Atlanta Puppet Press June 2004 The Atlanta Puppet Press The Newsletter of the Atlanta Puppetry Guild April 2005 What's Inside Meeting Information Page 2 Pawpet MegaPLEX When: Sunday, April 10th at 5 PM Page 4 Guild Officer Elections Page 5 Adventures w/Puppet People Page 6 Website / Online Corner Where: Lee Bryan's House Page 7 Puppetry News and Events 1314 LaVista Rd, NE Page 8 Puppet Fest 2005 Atlanta, GA 30357-2937 Page 9 PofA / Puppet News Page 10 Guild Photo Gallery Directions: Page 12 Meeting Minutes Page 13 Guild Information From Cheshire Bridge Road (Tara Shopping Center), count six houses up on the left hand side. You Your Ideas Are Needed! will probably have to park on the street just before (Citadel) and The Atlanta Puppet Press has the walk over since parking is potential to become a great limited. newsletter, but I can't do it alone. You can help by submitting What's Happening: short puppetry related items that would be of interest to other guild ú COVERED DISH SOCIAL - Lee is members. Here are just a few providing ice tea, soft drinks, possible ideas: plates, etc. The deck will be open, so bring a picnic-style main dish or News and Events How-To's side dish or desert to share. Book & Show Reviews Helpful Tips ú OFFICER ELECTIONS - A new guild president and treasurer will If you would like to be a regular be elected. Now is your chance to columnist, there are many topics become even more active in our that you can choose from. Also, if guild! you can draw or paint, I would love to have some original puppet ú NATIONAL DAY OF PUPPETRY related artwork to use in the PLANNING - We'll be finalizing our newsletter. plans for our National Day activities at Centennial Olympic I also need your feedback, so Park on Saturday, April 30th please do not hesitate to let me know what you like or dislike about ú SHOW AND TELL - Bring in the new newsletter. something fun and interesting to share with the group or tell the Please send submissions and group about a puppetry project feedback to you're currently working on. newsletter@atlantapuppetryguild.org and start your subject line with ú PUPPET VIDEOS - Kevin has `APGNL:' brought back some fun and interesting clips from the Pawpet MegaPLEX Convention Puppetry at Pawpet MegaPLEX By Kevin Pittman Orlando, Florida, is the home of many fun attractions and activities, some of which are known around the world. However, it is also the home of a few events that tend to fall under the radar, one being a convention for fans of anthropomorphic animal characters. Before delving into the details of this convention, a description of these unique characters and their fans is probably in order. Anthropomorphic animal characters are based on real animals but have the abilities to reason with knowledge and logic, and to express human emotions and feelings. These characters, known as 'furries' for short, can be found within almost all popular creative mediums. Some well-known examples are Garfield the Cat (comic strip), Kermit the Frog (puppetry), the white rabbit in Alice in Wonderland (novel), and Bugs Bunny (animation). Members of the continually growing furry fandom are known to each other as 'furs'. Most have a personal 'fursona', which can be thought of as a role- playing animal character identity - a concept that likely originated with Internet chat rooms and multi-player games. Many furs are talented artists, and these artistic furs create all kinds of furry artwork, including drawings and paintings, comic books and comic strips, sculptures, puppets (known as `pawpets'), plush animals, and mascot-style animal costumes (known as `fursuits'). Some furs specialize in artwork relating to their specific fursona, while others will work with many different kinds of furry characters. Every year, there are a couple dozen conventions for furry fans held in cities around the country, as well as in other parts of the world. One of these conventions is Pawpet MegaPLEX, which began in 2001 in Orlando, Florida. This year, Pawpet MegaPLEX 4 ran from Friday, March 11th through Sunday, March 13th at its new home in the Sheraton World Resort, and for three fun-filled days, furry fans came together to share artwork, watch comedy shows, and attend workshops on various aspects of furry art and culture. In addition, a local animal rescue group, C.A.R.E., came to the convention to do a presentation with some of the wild animals they have rescued, and attendees raised a total of nearly three thousand dollars in donations for the group. Furry conventions are the perfect places for fursuit makers and fursuit performers to show