By: Mark Safford

Mark Safford — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 13:45:07 +0000

It seems to me it was early to mid October when Alison asked If I wanted to do this thing again. We took a walk around the power station and met Dan Guinea who walked us around the place I remember climbing up pretty high and taking in the view and thinking it would be great to drop a puppet from the top. Alison and I hashed an initial storyboard and settled on elemental themes in an action -reaction -blessing -ritual, with monologue moment from jack the pumpkin head which was given increased incarnation by Steve Rife’s pyrotechnic punch Julian’s big headed little monster skulls,skull roarers,skullcasters the head of the skeleton bike from the previous year and Amy and Suzan’s spooky shade costumes. The buget was simple a hundred bucks to rent the space for the night. Everything was made out of detritus trash cardboard foam.PVC an old waterbed liner and leaky bean bag chair became the octopus water elemental. two sofa cushions and a plastic garbage bag became an evil beet and carrot (earth elementals ) swallowing up bone meal from the skullduggery moment. A large leaf of cardboard became a wind elemental and Jim Ouray was morphed into a stilted flare clad samurai fire elemental igniting a fire starter tree created by Julian . I recall testing this orange bottled goop on the driveway trying to create a fire trail with Julian and the realization that we might have taken it too close to the garage. I remember Maren’s excitement and desire to stage manage or direct the thing in the future,after the show. Alexis V. with her moody acordian under an umbrella.Ephraim under a very incomplete sheet with a slide whistle as G’way and later C’mere .I have a vivid memory of the initial deliberate disaster of a puppet show with crunch and spooky the fore mentioned oven mitt hand puppets helping to illustrate the concepts of shades and elements of life and death and them getting it wrong and in their frustration setting fire to themselves ,the stage and a fire trail that led to the main performance site except for the rain which was torential and put out the fire trail every three to eight feet. Alison running with a torch to light those bits of the trail unlit .The leaf failing to fall and Jim stilt walking with hot flare plasma dripping from his head. The octopus missing its correct entrance and nearly setting itself on fire as it careened over some torches. Bo cracking ribs because we had never rehearsed the little monsters with the pants that hobbled ones knees. The beautiful etherial shades and the sparks from Steve’s flaming ball and chain. Beautiful chaotic insane gesture. Warm food inside an audience of maybe forty, cast of sixteen. Krista Pearson and Eric Esse waiting for the leaf to fall and Alison and her powerful call releasing a soggy waterlogged drop in a most unimagined moment.

Comments on: 1995 – Skull Duggery

By: Mark Safford