2012 Project List

After speaking with the director of our group, I have decided that this would be a great opportunity to post some of our goals and ideas for the coming year.  These goals will be chronicled in upcoming posts, but I need a way to list them out so that we remember what needs to be done.

These projects are intended to help push the group forward, something we as a group need since one of the main driving factors of our group (namely the Director) is away for a year.

Phase Two Marionettes

Moving from doll accessories, namely the heads, and into real puppet pieces is the next step on our list of improvements.  Wooden or paper mache heads might not be the easiest to complete this year, but it is a necessary step if we are to continue moving in the right direction.  We have to remember that the goal is a worthy production, and we can't expect our audience to take us seriously if we still use heads from scavenged dolls.

Currently, the team has very little skills in wood carving, but I have contacted a friend who is knowledgeable in this area.  If the wood fails, we have our back up plan of paper mache, which, I believe is a period technique that might be able to fit the bill.  More research on this idea will be forthcoming.

A Shadow Puppet Stage

A friend has asked us to create a shadow puppet stage for her event in March.  While this type of project was not necessarily our main focus, it will be interesting to create such a contraption.  Further study and creative ingenuity are required to complete this task on time.

The first step is obviously research.  What would a shadow puppet stage from this culture look like?  What types of materials are needed to make it?  And, obviously the most important question; can it be completed in time?

The Guild

While not as important as some of the other items listed above; creating a guild charter and heraldic device can be considered helpful in the long run.  The director's views are important when creating the defining documents of the guild, and will require constant communication to make sure we get it right.

The first steps are, again, research.  By looking at existing guild charters, we can easily see what is needed in the founding documents.  From there, more information can be added to the document to make it workable for us. 

A guild would be helpful in several ways, most notably by encouraging others to participate in our endeavors.  With more people, we can produce more performances and items and move forward into more period styles of performances and artwork quicker.

Blog d'Arthur Revamp

As we progress further and further into our goal, we have found that the need to stylize and freshen up this blog is important.  We want to be able to communicate what we are doing so that other groups can learn from our experiences.  This involves a clean forum of communication and, dare I say, more pictures.

Some people would say to create a website, however, we are not ready for this monumental task at this time.  We have decided to keep up with the blog style until we have enough research and material to make a truly dedicated website to our process, style, and plans.  What we can do is make the blog more user-friendly.

Expect to see subtle changes soon.

Performance Ready

I won't say that we will have a performance within the next year.  What I will say is that we want to be ready.  This task, divided up throughout this year, includes script writing, tweaking the stage, marionette construction and styling, technical aspects of marionettes and stage, and practicing with the marionettes.  It may seem like a very large list, and trust me it really is, but it is vital to our group to move forward (I think I mentioned this several times before).