Payson’s First Halloween Festival

A great festival for the whole family. Come dressed up in costume.
Halloween fun and games down town Payson. A safe place to celibrate as a family and community.

 Halloween Puppet Show:
Main Street Puppet Theatre
11:00 am at Peteetneet
$3.00 Children $4.00 adults 

Childrens Fair:
1pm – 2pm Payson Park
Games for kids and prizes
provided by: Friends of the Library, Youth Councel, Peteerneet’s Art Councel, Payson Singels Ward’s, City of Comerse and many more that are joining.

Trick Or Treating:

on the one way street,
Main Street Payson: 1:30 – 6:00pm

Puppets, universally appealing, poke fun, chase one another in hilarious synchrony, argue with authority and communicate clearly with and without words. They confront human fears and conflicts, improvise, problem solve and move audiences to new worlds. Puppets accomplish feats no humans dare try; soaring through the air, swimming the ocean, metamorphosing before our eyes. They seem to listen to one another, feel emotion and think.

Yet, puppets of every variety are inanimate objects until brought to life by the skill of the performer. Then, the puppet becomes an actor and creates the illusion of life through gesture, movement, sound and color. A puppet show is a complete theatrical experience. Audiences of all ages delight in sharing this imagined world.

The size and type of puppet is determined by the concept of the show. Are the characters human or abstract? Is the show designed for adults or children, a large or small stage? Is the script farce, fantasy, folktale? Is the content classical, historical, avant-garde?

Professional puppeteers may animate only their bare hands or found objects, but most often manipulate carefully crafted puppets. Puppet materials include fabric, papier mache, celastic, styrofoam, Pariscraft, wood and metal. Puppeteers continually experiment with new designs and wares.

Here are a few of the more popular styles of puppets:

Marionettes are jointed, often carved of wood, moved by strings and the weight of gravity from a bar structure. Puppeteers manipulate the stringed figures from a bridge above the stage. Marionettes appear in large theater pieces and opera as well as cabaret and children’s stories.

Hand Puppets, designed to cover the hand and forearm, are among the most popular and versatile. Some are simple, crafted from scrap and everyday items. Many are elaborate, boasting meticulously sculpted faces and exquisite costumes. All appear on puppet stages of various sizes and shapes, with backdrops and stage sets, lighting and music. A few puppeteers carry their stages on their backs in informal walk-around shows. Hand puppets are vital tools in education and therapy for children.

Rod Puppets, more easily seen from a distance, are bigger than hand puppets. They are held by a center rod through the puppet. Puppeteers manipulate auxiliary rods attached to long, jointed limbs, which allow for expansive gesture. A popular variation is the combination hand and rod puppet.

Shadow Puppets, originally from the East, are flat, opaque or colored transparent figures, some intricate, guided by slender rods from behind a carefully backlighted screen. Audiences see the magical effects of fluid movement and distorted silhouettes, which heighten the drama. Shadow shows range from intimate children’s folk tales to mammoth screened accompaniments for symphony orchestras.

Puppeteers do not stint in the preparation necessary to create illusion. Puppet sizes and styles may vary within the same show as long as the performance is “of one piece.” To satisfy perspective, shows often feature the same puppet character in a range of sizes, from tiny to life-sized. To make stage business more effective, puppeteers may also create puppets of the same character in different styles even if the character appears for only a few seconds in its new guise. Each of the additional puppets has the same face and costume as the original. Careful attention to detail helps create the magic.

Whether puppets are articulated by hand, rod, string or wire, audiences are enthralled. Puppets, in the hands of master puppeteers, communicate to us, reach to our souls and transport us to their world.

Primitive people animated rocks, branches, bones and roots as three-dimensional representations of animals and humans. Ancient Greek and Egyptian puppeteers manipulated puppets with “Automata” mechanisms. Quicksilver, water, sand and steam changed the centers of gravity of early Chinese figures. India boasted of the “sutradhara,” or “pullers of strings.” Medieval Church services featured the movement of divine images. The Madonna shed tears.

The art of puppetry has a colorful, international past, both sacred and secular. We do not know who was first in a long line of great puppeteers nor puppetry’s exact place of origin. Countries vie for the honor.

Puppets blossomed in many varieties, then cross-pollinated from one part of the globe to another. Shadow puppets moved from East to West. Hand puppets appeared in Spain and France, rod puppets in Germany. Wandering German puppeteers brought puppets to Russia. Puppet knights-in-armor emerged in Sicily. Shakespeare mentioned puppets two dozen times in his plays.

Popular puppet characters spawned heirs who then spoke other languages. Each country placed its own stamp on the indelible characters. Pulcinella, from Commedia del arte, appeared in France as Polichinelle and in Elizabethan England as Punch. Italian Pinocchio followed in the line of succession.

Stock characters, born in the seventeenth century, live to this day in performance in Europe and the United States. Rough and raucous, sometimes violent Punch and Judy shows feature the Doctor, Hangman, Scaramouche, Constable, Officer, Devil, Crocodile, and Baby. The popular Parisian puppet, Guignol shows concern for daily life and brandishes a stick when someone’s rights are threatened. Naples has its own masked, strutting “Little Chicken.”

