The Next Steps for Avian Lumina: Finishing Puppets and Preparing for Rehearsal

Bird in Flight Shadow Puppet

I’m picking up this thread after the amazing collaborative meeting we had in early July. From that meeting, I came away with a list of changes to make to the visual aesthetic of the architecture I had drawn. In particular, I wanted to connect the cityscape—and anything representing a building—to the paper towers introduced in Act 2. That meant

New Cityscape Illustration

adding a new layer and texture throughout the entire piece.

We also rearranged a few things and realized that a whole scene—a complete set of beats—could be cut. Over the next month, I worked through those notes and moved everything into a new Google Slides document. It functions as both the storyboard and, essentially, the script, sunsetting the old spreadsheet which has served us well and got us to this point.

Script / Story board example

That same week, Halena and I made a trip over the Duderstadt and met that team before they went on summer holiday. We sketched in our schedule, talked through some of the technical requirements and made a plan to experiment in August.

Preparing the Projection Content

I began creating what I thought would be the final projector content, with a separate folder for everything that would be projected. When Katie and I began merging those images into QLab alongside the Act 1 sound cues, however, we discovered a file-format problem. I thought I had saved the images as PNGs, but when you save something from an iPad into iPhotos, the default setting converts it back into a JPEG. The JPEGs didn’t retain transparency, and although they were scalable, they could lose resolution. PNG was clearly the better option, so I went back to the beginning and adjusted all the projection content.

For Act 2, as the chaos unfolds, I had been trying to create an animation in which a grungy texture and shifting color palette slowly take over the screen. I began by learning some simple animation techniques in the Dreams app, but the style wasn’t quite right. Then I realized that all I needed to do was open Procreate, listen to Katie’s soundtrack, draw, and make a screen recording of the process on my iPad. I could then bring the recording into simple video-editing software, remove the unnecessary menu drops and selection tools, and control the speed—slowing down or accelerating the image where needed. Using that method, I created a six-minute video of myself digitally painting the “mural” that will be projected during Act 2. There are four separate "splashes" that will pop on when the towers are hit and then fall.

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 I made a test version to show everyone last week, and it went really well. I’m excited to see it in the full piece. There are three moments I have animated using a Flipbook in Dreams which add movement to the screen in moments when the puppets are still, or moments of chaos. I am glad I have the time and resources to add to my toolbox!

Finishing the Paper Towers & Shadow puppets

For the paper Twin Towers, I experimented with using a Cricut machine to cut out the pieces. I probably could have cut six towers by hand in the time it took me to discover that the Cricut wasn’t especially effective for this task. It was clunky, while I could get into a rhythm cutting by hand and complete about two towers in 45 minutes.

I also discovered that the towers aren’t actually being fully destroyed—at least not yet. That means we can have a couple for rehearsal and fresh ones for the performances, but I don’t need to make dozens, as I originally thought. I probably need about eight, and I’m already more than halfway there.

The towers are underway, the construction solution is in place, and last month Alex finished making all the shadow puppets and created a few sample control rods as well. I've been collecting more of the prop elements- phone cords (thanks prop shop!), falling paper, confetti...just need to find or made mini fake tomatoes.

Bringing the Birds to Life

In addition to the direct manipulation Witness puppet, for the finale, there are three bird puppets. We see the birds in shadow throughout the performance, and then they become actual, three-dimensional birds at the end. Because two of them are hand puppets—and because we see the puppeteers’ hands manipulating them—this moment also reclaims the role of the hands. Hands can do beautiful things, not just destroy the paper towers.

Research & Sketches to Develop the 3-D Bird Puppets

I initially experimented with Q-tips, cardboard, elastic, and sticks to figure out the hand mechanism. A few weeks ago, I created a more developed prototype using rattan. I discovered that the central control can rest on a ball positioned between two fingers, while the puppeteer’s pinky and thumb attach to the wings with elastic loops. I also began playing with the scale. I wanted the bird puppets to use the same visual vocabulary as the Witness puppet, so I sculpted the birds faces in clay and used the same paper to create a papier-mâché face. Along the way, I’ve gotten much better at judging how long the rattan needs to soak. In Indonesia, where it’s so humid, you don’t have to soak rattan—it simply bends. Here in the United States, it dries out and can become brittle. Through some trial and error, I learned what happens when it gets too soft or snaps, and I found the sweet spot for bending it into the shapes I need.

