John performs an excerpt from “Magnificent Monster Circus” at the Member Tea Party in October.
Hi everyone! My name is Asa, and I'm the Artistic Intern here at Puppet Showplace Theater this winter. I'm writing to share an insider's perspective on Magnificent Monster Circus, the newest show from CactusHead Puppets that premieres this month as part of the “New Year, New Shows!” series. This show was part of Puppet Showplace Theater’s Incubator Program which supports new work by local artists. I was lucky enough to see a sneak-peek of this fantabulous show at First Night Boston, so I was excited to ask John and Megan of CactusHead Puppets a few questions to find out more about their process.
What were some of your design inspirations?
John and Megan of CactusHead Puppets pose with their Magnificent Monsters.
John: We started with a classic circus design. And then we made it WEIRD!
Megan: We looked at images of classic, old-time circuses, because we definitely wanted that influence in our production design. We wanted friendly, not scary, monsters, so we researched a lot of cartoon-style images. We also looked at various creatures and based some of the monsters on existing animals. Agnes is a four-limbed cephalopod…
John: And Clarissa is kind of an anteater.
Q: How did you develop the talents and personalities of each monster?
J: Very little exact planning went into any of these puppets. We learned a lot about them by building and playing. We knew we wanted them to have different talents based on circus acts. The only one that we didn't know ahead of time was the worm.
M: The worm is made from a pop-up cat tunnel that we found when we wanted to build a monster with a bigger body that would move in a cool way. Now it’s a bit like a lion-taming routine, though the worm’s personality is more like a squirmy baby.
Q: Eustace the Unicycling Unimonster has been part of the show since its earliest performance. Can you tell us a little about Eustace?
J: We kind of just really wanted an adorable unicycling monster. I thought it would be a cool mechanism to work on so it really was design first, character discovery later. He went through a lot of changes; he used to have one eye and no horns, and he was very plain and couldn't focus.
M: A lot of his personality developed as we played with him and had him interact with audiences. He loves to do flips and land in unexpected places. That said, he's a little nervous.
J: He's very confident in his act, but can be spooked by other creatures. With a little coaxing and encouragement, he learns to be brave and try new things.
Q: You've been testing scenes from Magnificent Monster Circus for over a year now. How has the show grown through those test performances?
Megan brings Eustace into the audience during a preview performance at First Night Boston.
M: There's a lot of audience interaction that was developed with test audiences—it's impossible to fully rehearse that kind of thing without the audience there.
J: We originally thought that this show was going to be like a flea circus—that it was going to be miniature and confined to the table top. As we did it with people, we realized the characters could go past into the audience, and that things like kids’ heads and hands could also be performance surfaces. It helped make our small, portable show feel much bigger and made the experience more immersive.
Q: You have been puppeteering together for over 15 years, but this is your first show where only one of you is performing on stage at once. What has your approach been to working together on this show?
Megan performs with the Fiery Fanged Worm
M: It has been a very collaborative effort! There would often be one of us who was more excited and inspired by one monster or another, so that person would take the creative lead on that act, design-wise and also performance-wise. For example, I did a lot of the Fiery Fanged Worm design, but then I handed it off to John, who figured out a lot of the performance aspects. Sometimes we would work independently then we'd meet together and decide what discoveries were worth trying with a test audience.
J: It was weird, I would get super anxious—even though we work together all the time!—because Megan was watching. It is nerve-wracking to perform for your spouse! But it has been a great experience for our company, because both of us are now able to perform this as a solo show.
Q: What are you most excited to share with audiences?
M: We're excited for people to experience what it's like to be a monster caretaker.
J: I can’t wait to share the world that we have made!
I really enjoyed talking to John and Megan and learned a lot about the creation of a new show. I am certainly looking forward to meeting all of the monsters of Magnificent Monster Circus, and how to see you at the show! The performance runs January 11 - 26 at Puppet Showplace Theater. Learn More / Get Tickets.
Intern Asa poses with John, Megan and PST artists at First Night Boston.
