Village Squire, 1977-03, Page 7performing shows though seldom getting paid much for it.
The nice thing about the grant they are working under now
(besides the pay) Cheryl says is that for the first time they can
take the time to prepare the shows the way they want to. They
can take one month to comfortably put two shows together,
each of about a half-hour's duration. They presently are
performing Hansel and Gretel and Jack and the Bean Stalk.
Getting the show ready includes making the puppets and
their costumes, making the sets for the show, writing the
script and the music and rehearsing the show. That's a lot of
time to give if you aren't getting paid for it.
Puppet theatre is generally less expensive than real theatre
with everything miniaturized and of course, no actors to pay,
but still materials can add up. "The only major expense,"
Cheryl says, "are the backdrops." She likes to work with
fabric rather than painted sets and finds it gives more depth
and texture to the sets.
The couple work well together, each adding their own skills
to the overall success. Few puppet theatres, for instance, can
boast the well-written, excellently performed music that
Richard provides for each performance. He plays it live in the
back of the tiny booth, often providing the voice for a puppet
while Cheryl manipulates it. He was a member of the famed
Perth County Conspiracy group when it recorded for
Columbia records and later for its own Rumour, label. He,
along with Cedric Smith, a one-time resident of the Brussels
area and now well-known as a stage and television actor, were
the founders of the group. So music is a strong part of the
shows, so strong that several of the children at the particular
performance just witnessed, suggested he should record his
music, little knowing he already has.
The couple really enjoy their work as can easily be seen
when they work in libraries and similar intimate settings
where they come out from behind the stage at the end of the
show to play with the youngsters. They have an especially
strong attachment for working with retarded children. They
first worked with the retarded at Huron Hope school and now,
under their grant. are performing for similar groups around
the area. "Our experience with the retarded is that they are
very unique," Cheryl says. They aren't sophisticated and are
in a little world of their own and really tend to let their
expressions come out at a puppet show. The children at
Huron Hope, she says. now greet them affectionately every
time they perform there.
As well as performing for children, the couple also carry on
workshops with them. They're performing a workshop at
present at Exeter Public School with two classes of 30 children
each. They've divided each class into two 15 -person groups
each of which will present a puppet show. Cheryl has been
supervising the making of the puppets and the sets, while
Richard and the school's English teacher help with the music
and the scripts.
Cheryl first got into this kind of work in Hamilton too when
she spent one entire summer at the library setting up
workshops and doing plays for the children.
She first came to western Ontario through visits to Stratford
where she went to the now -defunct Black Swan Coffee House
and met many of the Conspiracy. Richard was originally from
Michigan before coming to the area. They now reside in a
rented farm home near Kirkton although how much longer
they. will live their is not known.
Once the L.I.P. grant is over, Cheryl says, they're going to
have to make some changes. One of the changes is that
people won't be seeing so much of No Strings Attached.
They've decided that it's time Richard went back to his music
for a while to perform, re-establish contacts in the business
and perhaps record an album of his own to be sold by
subscription. While he's doing that there has to be an income
of some kind for the family so Cheryl will likely go back to
work: what kind of work she doesn't know, but it will almost
certainly be with children. She's always liked that kind of
work, now with puppets, earlier with the Hamilton library
system and before that at Thistletown hospital for
disturbed children.
Where the family will live when the time comes isn't
known. She'd like to live in this area still, she says, but it may
be necessary for them to move for her to find work and for
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THE VILLAGE SQUIRE/MARCH, 1977. PG. 5.