I have the good fortune to work with a local children’s theater organization Poison Apple Productions in Martinez California, and they were asked to perform Beetlejuice in the new works showcase at the Junior Theater Festival West on Feburary 11th. This 15-minute showcase had highlights from the junior musical theater version of Beetlejuice that MTI will have available for licensing soon. This was performed in Sacramento’s Music Circus Pavilion, a large theater in the round that seats just over 2,000 people. With a theater in the round something like a dragon festival puppet was the inspiration. The goal of the project was to create a large sandworm/snake from Beetlejuice that could be manipulated by several of the dancers, and collaps down to be transported to Scaramento without taking a whole car.
Materials: I was inspired by some of the parade puppets created by the Nelson’s for 4th of July, I knew bamboo poles would be light and ideal for holding up the snake. Rip-stop nylon or parachute material would be lightweight and ideal for as much of the body as possible. One thing I noticed about many of the parade dragons used by novice operators was the dips between the supports and operators. To keep the body round and full looking, my wife suggested dog run tunnels sold for pets or toddlers to run or climb through. Last was my material of choice for props EVA foam. Addition materials included copper welding wire, gaff and duck tape, makeup sponges, insulation foam tubes, pvc, and paint.
Design: I had some ideas about what I would do, but I did some sketches to get a rough design and plan materials. The sketch helped me think through ideas in my head, but helped solidify logistics and ideas, such as how long this could be, and how many people could puppeteer this. Next was creating the pattern for the inner head, and my go-to technique is using clay and masking tape to get the design for flat patterning. I took my sketch, sculpted a version of the inner head, and covered one half in tape. I used a knife and removed the tape and proceeded to lay it out on a piece of paper. Using this I traced the design and scanned that into the computer. I then made a small scale mockup to verify the pattern and made some modifications.
Assembly and adjustments: Pattern, mockup, and middle-school math, I scaled my pattern and made a paper mockup first, then placed that pattern on the EVA foam and cut away. Lessons relearned on this project included be prepare to make changes, and adjustments will likely be needed. Using the dog run saved me the effort of having to engineer an internal support system, so now I could just use the rip-stop nylon for a skin. I also didn’t need to make hoops attached to the pvc for the polls, I could use the internal wire spiral. Also I opened the first of the dog runs I purchased and saw how long it was, checked in with the director, and one 18’ long tunnel was enough, and what I thought would be a 40 foot with 6 people or longer snake/worm became a 25’ long puppet with 4 people. This also meant I needed less nylon.
Adjustment number 2, the tunnel was blue and the white nylon was very thin, doubling layering the nylon helped, but I needed something to disguise the black sripe the held the support wire. So we spray painted the tunnel with outdoor fabric paint. I used EVA foam clay to make the eyes some brow ridges, and smoothly connect the tube insulation lips. PVC pipe made the sheath for the bamboo polls in the body, and I installed an EVA pipe that I used a heat gun to bend to 90° and glued into supporting the head. Due to time and keeping it symple the mouth was also glued in place so it couldn’t open and close. Instead I placed a welding wire inside poly foam for the tongue which gave the head some life and movement. My wife sewed lots and lots of 24”x75” panels together, and she used multiple microtex needles. Using copper welding wire I built the outer head frame that connects to the tunnel/body, and pointy tail. Using some rope and dog leash clips the head and tail connected to the body. We painted and wrapped the bamboo in sports wrap. Last the teeth were makeup sponges glued onto the lips.
The weekend before the performance the teens received the puppet. We walked through how to assemble and disassemble, then how to make a snake move. They then incorporated that with their already planned and choreographed routine to review with the directors from the festival. The following week they practiced and performed the showcase in front of over 2000 kids and families with theater groups from all over. The teens were a hit, and if you watch the video below you can hear the crowd cheer even more when the snake comes on stage.
