Artopia festival with Little Man Monk (this summer in Seattle)

One of those amazing chalk drawings..if you look at it from any other angle (other than this one) the drawing is extremely exagerated and stretched out.

Little Man Monk checkin' out the crowd...this performance was seat o the pants ...Nothing was planned...John Leith and I just went with an open enthusiastic mind!  It was fun, somewhat scary and VERY informative.....

We set up our "Lemonade stand/Dr. therapy advice booth/ Zoltar machine" and had a go at it.

Okay, so, this was my first performance after Freehold Studio Series... We show up and its like 80 degrees and our "spot" was slap dab on the blacktop....did not anticipate this!!! too hot to stand on in bare feet to make him dance(my feet have to be bare to fit in his shoes!) So, some kind soul from the festival brings us a painters drop cloth...yay! very grateful! then I put Little man Monks cloth down in front of the box(so he can dance). Without realizing it I was totally setting myself up for people KNEELING on the cloth and confiding in the Monk Puppet...Here were a few..

"Will I succeed in life????" this was a very genuine inquiry and it was a little bit difficult telling her the puppet didn't talk.   And  then a kid having witnessed her inquiry kneels down...

"Will I get the puppy I want?"..Little Man just looked up at his mother.     My improv skills are not very strong! I tried to be kind and not embarrass them but it actually made ME feel uncomfortable...I don't want to tell fortunes or give advice!!!!!!!!!!!!!  There were others that were too painful to go into. I learned that I can tell the audience their role by how I set the performance up. The audience WANTS you to tell them what to do...it makes them comfortable when they know how they are to participate...of course not wanting them to be "comfortable" is another approach to performing. 

This was the gem of the day...I was close to tears as this little girl interacted with him. The wonder in her face as she tried to discern fantasy from fiction...She asked her mother "What is it?"  Her mother answered, "what do you think?" She looked back at him with furrowed brow and then .....

took his hand and looked deeply into his eyes. ....they became one in an instant.