The cramped and creative world of the puppeteer
| East Haddam, Conn.
Anney McKilligan lies in a coffin-like box beneath a fabricated car that鈥檚 rumbling across the stage of the Goodspeed Opera House here. She manipulates a paddle between her thighs, a lever next to her leg, and three sets of rods with her hands. Part mechanic, part artist, she uses the tools to animate the 鈥渁ctors鈥� in the car above 鈥� five raucous and uncannily lifelike puppets.
The audience seems to appreciate her work even though they don鈥檛 know who she is or what she鈥檚 doing: It laughs loudly at the sniggering weasel and water-spitting catfish. But Ms. McKilligan is growing increasingly uncomfortable. Her tiny compartment is dark and cramped. Worse, white smoke, meant to depict exhaust, has begun filling her hidden lair.
鈥淲ith puppeteers, there鈥檚 a whole other story going on behind the scenes,鈥� says McKilligan. 鈥淣obody knows what you鈥檙e going through.鈥�
Welcome to the creative but invisible world of the puppeteer. This is not your parents鈥� puppet show: It鈥檚 not a matter of putting your hand in a sock or dangling a toy soldier from a string.
Like acting, puppeteering is a stylized, demanding, and professionally competitive art form. One puppeteer in this stage production has a masters degree in his craft. Hundreds of people auditioned for just a handful of slots. The few fortunate enough to get hired sit on their knees for hours during a production, creating characters out of inanimate objects.
In the process, they are contributing to an artistic tradition that has helped redefine our notions of comedy, often evokes memories of childhood, and, more than anything, fuels our imagination. 鈥淭here鈥檚 a part of you that knows the puppet isn鈥檛 real, but there鈥檚 a part of your heart that wants to believe that it is,鈥� says Tyler Bunch, the puppet captain of the Goodspeed production. 鈥淎ll the puppet does is open and close its mouth, but you could swear you saw it smile.鈥�
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At 33, McKilligan never thought she鈥檇 be wearing a Cookie Monster scarf. She is one of four professional puppeteers working in the stage production of Emmet Otter鈥檚 Jug-Band Christmas, a musical originally written for television by the late puppet pioneer and Muppet icon Jim Henson. McKilligan never intended to be a puppeteer. Then again, neither did Henson. He came to puppeteering accidentally, in 1956, as a way to break into television.
McKilligan wanted to be an actress and studied acting and design at New York University. After college, she grew discouraged trying to break into theater. Puppetry helped her get work. McKilligan excelled as a character actor, but she was too young to get cast in roles that inspired her. 鈥淲hen you鈥檙e a puppeteer, you can be an old lady when you鈥檙e 30 and nobody knows the difference,鈥� she says.
McKilligan worked first as a puppet wrangler (a puppet caretaker) for stage productions. She then became a freelance builder and puppeteer for the Henson Company. Her office was in the Henson Workshop in Manhattan, which houses many of the characters used on Sesame Street. She loved the materials available to her in the shop 鈥� yards of puppet fur, a drawer filled with eyeballs, spools of brightly colored fabrics.
Her first job for Emmet Otter was building Yancy Woodchuck, a 44-inch, full-body puppet. Bringing Yancy to life was a particularly challenging assignment: He had to appear to be free standing, and he had to play the banjo. 鈥淏eing a performer was important when I was building Yancy,鈥� says McKilligan, 鈥渂ecause I had to understand how I was going to operate him. A lot of puppets have practical hands 鈥� puppeteers wearing gloves with moving fingers 鈥� but playing a banjo is really specific.鈥�
Yancy鈥檚 scene requires three puppeteers to manipulate his arms, legs, and head. McKilligan鈥檚 design lets puppeteer and musician David Stephens slip his arms through holes in Yancy鈥檚 wrists and into special gloves that are fur on top, spandex underneath, and have banjo picks sewn into the fingers.
Mr. Stephens has Yancy play an old-time song called 鈥淏arbeque鈥� on the banjo strapped across the puppet鈥檚 chest. A black backdrop and special lighting makes the black-clad puppeteers nearly invisible. 鈥淧uppets get away with ridiculous things,鈥� says McKilligan of her banjo playing woodchuck. 鈥淏ut we鈥檝e created a whole world, so everybody buys into it.鈥�
Emmet Otter鈥檚 Jug-Band Christmas is the first Henson production ever to be adapted for the stage. Originally a children鈥檚 book, it tells the story of a single mother and her son who find emotional and spiritual wealth in the midst of poverty. In 1977, Henson turned Emmet into an all-puppet TV musical. The current production, which opened Dec. 7 and runs through Jan. 4, 2009, includes a cast of 16 human actors dressed in elaborate animal costumes, as well as the four puppeteers who operate 22 puppets.
Competition for the four slots was intense. Those selected not only had to puppeteer, but act and sing. Many of the actors and the director came from Broadway. Grammy-winner Paul Williams wrote the music and lyrics. Brian Henson, Jim Henson鈥檚 son and co-executive director of the Henson Company, produced the show.
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The Goodspeed theater is not designed for puppet-heavy productions. The puppeteers are hidden in the orchestra pit and dress in black. (The orchestra sits backstage.) Still, many patrons in the balcony can see them work.
The puppeteers hold the figures over their heads while sitting high on their knees (they all wear knee pads). Because they operate so many different characters, they scramble back and forth 鈥� at times looking like they鈥檙e playing Twister.
鈥淚鈥檓 a squirrel, then a rabbit, then a squirrel, then a possum,鈥� says McKilligan. 鈥淭he actors鈥� journey through the play makes sense. Whereas my role is doing 20 different things that don鈥檛.鈥�
One benefit to being hidden is that McKilligan was able to keep a 鈥渃heat sheet鈥� of her character lineup handy for the first few shows. The downside is that she has bruises from bumping into metal beams supporting the stage 鈥� black-and-blue proof of an old puppeteer adage: If it doesn鈥檛 hurt, you鈥檙e not doing it right.
In some scenes, when McKilligan operates the catfish through a trapdoor in the stage, she has no visibility. 鈥淚n rehearsal we use a mirror,鈥� she says. 鈥淏ut you really should be able to do it with your eyes closed 鈥� with muscle memory.鈥�
Eye focus and jaw movement are vital to making a puppet come alive. Its mouth must move in sync with the dialogue 鈥� a difficult skill done by manipulating the lower jaw while the upper jaw remains stationary. McKilligan tries to achieve the illusion by thinking about the puppet as herself. Though hidden in the pit, she displays the same elation, sadness, and silliness on her face that the creatures are experiencing.
Being hidden makes it easier for her to be dramatic. One of her characters, Penelope Possum, sounds like Granny Clampett from the 鈥�Beverly Hillbillies.鈥� Her squeaky voice and comic one-liners have the audience rollicking. 鈥淗aving the puppet on your hand frees you,鈥� McKilligan says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not Anney making these crazy choices, but the animals. I feel less foolish because the puppets have to be larger than life.鈥�
It鈥檚 this exaggeration that makes us laugh at puppets, especially ones with well-known mannerisms. 鈥淓verybody knows the Muppet nod and the Muppet walk,鈥� says Mr. Bunch.
Puppets are making a modest come back. FAO Schwartz recently opened a design-your-own Muppet workshop in New York, and NBC aired a new Muppet Christmas special.
But that doesn鈥檛 necessarily mean more work for puppeteers, most of whom are freelancers. To expand, McKilligan and two colleagues are now designing puppets for TV commercials. 鈥淧uppetry is an all encompassing art form 鈥� writing, directing, performing, building,鈥� says McKilligan. 鈥淎nd you can carry it all around in one suitcase.鈥�
