If Kermit and Miss Piggy make you laugh and some of the family members are too young to see “Avenue Q” on Broadway, you will love the new puppet-filled production of Winnie the Pooh, the Musical. Former West Windsor resident John Maurer was inspired by the puppets in “Avenue Q” and created more than a dozen large-scale professional quality muppet-like puppets for the production opening at Kelsey on Friday, June 1, at 7 p.m. and running Saturday and Sunday, June 2 and 3, at 2 and 4 p.m.##M:[more]##
The creative journey began when Kelsey Theater artistic director Kitty Getlik, recommended that Maurer bring Pooh and friends back to the Kelsey stage. As an actor, Maurer had performed in several productions of “Winnie the Pooh” over the last 25 years, appearing as both Pooh and Rabbit. But he never had a chance to put his personal stamp on the show as a producer until now. Jumping at the opportunity to revisit the Hundred Acre Wood and its inhabitants, Maurer sought a way to make the show fresh and exciting for a new generation of young families. He found his answer on Broadway.
“I’d always loved Jim Henson’s Muppets growing up,” says Maurer, “but I never considered that kind of story-telling tool as an option for the live stage until I saw ‘Avenue Q’.” The adult parody on the Sesame Street television show features actors out in the open operating hand and rod puppets. The technique worked so well that the show won the 2004 Tony Award for Best Musical.
“We are doing the show as Bunraku Puppet theater in the Japanese tradition,” Maurer said. “The puppeteers are not hidden behind walls or under the floor. They are on stage with their puppet. This creates a hybrid performance that blends the actors’ expressions with their puppet characters.”
Inspired by “Avenue Q,” his affection for Milne’s characters, and the creative challenge of it all, Maurer began scouring book stores, e-Bay, Amazon.com, and the Internet in general for any information he could find about the craft of puppet construction. “Books, articles, and videos were consumed, and late evenings were spent building prototype puppets in order to perfect designs and construction techniques,” says Maurer.
Maurer made no less than 14 handmade puppets for the production, each designed to look just like the familiar characters illustrated in Milne’s original stories. It took Maurer and several assistants hundreds of hours over a six-month period to turn piles of foam and fabric into the characters we all know and love. The effort became a journey of discovery for Maurer, a self taught puppeteer, who had to literally teach himself the craft of puppet-making from scratch.
But building professional looking puppets was only half the battle; someone had to operate them.
Finding both adult and child actors who could not only perform well, but also learn the art of puppetry, was a tall order. This was made even more challenging by Maurer’s insistence that the show not be pre-cast. As an actor himself, Maurer continued to insist on conducting open auditions in order to give every interested performer an equal opportunity.
No puppeteering skills were required to audition and the show was promoted to actors as an opportunity to learn a new skill. More than 30 adult and child actors signed up to audition. Each actor was loaned a puppet and asked to audition through the puppet, and bring the puppet to life in both voice and movement.
Sometimes Maurer, with his own puppet in hand, would coach the actors during auditions. He gave director’s notes (especially to child actors) through the puppet, speaking in character and through the motions and gestures of the puppet — an educational technique he later employed during rehearsals.
The show was cast after two days of auditions. To ensure that the actors had the time and opportunity to pick up their new skill, a full 10-week rehearsal schedule was planned — something not often done in children’s productions. Maurer also conducted several puppetry clinics with the cast, coaching them in the finer points of the craft and giving them an opportunity to develop their characters and new found skill.
In his more than 30 years as an actor, director, producer, set designer, and effects wizard, Maurer has built a reputation for staging stories of humor and excitement. “I always liked comedy,” he says. “I rarely do serious drama.”
Maurer was born in Palisades Park and moved to Sherbrook Estates in West Windsor in 1977. He entered Notre Dame High School as a sophomore. “The area was all farmland then,” he recalls.
Maurer became a magician when he was 10-years-old and a paid performer at children’s shows and birthday parties at age 15. “My father was a great audience,” he says. “He would tell me what worked and what didn’t.” His father, who died of cancer a few years ago, worked his way up from a stock boy to executive at Woolworth’s and was still working there when they closed. His mother, Margaret, was a clerk at Woolworth’s. She was a stay-at-home mother and now spends a lot of time visiting the grandchildren. A longtime West Windsor resident, she recently moved to Ewing.
From high school he attended Mercer County College majoring in radio and television. One day a stage manager at Kelsey stopped him in the hall and asked if he could use a follow spot (a powerful lighting fixture used to feature a specific actor) for a show. He agreed to do it and that began his long artistic involvement with Kitty Getlik — now artistic director and manager of Kelsey Theater. Soon after he was offered a part in “Cinderella” as a page dressed in tights and carrying a trumpet. He accepted but when one of courtiers bowed out of the show, Maurer stepped in.
Several years later he became involved with a production of “Company” at Kelsey. One of the crew members, Diana, became his wife in 1992. They are parents to Stacy, 11; Hunter, 9; and Amanda, 5. Maurer has lived in Ewing since 1996. During the day Maurer works as the new media coordinator at New Jersey Manufacturing in West Trenton.
Founders of Maurer Productions OnStage and members of interactive theater company R&R Productions, the couple has also written three interactive plays. They have also co-produced and starred in two original children’s variety shows along with Stacy and Hunter. “Nosing Around with Baked Oranges” and “Nosing Around Circus Style” both premiered at Kelsey.
They also own Standing Tall Productions, an agency that promotes clowns, jugglers, and stiltwalkers for malls and parades. They led Santa at the Market Street Parade in Philadelphia for many years. A longtime member of Screen Actors Guild, Maurer has been in promotional and training videos.
“Winnie the Pooh” features Thomas Martella of Bordentown as Christopher Robin and Toni Campbell of Trenton as Pooh. Actors appearing as Pooh’s colorful companions in the Hundred Acre Wood include Rosie Karlin of Plainsboro as the voice and co-operator of Kanga, a two-person puppet; and Samantha Chapman of West Windsor as Tess the Mouse.
Based at Kelsey Theater, OnStage produces contemporary theater in the form of comedies, musicals, original works, staged readings, and children’s entertainment. The upcoming season includes a children’s production of “The Emperor’s New Clothes,” the Pulitzer Prize-winning comedy-drama “Driving Miss Daisy,” and the big cast dance musical “Singing in the Rain.” — Lynn Miller
Winnie the Pooh, Kelsey Theater, Mercer County Community College, 1200 Old Trenton Road, 609-570-3333. www.kelseytheatre.net $10; $8 children. Friday, June 1, 7 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday, June 2 and 3, 2 and 4 p.m.