off their skills. Several organized events, such as mascot games, character golf, and the mascot parade brought fursuiters together for a fun time, but they could also often be seen hanging out in the convention areas and the hotel lobby between events. One of the fun pastimes for fursuiters is to just do general meet-and-greet with anyone who wants to stop and watch. Another kind of performer found at every furry convention is the pawpeteer. A `pawpet' is simply any kind of anthropomorphic animal character puppet, and a `pawpeteer' is one who does performances with pawpets. Many furry conventions will have a small track on puppetry, offering a few puppetry workshops and maybe a show or two. At MegaPLEX this year, instead of having just a track in puppetry, the convention dedicated its entire last day, Sunday, March 13th, to puppetry activities. To top off the fun, the convention invited Henson Muppeteer John E. Kennedy to be their Guest of Honor. Sunday morning of MegaPLEX began with Kennedy leading a special puppet- building workshop which ran concurrently with a pair of half-hour puppet shows performed by Atlanta Puppetry Guild member Kevin Pittman. Throughout the early afternoon, members of the Central Florida Puppetry Guild ran puppetry workshops, which included "Character Building with Hand Puppets", "Costume Design for Puppets", "Mold-Making", and "Marionette Manipulation", which utilized marionettes made from newspaper and duct tape (yes, duct tape can do just about anything). At the Guest of Honor Panel, John Kennedy spoke about his experiences working for the Jim Henson Company, including the very interesting story of the day he first met Jim Henson. Kennedy has worked on a number of Henson productions, including Here Come the Muppets, Sesame Street, Dinosaurs (the TV series), Animal Jam, Country Bears, Muppets Tonight, and the upcoming Muppets Wizard of Oz movie. He usually performs secondary characters, and he also builds and repairs puppets and coordinates puppet sequences. Kennedy has a puppet-building book out right now, titled Puppet Maina, which is available on the web or in larger bookstores. More information on John Kennedy and his book can be found at http://www.puppetkit.com/. After all of the workshop sessions had ended, MegaPLEX attendees were treated to a live episode of the Funday Pawpet Show (http://www.pawpet.org/funday/), which is a two-hour comedy program produced by Orlando area pawpeteers. Every show is a mixture of prepared skits and completely improvised comedy and performed with a primary cast of pawpet characters. Shows are initially broadcast live on the Internet and then made available for download about a week later. For this special show done live at the convention, John Kennedy was invited to join the cast with a wonderful shaggy dog puppet character that he had just recently finished building. While roughly a quarter of the attendees at any furry convention are fursuiters, few ever mix puppetry with costuming. Thus, it was a pleasant surprise when Atlanta Puppetry Guild member Kevin Pittman brought out his costume puppet kangaroo, Roopert, and took him around for a couple of hops through the convention spaces after the Funday show had ended. Roopert is a full-body costume with a mouth puppet style head, performed with one of the puppeteer's arms inside the kangaroos' neck and head. This design allows for realistic control of those features, as well as the ability to lip-sync the character's mouth to a voice provided by the puppeteer. Roopert was so well received at the convention that he came back out for a second appearance that evening. The day of puppetry at MegaPLEX concluded with the biggest activity of all, the Potpourri of Puppets, which began at 7 PM that Sunday night. Hosted by Tony G with special guest host Chupacabra, this two-hour puppet variety show featured performers from both the MegaPLEX convention and the Central Florida Puppetry Guild. Amongst the acts were two banana character skits performed with the help of Guest of Honor John Kennedy, a marionette performance by Ian Sweetman, and a short stand-up puppet comedy skit from Atlanta Puppetry Guild member, Kevin Pittman. Several short puppet films were also screened, two of which, "I'm With You" and "If I Had a Million Dollars", can be found on the Fluff and Such website (http://www.fluffandsuch.com). The Potpourri of Puppets was organized and run by Central Florida Puppetry Guild member Jamie Donmoyer. For more information on Pawpet MegaPLEX, please visit the convention's website: http://www.ppmp.info/. A large collection of pictures from all four MegaPLEX conventions can be found at http://www.thefoxden.com/conpics/. Additional information on the art of pawpetry can be found at http://www.pawpet.org/, and information on fursuiting can be found at http://www.fursuit.org/. 