My Career as a Theatrical Designer and Puppeteer.
I have just begun to sift through the trunks of sketches, renderings, models and other ephemera from my days as a designer of stage shows. I got my first work right out of Middle School as a professional puppeteer and moved into theatrical work when I met Johnny and Diane Simons and began doing shows with them at the old CASA MANANA PLAYHOUSE in Fort Worth, Texas. This was in 1972.
In 1977 the Simons' along with musician Douglas Balentine formed the now legendary
HIP POCKET THEATRE in Fort Worth. I had pursued my own career as a designer and puppeteer during those years which led me to a stint in Wichita, Kansas for THE TROTTER BROTHERS, mounting full scale puppet productions for nationwide tours and amusement park installations. I kept my hand in at the HIP POCKET long distance, designing puppets and sets and traveling down to Texas to help mount their productions.
Eventually I found myself back among the troupe working full time as Designer, Actor, Puppeteer and whatever else was required as the HIP POCKET moved around Fort Worth performing indoors at the KIMBELL ART MUSEUM and UPSTAIRS AT THE WHITE ELEPHANT Saloon in historic old cowtown on the north side. Summers saw our efforts played out under the stars at OAK ACRES AMPHITHEATRE on the southern rim of Lake Worth.
During the course of all this I designed close to 100 individual shows and rather than consigning all that work to the dustbins now that I have retired, I thought it might be of interest to some and perhaps instructive to others to see how the design process came about. Just how do you go about creating a stage version of WAR OF THE WORLDS for example? Or KING KONG ( long before the megabudget version on tour today, by the way) ?!
I'll be posting my sketches and renderings and some photos from these and other productions I was involved in. If you would like to actually see some of the HIP POCKET THATRE productions just visit http://www.youtube.com/user/HipPocketMemories. There I have posted videos of scenes and complete shows.
James Maynard, 2013
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