| Hi! Here are some details about myself: |
| My name is: |
Michael Hutton |
| I have a home page at: |
comingdawn.blogspot.com/
| Is this Link Broken?
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| My occupation (when I'm not doing puppets!) is: |
Pastor |
| My approximate age is: |
35 - 45 |
| I live in the state of: |
New South Wales |
| ... in the country of: |
Australia |
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| Here's some information about my church or puppetry organisation: |
| My organisation's name is: |
Tamworth Baptist Church |
| My organisation's website is at: |
tamworthbaptist.org.au/
| Is this Link Broken?
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| Some of My Puppetry Background |
| Q: Why do you write puppet scripts? What motivates you? |
| I write Puppet Scripts for fun and because I do a lot of stuff with kids. |
| Q: Tell us about your church or puppet organisation. |
| I work in a great church in a small city in rural Australia. Puppets break the ice when you are trying to take the message of Christmas or Easter to a group of cynical high school students. Puppets also help a presentation meet all ages in the audience. |
| Q: How did you get started in puppets and what attracted you to this area? |
| A friend asked me to help with a puppet show for her christmas lesson in religious education at the local public school. I couldn't see anything, but I could tell the kids loved it. |
| Q: Where does your inspiration come from to write puppet scripts? |
| There are definitely two streams of inspiriation for me: Necessity and Opportunity. Sometimes I sit down and plug out a script because I have to do a kids spot (etc) and really want to use puppets. Sometimes I stumble across an idea (mostly it's steal an idea) and then work and polish that idea into a script. It's great when the two streams come together. |
| Q: What advice would you give to someone just starting out in puppetry? |
| Keep a jornal/file/notebook of ideas and notes. Anything that strikes you or catches your fancy, copy it or write it down. These snippets often make the backbone of a great skit later. |
| Q: Who are your favourite puppet characters and what do you like about them? |
My favourite puppet character hasn't been stitched together yet. He's still in my head. He is an alien who is smart, but dopey about the real world at the same time. He's mischevious and beligerant even scary, but able to learn and ultimately caring. He will have eye stalks that move and a nose that lights up.
My favourite existing character is Rudolph Kringle from Jeff Robson's Christmas, becaue he introduced me to the power of puppets to make kids laugh and listen. |
| Q: What are the most important qualities in great puppet scripts? |
Biblical content - (in the context of Christian ministry) a puppet script must both agree with the Bible and help listeners to understand the Bible.
Humour if appropriate. Drama when appropriate
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| Q: What would you do if you were a puppet? |
| Same as now. Laugh at myself! |