2005-2006 Guild Officer Elections At our upcoming April 10th meeting, the positions of guild president and treasurer will be up for election. If you ever wanted to take a more active role in the way our guild functions, then now is your chance - just come to the April 10th meeting and run for one of these two offices. For those who are not familiar with the duties and roles of our officers, a complete description of all four guild officer positions is provided below. President 1. Preside over meetings or request that the VP do so 2. Set a meeting date at the beginning of the year with the other officers to set the four meetings for the rest of the year and brainstorm for other meeting's agenda a) call members before each meeting and find out what they would like to have discussed at the meetings 3. Make sure that the newsletter is prepared and reaches the membership in a timely manner 4. Appoint the nominating committee chair for upcoming elections 5. Attend the Regional Leadership meeting. a) If there are enough funds in the treasury, traveling expenses may be subsidized within reason 6. Attend National and Regional Festivals or assign another member to represent the guild Vice President 1. Arrange/Coordinate meeting programs a) Call all members and see what they would like and try to accommodate them. b) Come up with interesting ideas on your own. c) Set-up / recruit workshop instructors, seminars or videos. 2. Fill in for the President if needed. Treasurer 1. Collect membership dues 2. Make reminder calls to members owing dues 3. Record paid memberships in guild roster 4. Distribute membership cards to paid members 5. Deposit dues in guild checking account 6. Distribute checks from guild checking account reimbursing expenses made on behalf of the guild 7. Reconcile monthly bank statements 8. Keep up to date and accurate records of guild finances 9. Prepare financial reports as needed (This is needed at least once a year for the end of the year newsletter) Secretary 1. Take minutes at meetings 2. Compile minutes for newsletter 3. Keep an up to date guild roster 4. Write an annual report for the P of A Vice President and Regional Director before the annual business meeting for P of A 5. Keep and archive all of the local guild newsletters My Adventures with Puppet People By Kevin Pittman In November of 2004, I had to go down to Savannah for a Friday meeting relating to my day job. Since I had never been to Savannah before, I decided to take the whole weekend to explore the city and visit a few of its many attractions. The city has many historic sites, including its beautiful riverfront district, but I knew I just could not go to Savannah without visiting the studios of Puppet People and meeting the owner of the company, Angela Beasley. One of Puppet People's specializations is in designing and building mascot- style costumes and costume puppets. This also happens to be one of my specializations, and the real reason I was so eager to visit their studios. I had never met with anyone else who built costumes, so I was really interested in getting an inside look at the workshop of a professional builder. I wanted to see how my techniques compared to those of a professional and I was hoping to maybe even come away with a few new tricks. Angela was happy to meet with me, but warned me that she would be hosting a studio birthday party on the day I was going to stop in. Although she seemed to be tackling a dozen things at once when I arrived (a practice I am all too familiar with), Angela still found time to speak with me, and to my surprise she made me an offer I simply could not refuse. She was short a person and needed someone to perform the dragon costume character that was supposed to appear at the party. In an instant, my studio tour had turned into a golden performance opportunity, and though I did not know it at the time, it had become an audition as well. Now, Angela did not have an actual dragon costume on hand, so instead she had me use her `Dyno-Frog' costume. It had a thick, scaly skin, so it passed very nicely for a dragon, and it was sized for a small person, so it worked well on me, too. I have my own costume-puppet dragon character that I have performed on numerous occasions, so I felt well suited to this particular role. About fifteen minutes later, I as all suited up and waiting