My goal was to have one functional puppet—even if it wasn’t painted—ready for our next major meeting with Helena, Jess, and Katie which happened last week!

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At that meeting, we decided that the smallest bird—the baby—will be a marionette.

Because it uses a different mechanism and is smaller, the armature requires different engineering. I covered a foam sphere with papier-mâché and created the body and wings out of rattan. A central narrow rod (AKA a bamboo skewer) supports the central axis and that will lead to the control rod. This idea is based on a rigid wire used in some traditional Czech marionettes. Now that they are painted, everything is coming to life in a beautiful way. The feathers which are made out of strips of painted tyvec (like the Witness's hair) and will be knotted on. Adding the plumage is my biggest job for the next few days.

Testing Everything in the Duderstadt Center

After adjusting the order of events in Act 3 with Halena, Jess, Katie, and I spent two hours in the Duderstadt Center working with the studio team to get everything set up.

We brought the tabletop theater and something called a ButtKicker, which will help create the sensation of the earth shaking. We also tested the video content using the Pico projector and discovered that its frame rate didn’t align with the studio cameras.

The Pico projector is great for rehearsals—and it would be fabulous if we ever toured the piece, since it’s tiny and rechargeable. For the studio’s three-camera shoot, however, the frame rates needed to match, so we decided to use their large projector instead. It provides far more power than we need for a 40-inch projection surface, but the image was incredibly clear and beautiful.

Testing the Lighting & Projections

At first, I was worried because the monitor in the room had terrible color matching. Once I went into the control room and saw what the cameras were actually capturing, everything looked right. The blues were beautiful, and the overall color palette matched my intentions. We established where the table will be placed and checked the positioning and focus of the lights to create some sidelight. Overall, it felt really good. We were prepared, the studio team was prepared, and they are very open to helping us accomplish what we need. We confirmed the schedule and left feeling confident. We may have one more check-in before we return in early September, but everyone keeps saying, “It’s a 15-minute show. I think we’re fine.” And I do. I think we’re fine.

Looking Ahead to the Livestream

This past week I also had to begin preparing the marketing materials. Seating for the performances is very limited, but the piece will be live-streamed three times on September 11. The marketing materials primarily direct people to the livestream site so they can join from wherever they are. I hope people will carve out 15 minutes that day to pause and reflect.

It felt strange to advertise something we haven’t even started rehearsing yet, but that is simply what you have to do to get everything online in time.

Planning a Collaborative Rehearsal Process

Last week I also had a great meeting with Helena and Vera, the student assistant director who is taking on many of the stage-management responsibilities. We met to work through planning and scheduling. Helena is such a wonderful collaborator and collaborative leader. She has extensive experience as a director, creating devised work, especially working with the Neo-Futurists in Chicago. They regularly develop new and autobiographical work with theater artists who hold multiple, hyphenated roles. She has a wealth of experience sharing leadership and clearly establishing, from the outset, how that leadership will work. We now have a mechanism for checking in and making sure we are supporting one another without stepping on anyone’s toes. I deeply appreciate her experience with this kind of process because it is still fairly new to me. I’ve worked on many devised pieces, but always as a costume designer—not as the original creator.

The company starts this Wednesday with our first afternoon workshop when the two student performers join our merry band. Our first four afternoons together—10 hours total—will focus on discovery:

• What can the puppets do?

• What aren’t they doing that they need to do?

• Do I need to add a control rod, string, trick, or differently sized puppet?

• How do our hands work within the space?

• What is the movement vocabulary of the piece?

Act 2 still contains some question marks, especially in the transitions between moments. This discovery period will give us time to explore those sections and figure out what they need. The following week, we’ll move into more formal rehearsals, with five evenings of blocking, running, and stringing the entire piece together. Two of those rehearsals will take place in the Duderstadt Center, which means we can set everything up before the long weekend. We’ll then have two nights of technical rehearsals, followed by a dress rehearsal with cameras. We’ll also capture any B-roll or close-ups we want to include when the final reel is edited. Then, on Friday, September 11, we perform the piece three times. It's going to be an absolute whirlwind- I’m nervous, excited, & proud.

Most of all, I’m incredibly, incredibly, incredibly grateful to be working with these amazing collaborators—and so excited to see this next phase come together.