At Z Puppets. Thanks to Chris and Shari for hosting us again.

Ben opened the meeting, passed around the treat sign-up sheet. We also need presentations and programs for several months, beginning in November.

Wayne announced October 5 meet and greet for the National Festival. This will be held at Open Eye Theatre. The October 5 event will be 4-6 PM. Looking for lots of local help in preparation for the Festival and at the Festival at Concordia University.
Come and volunteer!

Open Forum: more news as we wait for technical difficulties are worked on.

1. Bare Bones annual Halloween Extravaganza. Sunday, October 23, at 7PM or so. Should we plan to meet again as we have done in the past? Sounds like a yes!
2. The TCP has inherited some books and stuff from Jean Jeffers (sp) family. Circuitously the books have arrived via Karen, Paul, and Kurt. Some items may be auctioned off at a future meeting and some may be sold at the Festival in July. Kurt also asked if Z Puppets might want to house the library. Not putting them on the spot.
(Some technical difficulties in prep continue.....more talk about the upcoming October program.)

Now....2 Guys on a Couch! Wayne will be moderating this presentation as Steve is the guest presenter. A lot of banter.......and then...."Hoppy!" With sound.
A great short.....viewed twice.

Now a Powerpoint presentation with banter......how it happened!
Steve shared how he morphed from a 90 minute presentation to the short he has created. 8 puppeteers including many TCP folk. (Chris Fehring, Kurt Hunter, Kathy Tran, Wayne Krefting, Mike Krefting). Many inspirations for the characters, mostly based on the cartoon that Steve drew.
Then came construction of the puppets, based on the character notes that he had made. Many backs unfinished...and the front of the bartender.
Details of rabbit construction...the only puppet with a moving mouth. Some good design and sculpting material advice from Paul. Showed the stuff he used for gluing and construction. And the tools and sculpting materials....some worked much better than others.
Pictures show the progression from basic shape to completed heads. Then the bodies! And the beer bottles and the wine glass....a funnel from Ax-Man.
Close-ups of body construction with hands and arms. Used chop sticks.
Then costuming. And details on the bar. Cool photos of the puppet company from the back, with monitors. 12-15 takes, in about 2 hours. We got to watch the show again!
Steve also brought the puppets so that we could look at them closely. We had the chance to see each puppet in detail.

Break time! During break Felice' became an official member! Yeah!

Show and Tell:
Kurt was down in West Liberty Iowa for the Children's Festival to work with middle school kids creating puppets and skits for the opening of the Slam. He shared a great story about "his biggest fan" including an email chain.
Kim Faurot shared that there is show at the Central Library on Saturday, October 1 at 11:15 AM. All are welcome to see "Mother Goose, the Musical."
Kurt shared that Jeff Neppl has a new building for conversations with his troll Felton at the Ren Fest! Kurt and Kathy enjoyed an interlude with Felton and a female troll.
Kurt and Kathy also saw "Queen" at HOBT last night. A striking production that they recommend.
Meeting adjourned as we have already covered business earlier in the meeting.

Respectfully submitted,
Rosemary Caspar, Secretary