in a back room for my cue to go out and make my first appearance. I will admit that I was both nervous and excited as I made my way out into the main room. I was channeling the spirit of a dragon, but feeling it come out more like a swamp creature from a B-rated movie. My instructions were to go for the birthday cake and then let the kids fight me off with their plastic swords. Even though the swordplay did not bother me at all, I think it had Angela a little bit worried. The truth is, I was having the time of my life, as I could not feel very much under all of those scales and I am well used to being roughhoused while in costume. Best of all, I could tell that the kids were having a wonderful time, and that always makes up for the hard work of performing any costume character. After allowing the kids to force me back into my "cave", I took a break and waited for the Angela's puppeteers to finish out the show. Then, Angela brought me out for pictures with the kids, but along the way the kids mobbed me, not to attack again, but to give me a huge group hug. This performance was the highlight of my whole Savannah trip, and it more than made up for the fact that we never got around to doing a full studio tour. Quite naturally, I assumed that my work with Puppet People had come to an end for the foreseeable future, but two days after I returned home I received an email from Angela. She was doing a show the next weekend at Southlake Mall in Morrow, and she wanted to know if she could hire me to be a costume character elf in the show. I think it took me all of thirty seconds to send her back a reply - "Yes!" So, that next weekend I drove down to Southlake Mall and suited up in a sight-unseen puppet costume for the second time in as many weeks. Once again I was improvising, as I was actually using "Paddy O'Furniture", a leprechaun costume Puppet People had made for the popular St. Patrick's Day events in Savannah. The head on this costume was a little loose on me, and it bounced around a lot during the two dance numbers I did, but thank goodness it never came off - that's the worst thing that can ever happen to a costume character performer. After the show I got to walk in the parade to Santa's workshop and then do meet-and-greet in that area. The whole event was an invaluable experience, both in getting to perform the elf character and in getting a behind-the-scenes look at how Angela and her team put together and performed their half-hour holiday show. I do have to wonder, though, if there was perhaps a bit of Christmas magic at play in all this. You see, while I was back stage, I got to meet Southlake's Santa Claus, and I would swear that he was -the- genuine Santa Claus. I have never seen a more natural looking, natural sounding Santa anywhere. Or, maybe he was real - bringing me the most wonderful Christmas gift I could ever hope for. We Have a Website! We Have a Website! We Have a Website! After much delay and redevelopment, the Atlanta Puppetry Guild now has an official website. If you downloaded this newsletter electronically, then you've already visited our site. For everyone else, please stop by our new home on the web and check us out: http://www.atlantapuppetryguild.org/ Amongst our website's features are a current puppetry events section, a guild photo gallery, and member pages. Of course, you'll find all the official stuff, like our background, current officer lists, membership form, and newsletter archive, as well as a section dedicated to our National Day of Puppetry activities. To submit news items, updates, corrections, or suggestions for the website, please contact Kevin Pittman, guild webmaster. If you would like your own information listed in the members section, please go to the following web address and fill out the form: http://www.atlantapuppetryguild.org/memberupdate/ Contact Kevin if you do not have the member password (this is the password used to download the newsletter). Please note that this newsletter, as well as all future newsletters, will be available only on the guild website. If you have bookmarks saved for the old newsletter website, please be sure to update them to the new address. Kevin's Online Corner Yes, my online corner is back once again. While you are online checking out our new guild website, be sure to hop over to my site and read my review of the Center for Puppetry Art's Dinosaurs DVD: http://moonshade.oit.gatech.edu/essays/dinosaurs.shtml Puppet Poll The Question: What is your all-time favorite Jim Henson Company puppet character, and why? This could be from any skit, show or movie that Jim