Biography of a Southern Baptist Puppeteer
by Thomas Manley

I've been in a Christian puppet ministry for about four years, but I feel that it started long before that. Ever since I was a small child, I've loved puppets. Of course, the only exposure I had, up to that point,had been on television, so when I pictured a puppet, I naturally pictured a Big Bird, or a Grover, or a Kermit. At the time I didn't know that puppetry also pertained to shadow puppets, rod puppets, and even animatronics; but at the time, I also didn't care. All I knew is that the puppets on the screen mystified me. All fake fur and cloth, and obviously lifeless, yet they moved so realistically, so gracefully.

I've spent my entire life raised in a Baptist church; and so on Easter Sunday, when I was thirteen years old, I was baptized. I pledged my life to God, and characteristically of new Christians, I searched for a wayto lead others to Christ. I found that my church had a creative arts ministry composed of clowns and puppeteers.

I joined up, and a few weeks later I was at my first performance: The Azalea Festival in Summerville. I said "I was at" rather than"performed" because that's what I did. As the most junior puppeteer, my job was to hand out puppets and to help set up the stage. I wasn't ready yet to actually perform in front of an audience. I never even put a puppet on, but to this day, that was my most memorable gig. You see, where I live, the Azalea Festival is a big deal. People come from all over the country (and some from other countries) to see the sights, to eat the food, to smell the azaleas, and to see the shows. We set up in an open-air amphitheater in Azalea Park. It was great. We drew easily 150 people. Even if you aren't puppeteering, there is no thrill greater than taking part in a great performance. In the weeks following, I practiced puppetry and built up my arm strength. (You try holding a puppet above your head for half an hour!)

The type of puppets we use are similar to the Jim Henson moving-mouth puppets. The puppets have no legs and the arms are moved using arm rods.These are long, slender wires attached to the puppet's wrist, leading down to wooden handles.

Only a couple of the puppeteers own their own puppets, the rest belong to the church. I had a small, boy puppet with spiky hair named "Freddie" assigned to me. I used him exclusively, and thus built up a character for him. His character was more outgoing than I am. He was a wild flirt with little brains and a sarcastic edge.

About two months later I went to my first puppet conference. Organizations like the Fellowship of Christian Puppeteers hold conventions in various churches around the country. These conferences typically last all weekend.There are classes in puppet manipulation, puppet building, clowning, and even interpretative dance. Well, our team (called G.A.L.O.R.E. for Glorifying And Loving Our Redeemer for Eternity) traveled together to a weekend conference in Columbia, South Carolina. I met famous puppeteers and clowns from allover the South and even the country. Well, I had other performances, and I improved in puppetry.

The variety of clowns and puppeteers at the puppet conferences is always great fun!
Merrybow the Clown	Dave Privette	Don Mullins	Buttons da' Clown

Finally, one year after I had started, I had saved up for my own puppet. Our director's wife, Barbara Frasher, has her own cottage industry making high-quality puppets. Since I'm a member of the team, she cut me a deal.And so, I had my first son, a puppet named Jeffie. More elaborate than Freddie, Jeffie has blue skin and fuschia colored hair. Also, he has legsthat can be velcroed on. This allows him to be used for ventriloquism, and also means that his legs won't weigh him down when doing stage puppetry.You've heard about a boy and his dog, right? Well, that ain't nuthing compared to a boy and his puppet. We watched TV together, read together, and I used him exclusively at practice and at shows.

That summer, I also went to my first FCP National Convention. The Fellowship of Christian Puppeteers rents out a college once a year to hold a five day puppet ministry extravaganza. We stay in dormitories, eat in the cafeteria,and go to four classes a day for four days. They have literally HUNDREDS of classes in all. Some classes take only one class period, while some take as many as eight. Also, some classes are only given at certain times, so just about all our team did was plan out our classes for at least aweek before we went. Of course, by the time we got there, we'd all changed our minds about what classes we wanted to take, but that's half the fun! And, in the mornings and evenings, we watched performances by other puppet teams from around the country. Also, after lunch, they had an adjudication. What an adjudication is, is that a team performs, and a panel of judges evaluate the performance. They have several categories: Mime song, Clownsong, Clown skit, Puppet skit, Mime skit, etc. A team can earn either abronze, silver, or gold medal. Our team was still fairly new, so the teams we saw perform just blew us away. Even the bronze teams blew us away! Theyused special lights, strobes, blacklights, pyrotechnics and special puppets.They were awesome!

Well, that was three years ago. Since then, I've changed churches and puppet teams, and I've gone to two other national conferences. This lastyear WE performed at the national conference. Our puppet team earned the silver in the Puppet song category and the clowns earned the gold for their skit. Our director, Nick Frasher (A clown. No really, he's a clown!) Nowinsists on starting each show with' "Here's PROCLAIM, and award-winning ministry of Summit Church!" Our ministry has come a long way. We now use a lot of props and even some blacklight. (It makes fluorescent materialsglow. A puppet in blacklight looks like it's floating.) For this one songwe do, I dress all in black, I wear black gloves and a transparent blackhood. For this song, we use rock-looking puppets (The song is called "Igo to the Rock" by Aaron Jeffrey) and I carry this huge rock puppet. I wear flourescent socks and have strips of cloth pinned down my body. With the blacklight on, I'm invisible and all the audience sees is a largeflourescent rock with long, wobbly legs and feet. It's hard to picture in your head, but the audience is really mystified.

Well, in a few short months I leave for college, and I'll have to leave this ministry behind. I hope to start a ministry in college, and I have some connections set up and I'll just have to see if they pull through.If you live in the Southeast, and you'd like some information on puppetry and clowning, or if you are starting a ministry, and would like some professionals to train your team, write:

K&S Ministries
PO Box 3006
Summerville, SC 29484-3006