The eighteenth century found marionettes and puppets housed in permanent theaters in many great European cities. Parodies of opera and drama plus clever comments on current events were featured. Puppeteers, no strangers to adversity, carried their theaters on their backs when the grand performance halls closed. Puppets were and are the most mobile and transportable of all actors.

Throughout history, vivid yet inexpensive puppet performances brought pleasure to young and old in every strata of society. Goethe and George Sand, among many great artists, wrote puppet plays for performance in their salons. In contrast, puppeteers, “passing their hats” in the world of the streets, performed for the joy of it and for courageous religious and political causes. They and their puppets were both praised and persecuted by the authorities, adored by the masses.

Some of the American twentieth-century puppeteers whose genius lighted up the stages were Bill Baird who earned the title of Master Puppeteer, Burr Tillstrom, who created the improvisational television masterpiece: Kukla, Fran and Ollie, Tony Sarg who mounted marionette productions during the depression and created the first Macy’s Day Parade balloons, Ralph Chesse, who was both a famous puppeteer and movie set designer, Remo Bufano, who was a great showman and used giant puppets, Jim Henson who electrified audiences with the Muppets and other remarkable creations, Frank Oz whose contribution to the Muppets and Star Wars is inestimable and who is also a movie director, and Shari Lewis, a phenomenal puppeteer, ventriloquist and author of children’s books. More can be said of the contributions of each of them, as well as their numerous unnamed colleagues.

Puppetry is a living art. Puppet Theaters abound in the New England area. Puppeteers, then as now, devote their prodigious talents to the art. Puppetry is alive and well.

Many tomes have been written on the complexity of puppetry’s past. More will be written on the excellence and challenge of twenty-first century puppetry. The diversity of modern-day performances is staggering. Old traditional tales told from a “conventional” puppet stage are as new as today. At the same time, puppetry has met and conquered the electronic age and invaded every dramatic arena–including theater, movies, opera and television.

Is puppetry the newest profession, as well? Perhaps…. ever changing, creatively reinvented, the art of puppetry continues to evolve. Today’s performances are fresh, modern, avant-garde! On with the show!

Growing up as a pianist wasn’t an easy life. There was lots of practicing and getting your little fingers to move fast. Homework or cleaning the room was always mandatory before playing the piano. When it was time for the piano, engaging both hands at the same time seemed impossible and took a lot of work. 
 
I remember when my parents bought that piano. I was very young.  I remember, at the start of the day, how excited I was to see such a huge thing come up the ramp into the house. Little did I know that eventually one day I would play that piano whenever my grand parents would come to visit. I always had fun picturing myself playing my masterpiece in a huge concert hall.
 
I started taking lessons when I was young. I would go to my lesson, and the teacher would ask me to pass off a few songs. I would always fumble through them. After I made a million mistakes, she would say “Klint that’s not how it goes, try it again.” So I would over and over again until I finally got it right. 

This song just came to me. I woke up humming the melody like it was already writen. Sat down for a break and all the words just flowed like heaven was opened. I am thankful for these times of insperation, and the gifts God gives us. This song is about forgiving others and forgetting there falts. Its all about True Love.

Go to the Calendar page to see where Klint is playing.

Artist Information

Biography

Klint has enjoyed playing music all of his life. Growing up, he played just about anything he could get his hands on. The instruments ranged from piano, kalimba, drums, harp, accordion, to udu clay pots.

All of his music comes through inspiration. “It’s like someone else is using me as a tool. I feel like there is some other force that flows through me.” Inspiration can come at any time. At times, he will be doing nothing more than driving his car while and suddenly musical inspiration fills his mind. He has to pull over and write down the music while it is fresh in his mind.

He started piano at an early age, and has an intense passion for it. He began playing percussion while in the 5th grade, and continued until he graduated from Payson High School. Wile there, he was the Drum Major for the Payson British and Scottish Military Marching Band during his Junior and Senior years. Klint still enjoys playing the Scottish snare drum with a local pipe band in Utah.

Klint plays in community drum circles for youth programs, schools and within the community. Go to the Drum Circle page for more info…

Klint realized another passion when he discovered Puppeteering 6 years ago. Simply put, hell in love with Puppet Theatre. He has performed throughout Utah County and Salt Lake Counties. For more info go to the Puppet page…

“Music is my therapy: writing, practice and performing. When I’m feeling down, music has a way of stopping time. It seems to make everything feel right again. It takes your troubles away when you share your lover of music with others. In high school, I used to play the piano for 5 to 6 hours a day. I would practice the same song over and over. I wondered why each time I played it, the song never felt the same twice. When I play music, it takes me to a different world. I feel like I become a part of the instrument. That is why every time I would play, even if it was the same song, it had a different purpose. I came to the conclusion that God had blessed me with the gift of music.”

“There are people in this world that all have many different needs. When I play, I am inspired to play for whatever their needs are at that time. Even in the same song. You can reach people in so many ways. Music has a magic that touches every one of us in a way nothing else can. Music has a spirit that can reach within, and take us somewhere else. It is different for all of us. “

“I love sharing music.” Visit Klint’s Amazon Album.

Instrumentation

Links  

Calendar Drum Circles Main Street Puppet Theatre Video Photo Press Calendar Magic feather Everest Peace Project Amazon Album

Main Website

Klint Crawford Ring Tones

Klint Kopo Crawford on Facebook

www.klintcrawford.com