Henson or his associated companies have ever produced. Your Kermit, because he is everyman, or is what everyman should Responses: strive to be. Compassionate and kind, fun loving, intelligent but always ready to learn something new, steadfast in his belief of equality and peace. Kermit is always trying to do "right" while understanding and accepting that he himself may not always be. - Susan Kinney Kermit the Frog, for his appearance here at the Center's opening on Sept. 23, 1978. It was a magic moment for many people and the catalyst for all that's happened here since that momentous occasion. - Vincent Anthony Sweetums. He's a big, full-body character with an Animal- like head and a huge mouth. As a child, I thought he was scary. His looming presence and expressive face with those huge eyes and sharp teeth always kinda creeped me out as a child, but as an adult, I find that it's just those sorts of creepy childhood things that I have the most fondness for! I was also always fascinated with the facial movement of that character, and to this day I would LOVE to have a working Sweetums-esque costume! - Andrew Doss Edi, the gold and purple zebra from Animal Jam. Not the most well-known character, but she taught me soooo much about how expressive a puppet can be. As a newbie puppeteer, I practiced for hours while watching Animal Jam, trying to mimic every move that Edi made and every emotion she expressed: anger, over-confidence, fear, sorrow, disappointment, and gleeful happiness. But most of all, Edi cared deeply about her co-star, Waffle, no mater how stupid and idiotic he would so often act. - Kevin Pittman Miss Piggy of course...need I list the multitude of reasons? She's glamorous, beautiful, smart and she's NO lady! Pigs rule! - Lee Bryan Next Quarter's Puppet Poll Question Has a scene in a live puppet show ever brought you to tears right there in the theater? If so, tell us what the scene was, who the puppeteer(s) was/were, and why were you so moved by that scene. Send your responses to newsletter@atlantapuppetryguild.org You Know You Want to See Your Own Words in Print So write a review of a puppet show or puppetry book, a story about something puppet-related you've done, a how-to guide, or anything else that is puppetry related. Send in pictures with your article to make it even more interesting to read. Don't worry about length - I'm more than happy to edit as needed. I just need something to edit, okay? Please? Please? Pretty please? Thank you! Puppet Fest 2005 It's time to start making plans to get yourself to Minnesota for the Puppeteers of America's 2005 national festival. Puppet Fest 2005 will be held July 24-30 at Concordia University in St. Paul, Minnesota. The performance line-up is just starting to take shape, but it's already a diverse and exciting mix. You won't want to miss "Professor" Glyn Edwards (England), State Puppet Theatre Stara Zagora (Bulgaria), In the Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theatre (Minneapolis), David Syrotiak's National Marionette Theatre (Vermont), Michael Sommers' Open Eye Figure Theatre (Minneapolis), Andrew Kim (Seattle), or a Javanese wayang shadow performance accompanied by the Minnesota Gamelan Orchestra. The festival is slated to open on the school's enormous athletic field house, where an Olympic style `Parade of Guilds' will highlight the opening ceremonies. Don't forget to check the festival website, www.PuppetFest2005.org regularly for the latest festival updates. On the website, you'll also find performance and workshop proposal forms that you can download as well as registration forms. It's not too early to get your registration in. A $150 deposit will reserve your spot. If you have questions or ideas for the festival, feel free to contact me. We'd love to hear from you and we'll look forward to seeing you in Minnesota next summer. Kurt Hunter, Festival Director - director@puppetfest2005.org - 952-920- 7171 Special Intensive Writing Workshop at Puppet Fest 2005 Jerry Juhl, long time head writer for The Muppets, is offering an Intensive Writing For Puppets workshop at Puppet Fest 2005 this summer. This workshop will consist of five sessions where Juhl will focus on helping participants with current projects, covering the topics of character, plot, theme, dialogue, spectacle, and humor. If you are interested in this workshop, you will need to apply by April 22nd. You must submit a ten page typed excerpt of a script you are working on, as well as a two-page description of your plans, hopes, and goals for the finished piece, as well as any specific questions or problems