COMMUNITY THEATER
Huntsville offers anyone interested in community theater many opportunities for involvement. A list of all the theater groups I have worked with is still only a partial list of the active Huntsville theater groups. I have been involved with Huntsville Little Theater, Twickenham Repetory Company, Theater Huntsville (formed when HLT and TRC joined forces), Fantasy Playhouse Children's Theater, Huntsville Community Chorus, Huntsville Community Ballet, and Pointe Station Inc..
My theater work focused mainly on special effects stage makeup, and set design and construction. I rarely appear on stage, but I do like to joke about being the only person ever to receive "best-supporting actor" from Huntsville Little Theater without ever saying a word and without ever being seen on stage... I was the puppeteer for the plants in HLT's 1988 production of Little Shop of Horrors. Chico Perryman, also received "best-support actor" in the same production, without ever being seen on stage. Chico was the voice of the plant.
The plant, which is named Audrey II after the heroine of the play, was actually four different puppets. The first was about the size of your fist. The second was about the size of your head. The third puppet (seen in the photo below) was about 4 feet long from lip tip to stem. The last puppet was about 8 feet long from lip tip to stem.



In 1996 my old high school Alma Mater, Butler High, produced Little Shop under the direction of Mike Chappel. Mike asked me to build a set of puppet for him to use in the production. Below are some photos of those puppets.

Audrey II puppets constructed for 1996 production by Butler High School



Pod 1

Pod 2

Pod 3

Pod 4
In 1999 Theater Huntsville once again presented Little Shop and I got the opportunity to build the puppets and be the puppeteer for this production. In this production Tyrone Sumlin, who has a magnificent baritone voice, was the voice of the plants.

Audrey II puppets constructed for 1999 production by Theater Huntsville
1999-2000 Wings Award for Best Special Visual Effects




Pod 1
(About 8 inches from tip to stem)

Pod 2
(About 24 inches from tip to stem)

Pod 3
(About 5 feet from tip to stem)

Pod 4
(About 10 feet from tip to stem with large tendrals and buds with actors.)


Since doing Little Shop for the first time in 1988 it has become my trademark to hide some representation of the Audrey II plant on every set I build. Click on the image below to see some pictures of the sets I have built and look for Audrey's hiding place.




Click here


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