading a story book in character with your figure butting in... From start to finish how do you run a library show....
N J

You may get by with a preschool show with reading the story. Those are often at 10 am, but the librarians do these themselves and rarely hire someone. However, it's a great place to try new material if you can get to know the librarian.

Parents often join the kids in after school shows or summer reading programs. For a show advertising puppets you'll get 8 years old and younger, plus parents. Most of the kids will be 5 or 6. Depending on the town and library you could have a dozen people or you could have 200 people!

Essentially, libraries want to encourage reading. For example, you can push joke books or animal fact books or puppet or magic books just by mentioning that the library has them. Or I have a Peter Pan show. They do tend to like puppet shows with known stories, or twists on known stories the best.

There should be several in your county during the summer. Check out your county library website and look under events.

I went to the local community college to see their end of the year dance showcase. Very impressive! It was a packed house with excellent lighting and great choreography.

The pluses were great. The drawbacks were minor, but would have made for an even better show.

1. It had been a warm day all day (upper 80's) and with a packed house it was starting to get warm inside the room. Air conditioning on hot days needs to be turned on in advance.

2. Because of the large crowd, mostly of people who came to see a friend or relative, I would suggest splitting the showcase into two different nights. This would allow for more comfort for the audience and may get more ticket sales. Most importantly it would make for a shorter show! I left at intermission because it's Friday night, I'm tired, and I wanted to get home.

Tomorrow night I hope to see a puppet performance in town!

There are several things to keep in mind for audience comfort. As a performer you won't always have control of these, but there are times when you will.

1. Volume: A great device to purchase is a decibel checker. When you do a sound check you can walk around and make sure it doesn't go over a certain point. Normal conversation is at 75 decibels. Prolonged sound in the 90's or spikes in the low 100's can cause damage. I recommend the setting your volume so your voice is in the low 80's. Be sure to check in all areas where the audience will be sitting.

2. Are you a saxophone or a trumpet? If your voice tends to have high pitches you are a trumpet and can be heard more easily. Higher volume can become irritating. To control that just lower the treble. If you're a saxophone your voice is soothing even at slightly higher volumes. If you're a tuba you'll need the treble raised a bit for clarity.

3. Notice where the speakers are. At many schools they are aimed OVER the heads of the audience. Watch out for those little kindergarteners that are seated right in front of your speakers. If you see a child holding his ears there are four possible reasons. You're too loud, he's on drugs (asthma medicine can cause the senses to be, well, sensitive), he's autistic, or he just doesn't like loud things.

ventriloquism and magic are the major part of my magic shows. Usually the librarian reads a book or two, then I'll do a "take off" on the book, the children or simply talk about the magic of reading using imagination... some of the comments are from Scotty or Vinnie, while others are magic tricks to illustrate a point.

The only complaint I've ever received is the shows are too short... the kids (and parents) don't want them to end.

I use a cute cuddly Lamb is there any special way to open a show for the younger people and how do you keep their short attention span attentive?

Actually, the short attention span is often a myth. I find that adults have the shortest audience attention span. Little kids can be great.

A lamb lends itself to the obvious, "Mary had a little lamb." The key is that you should have the kids teach the song to the lamb, who keeps making mistakes. "Who's fleas were white as snow! I want a flea collar!"
"Why is it against the rule for lambs to go to school? I want to learn something too! I want to learn how to count. Sometimes I have trouble sleeping. I tried counting sheep, but I didn't do very well. 1, 3, 4.."
"Wait a minute. YOu forgot 2."
"I forgot to what?"
"You forgot the number 2."
"Oh! 1, 3, 4, 2,"
"Wait! I think we need the help of the boys and girls.."

It would also be fun to bring in a lamb's wool duster and show them what lamb's wool can be used for. Or a wool hat, wool socks, wool sweater. Pass them around. The lamb can smell them and tell who grew the wool for them. "That was my uncle Harry. But he isn't hairy anymore!"

You could also go to the costume store and pick up a lamb nose or lamb mask or two and tell the story of Three Billy Goats Gruff. You would have the lamb help you tell the story and have kids act out the older brothers. I would get a tough looking doll (such as a "Where the Wild Things Are" stuffed animal) for the troll.

For costumes try the local party store, costume store, or www.orientaltrading.com.