you are having with your script. Also include your name, address, phone, email address, and a short bio paragraph. All writing levels are welcome to apply, as it is hoped that the selected group of ten to twelve participants will have a diverse range of aspects that will make for good group discussion. Send your application materials to workshops@puppetfest2005.org Participants will be notified by June 15th. Email is preferred, but you can mail your application materials to: Shari Aronson, Workshop Coordinator, 3132-16th Ave. So., Minneapolis, MN 55407 Join the Puppeteers of America! Here's just a few reasons to join For more information, please visit the PofA right now: the Puppeteers of America website: http://www.puppeteers.org/ ú Four Puppetry Journals a year, plus the Playboard newsletter If you do not have Internet access, you can also request information by ú PofA Handbook and Membership U.S. mail: Directory, just chock full of useful contact information. The Puppeteers of America, Inc. Joyce and Chuck Berty ú Ability to get group rates for PO Box 29417 liability insurance. Parma, OH, 44129-0417 888-568-6235 ú Discount on items in the puppetry store. ú Access to PofA consultants ú Discounts on registration for national and regional PofA festivals Puppet News and Happenings Lee Bryan has found a very affordable and local source that builds custom sized fiberboard packing cases with metal angles, corners and riveted seams - perfect for shipping shows on airlines by Federal Express. The company is "Bearden and Duke" of Winder, Georgia. Contact Jerry Blackwell at 770- 867-8994 or come meet them at the next guild meeting. PuppetFest MidWest is coming this July 12th through 17th in Trenton Missouri. This is an independent annual puppetry festival presented by puppeteers for puppeteers. Full details can be found on the web at http://www.puppetfestival.org/ Lee Bryan will be doing six performances at Chattanooga's Creative Discovery Museum, March 10th through 12th and two weeks of performances at the Roswell Cultural Arts Center, July 11th through 23rd. He now has long- time good friend and Atlanta theatre profession, Bob Putnam, as a manager and artist representative. Kevin Pittman is really getting out and about this spring. He recently appeared at the Cobb County Easter Egg Hunt on March 26th at Jim R. Miller park, and you can find him and his Forest Friends at the Calvary Kids Fun Fair at the Calvary Children's Home in Powder Springs on April 16th, at the March of Dimes Walk America walk-a-thon around Kennesaw Mountain on April 30th., and at May-Retta Days festival on the Marietta Square, May 7th and 8th. This September, the US Post Office will be releasing a sheet of stamps that features ten Muppet characters plus a stamp depicting their creator, Jim Henson. More information is available at http://www.muppetcentral.com/news/2004/081404.shtml Showing April 2005 through June 2005 at the Center for Puppetry Arts (http://www.puppet.org/) Rumpelstiltskin Downstairs TheaterFebruary 8th through A pril 3rd Br'er Rabbit and Friends Mainstage TheaterApril 5th through June 19th The Anatomy of Melancholy Downstairs TheaterApril 15th through 17th Pamella O'Connor of Asheville, NC Xperimental Puppetry Theater (18 and up only) Downstairs Theater May 19th through 22nd Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs Mainstage Theater June 21st through July 10th State Puppet Theatre Stara Zagora of Bulgaria Guild Related Web Sites Atlanta Puppetry Guild: http://www.atlantapuppetryguild.com/ Puppeteers of America: http://www.puppeteers.org/ UNIMA-USA Website: http://www.unima-usa.org/ Pictures from the PDF version of this newsletter are available in the guild's online photo album: http://www.atlantapuppetryguild.org/photos/ Summary of Minutes of the November Guild Meeting Sunday, November 7th, 2004 ú Attendence: Approximately fifteen members were present at the meeting held at Rosemary Glenn's home. ú Workshops: We discussed having more workshops at our meetings. Members should tell Gregg Wallace what types of workshops they would like to have. ú Guild Logo: Lee reported that he was talking with Wes Duvall, a graphic artist who had formerly worked with the Center for Puppetry Arts about the possibility of getting a new guild logo designed that would better reflect that we are a puppetry guild. ú Show and Tell (See pictures on the previous page) o Jeff Cornett brought in a beautiful hand-made leather puppet that he got in Cambodia o Virginia Petersen brought in a very nice Steve Axtell bird puppet o Lee Bryan brought in the cast from his new