As a dramaturg, I interviewed Dallin Blankenship, the puppet builder and co-designer (along with Production Designer, Kim Wright.)
Shelby:
What was your experience like creating the puppets for this show?
Dallin:
It was interesting! It was a challenge because we were having to design these puppets to both be something you would find, like a found object puppet, but also, as it was sitting on the stage, it had to not draw attention to itself. So for example, for Babe, Kim and I decided a pink purse would be perfect because depending on how you sat it down it could look like just a regular purse and if you pick it up, it would then look like Babe. A lot of that had to do less with the design and more like with the way the actor or puppeteer would perform this puppet. In a way, the idea was always to have the kids go home and pick up objects and start puppeteering them.
Shelby:
How did you decide on designing the other characters in the show with the found object puppetry?
Dallin
I think it was more of looking at them and trying to think about what naturally had the shape, color, form of the character. So Babe largely was decided because these purses that Kim found had a nice round shape that would then translate well into becoming a pig. Initially she was looking at a water bottle but we just couldn’t get it to work: something about it never quite came to fruition to look like a pig. My favorite ones that Kim did were the ducks. She found a combination of a pickleball, clothespin, and a feather duster. There’s not much more to it besides googley eyes. And just naturally, the way she put it together, it just looks so much like a bird. That was the main thing that informed the choices of these found object puppets, in conjunction with a few other things, like what creates the silhouette or the look of the animal or the character. The other indication was always like a lot of humans. If we boil this character down to its basic traits what would be representational of that? For Mrs. Hoggart for example, we chose a sewing kit basket, one of those containers that you put all of your sewing knick-knacks in, because that was consequential to her character and so anything else that we added to it was going to be associated with that sewing box. So yarn, fabric, and stuff to create Mrs. Hoggart.
Shelby:
What was your experience like working with Kim [the Production Designer]?
Dallin:
It was great! Kim’s amazing, it was always like a fun challenge. She was always pushing to do things that were more interesting: she was uncompromising in her vision to create these very interesting puppets that were from ordinary things. And she was constantly talking about the experience she wanted the kids to have so it was great. I really enjoyed working with her.
Shelby:
Why and how did you become a puppeteer?
Dallin:
I don’t know if there was like a conscious thought as much of a general interest. Early on my wife actually took this puppetry class here at BYU, and we were dating at the time, so I was watching her build puppets and it was just very interesting. So I started building with her. Then I got a job at the Provo Library as a story time performer, and because I was there doing these shows for the kids we would need puppets. So I had an excuse to build puppets and this interest grew from that. The thing that has always been interesting about puppets is that it’s a perfect balance of engineering and sculpture. It’s always a fun challenge of how to build something, but then also make it look good.
Shelby:
Do you have a business social media account where people can see your work?
Dallin:
@blankpuppets on Instagram and a website too: www.blankpuppets.com.
Shelby:
Any advice for people who might want to go into puppetry?
Dallin:
Start small, I think. Find the quickest way to make a puppet - design, draw, just do anything. When I was first starting out it was just hot glue and felt. This show proves that anything can be a puppet, so the idea is to just start small and do with what you have around you and build from there.
