Q: What is Goodhearted Entertainment and where is it located?
A: Goodhearted Entertainment is a family-friendly entertainment company owned by Honey Goodenough specializing in puppet shows, magic shows, face painting and balloon twisting. We are located in Boston, MA, but we love to tour and travel. We tour “WORD PLAY,” a literacy based puppet show, and “Sock Monkey Circus,” the ultimate birthday party puppet show with magic monkeys and more! In light of the current health crisis and social distancing precautions, we are offering Zoom birthday parties so families can clown around with Funny Honey, meet Rocko the juggling monkey, and even make some magic from your very own living room! For more information about Zoom parties, contact “Funny Honey” at goodheartedshows@gmail.com.
Q: What are all the roles you juggle besides being a puppeteer?
A: I’m proud to be the resident teaching artist for Puppet Showplace Theater. I’m an artist and also an educator! I teach puppetry residencies in schools to children ranging from 3 to12 years old. I also have a Masters in Educational Theater from NYU. I love teaching and inspiring young artists to create work of their own. Any given week can be very busy juggling all sorts of tasks such as confirming shows with clients, applying for grants, developing new shows, and creating curriculum for new puppetry programs.
Q: How did you get into all these roles?
A: Puppetry is the perfect combination of my three passions: art, performance and education. I love making and creating things people have never seen before, I love being silly and laughing with my audiences, and I believe in giving children a strong early childhood education. The key to a bright future is to learn to love learning!
Q: What do you love most about your job(s)?
A: As they say, “If all your work is play, you never work a day!” I love that I get to invent new ways to delight and surprise audiences of all ages.
Q: How can someone start working in your industry? Are there resources or memberships to learn from mentors?
A: Puppeteers are very generous artists, we love to invite people to try puppetry and love to share information with new artists, regardless of age. I recommend joining UNIMA USA, and Puppeteers of America, these are national organizations that help puppeteers connect with our community. Then attend a regional or a national puppetry festival to connect with fellow artists and to see different puppetry styles. The more puppetry you see, the more you will be inspired to make and create your own work! (Read more about UNIMA on NAME Entertainer’s blog post).
Q: How do you create a character from your puppet?
A: There’s many different ways to develop a puppet character. I like to teach my students the “FIVE P’s of Puppet Characterization.”
- Pitch – Changing your natural tone, either higher or lower is a great place to start when developing a character’s voice
- Pace – How quickly or slowly your character speaks
- Place – Where is your character from? Do they have a fun accent? Do they say Howdy? Hola? or G’Day? or maybe they just speak gibberish?
- Personality – Choose an dominant emotion, is your character Nervous? Shy? Brave? Silly?
- Projection – Choose a strong voice everyone can hear and one you can maintain for long periods of time.
The design of a puppet can help you find a voice for your character, sometimes it’s fun to play against “style” for example having a small puppet with a very deep voice can get big laughs.
Q: Where do you buy your equipment?
A: Most of my equipment is handmade, including the puppets and puppet stages. I also have a bachelor’s degree in costume design from the University of Texas in Austin, so I like to design or alter my costumes and puppets to fit the style and function necessary for the show.
Q: Do adults enjoy puppets as much as children?
A: Absolutely! I create puppetry performances for mature audiences as well. Puppeteers love to create short form puppetry performances for shows called Puppet Slams! Heather Henson, daughter of Jim Henson, has created The Puppet Slam Network and Grant, so Puppet Slam producers can share this unique style of performance. I produce a puppet slam called “Puppet Pandemic”. Puppetry is an infectious art form. Catch the fever on Facebook!
Q: Can you make your own puppets?
A: Yes, indeed. Most puppeteers feel strongly about designing or creating their own puppets. I trained to build marionettes with Phillip Huber, who is a world renowned marionette performer. However when on a tight deadline, I am happy to contract a colleague to help with puppet building and designing. One of my very favorite puppets, Rocko the juggling monkey, was built by a colleague, Brad Shur of Paper Heart Puppets. Rocko and I toured to China to perform “The Sock Monkey Circus” with the AEMI International Clown Comedy Festival in 2017.
Q: We heard you won a grant? Can you tell us more about it?
A: I’m very pleased to share that I have been awarded a Family Grant from the Jim Henson Foundation to develop my next show, called “Stewie’s Magic Hat.” It’s scheduled to debut January 2020 at Puppet Showplace Theater. “Stewie’s Magic Hat” is about a kid named Stewie, who’s grandmother apprentices him to the world famous wizard, The Great Garbanzo! However when Stewie’s magical apprenticeship to the Great Garbanzo fizzles, he cooks up a new plan to follow his true calling. Hilarious hand puppetry, original music, and magical effects combine in this tasty tale of how Stewie learns that the real trick is to find the hat that fits you the best!
Q: How can people reach you?
Visit the company website link http://goodheartedshows.com/ You can email goodheartedshows@gmail.com Go to the Instagram account at https://www.instagram.com/goodheartedshows/ the Facebook Page link https://www.facebook.com/Good-Hearted-Entertainment-1148755855142785/