show, "Princess and the Pea, Y'all", built by Ray Moore. o Kevin Pittman brought in a monster puppet called `Professor Shaft-em-all' ú Spaghetti: Thanks from all go out to Roesmary Glenn for the delicious spaghetti! Summary of Minutes of the February Guild Meeting Sunday, February 13th, 2005 ú Attendence: Approximately ten members were present at the meeting held at Jeff Cornett's home ú National Day of Puppetry o Jeff reported that Centennial Olympic Park would not be available to us on April 23rd, so if we wanted to hold our National Day celebration there, we would have to move it to April 30th. Those members present agreed to the date change. o We further discussed plans for doing giant puppet workshops and a giant puppet parade for our National Day event. ú Guild Web Site: Kevin Pittman brought in a mock-up of a new website for the guild, which met with good approval from those present. It was decided that Kevin should work with Jeff to get the new website online and operational as soon as possible. ú Next Meeting: The next meeting will be on April 10th. Elections will be held for the offices of president and treasurer ú Show and Tell (See pictures on the previous page) o Virginia Peterson brought in a cute little dog puppet that Lee fell in love with o Jeff brought out an Audrey II puppet that had been used in a local version of Little Shop of Horrors o Evy brought a small brown dog puppet o Bob and Tricia Berrett brought in a selection of animal characters from their shows o Kevin brought in a little pink pig glove puppet he had built for his newest show Are You on The List ? Bob Abdou Phillip Huber Sandy Shuster David Alexander Sara Hendrix Betsy Stark Bob Berrett Akbar Imhotep Walter Stark Tricia Berrett Marilyn Latta Jay Terrell Lee Bryan Gail McKay Gregg Wallace Jeff Cornett Virginia Petersen Evy Wright Carol Daniel Wally Petersen Rosemary Glenn Kevin Pittman Barbara Goltz Claire Ritzler See your name? Thanks for being a paid member of the Atlanta Puppetry Guild! Didn't see your name? You're either a lapsed or prospective member. Please renew or join. It's only $10 for a single membership or $15 for a dual, and it ensures that you'll receive all member communications and privileges. Special Offer - Send $15 for a single or $25 for a dual, and your membership will be effective through April 2006! (Membership year runs May 1 through April 30.) Please make your check payable to Atlanta Puppetry Guild. You can bring it to the next meeting or mail it to 2510 Sunset Drive NE, Atlanta GA 30345. Include a note indicating if you're a current member of Puppeteers of America or UNIMA-USA, and any changes to your contact information (address, e-mail, telephone number). If you have any questions (or if you've paid and your name's not listed), please contact Tricia Berrett at tbberrett@aol.com or 404-633-1575. Atlanta Puppetry Guild Officers President Vice President Treasurer & Lee Bryan Gregg Wallace Membership Director 404-315-1363 greggwallace@compuserv Tricia Berrett lee@puppetguy.com e.com 404-633-1575 tbberrett@aol.com Secretary Carol Daniel Newsletter Editor and ppuppets@bellsouth.net Webmaster Kevin Pittman klp@moonshade.oit.gatech.edu About The Newsletter and the Guild The Atlanta Puppet Press is published four times a year by the Atlanta Puppetry Guild. A new edition of the newsletter will be available approximately one week before each guild meeting. Chartered in 1974, the Atlanta Puppetry Guild is dedicated to bringing together artists, educators, librarians, hobbyists, professionals and everyday people who share an interest in the art of puppetry. Current activities include potluck socials, field trips to view and discuss adult puppetry presentations, occasional workshops, and participation in the National Day of Puppetry on the last Saturday in April. Members receive notifications of meetings, new newsletters, and other local puppetry events via e-mail. They also receive discounts on tickets and in the gift shop at the Center for Puppetry Arts in Midtown Atlanta. The cost of a membership is $10 for an individual or $15 for a dual membership. The membership year runs from May 1st through April 30th. Please send membership application and a check payable to "Atlanta Puppetry Guild" to: Atlanta Puppetry Guild, 2510 Sunset Drive NE, Atlanta, GA 30345 Atlanta Puppetry Guild Membership Form Name/s E-mail Address City, State, ZIP Telephone number (home unless you prefer to be contacted at work; please indicate which number you're listing): Also member of [ ] Puppeteers of America [ ] UNIMA-USA Special interests or other information: