Puppet power
By KAREN SHADE, 8/11/2006
"We're raunchy to a certain degree," says PGW creator Andrew Agee, "but there are things you just don't do." STEPHEN HOLMAN / Tulsa World
Andrew Agee's art goes hand-in-hand with outrageous fun
A fleece sack filled with foam, glue and other synthetic stuffings can fill Andrew Agee with either love or hatred.
"I hate these puppets with a fiery passion. I really do," he said, looking a little weary while taking a break from building one of the characters he plans to use in Friday night's back-to-back showings of "Puppets Gone Wild 3-D."
"As soon as you attach the word 'work' to them, it's not fun, so the ones that aren't done -- I hate them ... They better hope I forgive them or they'll get cut (from the show)," he said and laughed.
Agee grinned as he waved toward a group of paunchy little figures that still lacked clothes, eyes or heads.
But then he begins to manipulate one of his "babies," one of the puppets that he has hand crafted and that he will infuse with a spark of life for his show. It's clear that Agee also loves his creations, that he has decided to devote his life to puppetry.
"To make people laugh. The world's so busy, it's nice to have an hour and a half and not worry about what's being said ... just go and hang your whatever at the door."
Whatever you hang at the door, it certainly won't be a coat. For a show like "Puppets Gone Wild 3-D," however, you'll have a better time if you leave harsh judgments outside of the theater.
Inside, you'll catch a show featuring nudity, profanity and unadulterated political incorrectness -- all coming from puppets.
"Basically the puppets are a real chance to say all the things that are going on in your head that you're not supposed to laugh at or you're not supposed to say," Agee said. "Your able with the puppets to say what you're thinking and get away with it."
There wasn't much complaint last year after Agee staged his first "Puppets Gone Wild" show for SummerStage.
The show, with its nothing-sacred approach set to pop and club music, sold out, and he's on his way to another packed house with his latest show for adults only.
Agee said he is finishing the last of his 20-30 puppet pieces and an additional 50 butterfly puppets. There are about 15 main characters, including a passel of potty-mouth misfits, a diva and a group of creatures that resemble Muppet-maker Jim Henson's Fraggles of the "Fraggle Rock" children's TV show.
"I'm very proud of my characters. There's probably about 24 hours at least, in each character between the sketching, making the color palette, how they work," he said.
The characters have their own skits in this variety-style show. But the varieties featured might surprise you: In a skit with the misfit kids, the puppets share in a game of "swear time," during which they berate and belittle one another.
"Their segment is about four minutes long, but the language is horrible. I'm not going to lie," Agee said.
Agee used to stick strictly with children's puppet theater. In fact, many of his recurring characters began as an idea he first formulated when he used puppets in the youth ministry at his church.
But Agee wanted to exercise a different kind of voice, one that speaks to and entertains adults. He admits he wouldn't be able to express some of these things without his puppets.
"I mean, we're raunchy to a certain degree ... but there are certain things you just don't do. A lot of that's shock factor," he said.
"Some of this stuff embarrasses me. I embarrass myself -- 'Oh, my God, I can't believe I'm doing this.' But at the same time ... I don't have any intention of trying to hurt anyone or anyone's feelings, and I think that's the reserved part of me," he said.
Agee's shows entertain and give people something to laugh at, but they also give him a sounding board for his own beliefs on tolerance and acceptance.
"There are different angles out there and there are different beliefs. To say that one is better than the other is total asinine and egotistical," he said.
Agee added that the audience will not need to constantly adjust a pair of cardboard frame 3-D glasses on their faces throughout the evening. While a few special effects skits are planned, Agee acknowledges that his shows have always been in three spacial dimensions.
"Puppets Gone Wild 3-D" is about taking illusion and the craft of puppetry further than he's gone before, he said.
"When I'm at a show, I don't want to see the same thing over and over, especially with a puppet show. Why not get as many characters and as much color and as much puppet entertainment going on at the same time as possible," he said.
If Agee was exhausted a week before his show, he'll be beat after his shows have run at the PAC.
Additional performances of "Puppets Gone Wild 3-D" are scheduled at the Nightingale Theater, 1416 E. Fourth St., in late September.
"It's almost like an oxymoron because everything in the show is taken from a funky angle. And these foam, glue, synthetic fibers, wigs and stuff make all these weird things feel like they're real. That's our job as puppeteers, to make the puppets believable, so you won't even watch the puppeteers," he said.
"... People don't watch me really. They know the puppets more than they know me."
"Puppets Gone Wild 3-D"
When: 7 and 9 p.m. Friday
Where: Charles E. Norman Theatre of the Tulsa Performing Arts Center, Second Street and Cincinnati Avenue.
Tickets: $20-$25, available at 596-7111, the PAC box office and MyTicketOffice.com
Note: The show contains adult content.