'Annie'
Lead Prop Artisan Nick Franki
Director Hank Rion
Scenic & Projection Designer Jason Lee Courson
Costume Designer Clara Jean Kelly
Sound Designer Zach Cramer
Lighting Designer Christian Specht
Stage Manager Grayson Singleton
Peach State Summer Theatre 2024 Season PAINT & PROPS SWING
Choreographer Sarah Wildes Arnett
Scenic Charge Artist Madison Grant
While at Peach State Summer Theatre, I had one larger main project for our last production 'Annie'. The Director had really envisioned a wooden ventriloquist puppet for the actor who played Charles and Wacky, however with limited resources, there was no way to order said puppet. I was then tasked with the creation of a working ventriloquist puppet, with a two week turnaround.
First order of business for puppet creation, was to create the pattern so I could be sure that the pieces would fit into each other. I sketched the pattern out, and then cut the plywood pieces with a bandsaw, and assembled the pieces with wood glue. While plywood was not an ideal wood, due to its hardness, it was the only scrap wood the shop had in large enough sheets.
Once the head was assembled, I used a muslin paper mache technique to give him a more 'skin' like texture.
Making the moving mouth mechanism was the most challenging part, but with two tiny little I bolts, and some fishing line, and a dowel rod, he turned into a moveable mouth, with a hinge you could activate.
The body of the puppet was just a plywood box, with upholstery foam on one side. The costume shop provided our puppet with a little suit to wear during the performances, that matched his real life counterpart.
