{"id":17331,"date":"2025-07-18T09:28:37","date_gmt":"2025-07-18T16:28:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cahighways.org\/wordpress\/?p=17331"},"modified":"2025-07-21T08:40:16","modified_gmt":"2025-07-21T15:40:16","slug":"improv-with-a-hand-up-your-ass-puppet-up-ctg-kirk-douglas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cahighways.org\/wordpress\/?p=17331","title":{"rendered":"Improv With a Hand Up Your Ass | “Puppet Up” @ CTG\/Kirk Douglas"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"\"\"Last night, we had theatre tickets at the KIrk Douglas Theatre<\/a> in Culver City. The Kirk Douglas is the old Culver Theatre<\/a> (where I used to regularly attended horror movies in college with my GF of the time), across from the Culver City City Hall, where we park. As we drove up, we were confronted with a gigantic peaceful protest<\/a> of the Orange One Who Has A Stick Up His Ass About Biden.<\/p>\n

Speaking about things up your ass.<\/p>\n

I then learned while we were having dinner about Stephen Colbert<\/a>. CBS claims it was a financial decision. Sure, when you pay 16 million to the Orange One<\/a>, you have to find the money somewhere. How much does Colbert cost to produce? I’ve heard 15 million. Here’s hoping the Colbert lands on a streamer\/network with guts. Kimmel is also retiring; there’s an opening at ABC, but there’s also Amazon or Netflix. (HBO is out, as they have Oliver; NBC has Fallon; and Fox has no sense of humor). Clearly, Paramount has a stick up their ass<\/a>. Oh, and Trump is celebrating<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Speaking about things up your ass.<\/p>\n

The reason we were in Culver City was to see\u00a0Puppet Up<\/em><\/a>, an improv comedy piece, with puppets, from the son of Jim Henson. Essentially, it is their training ground for Muppet magicians. Anyone can be a puppeteer, but this is the training ground for making the puppets come to life. As Brian Henson explained it<\/a>,<\/p>\n

I was bemoaning the fact that we would train 20 puppeteers and maybe two had the ability to ad-lib. And Mia Sara, who I was dating, said \u201cYou know, you can train that. It\u2019s called improv comedy.\u201d She took me to a Groundlings show, and I said \u201cWow, they\u2019re really good ad-libbers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mia introduced me to Patrick Bristow, who is a world-renowned improviser and trainer of improv, and we started talking about how to get our puppeteers to improv. At first, he didn\u2019t know if it was going to work because improvisors have to watch each other\u2019s eyes all the time to try and read each other\u2019s minds. In the Henson Company, it\u2019s all about the camera. We watch a monitor to see what the puppets are doing. We\u2019d never look at each other.<\/p>\n

We started doing these workshops and what we discovered is that it worked really well. The puppeteers could watch the monitor and read each other\u2019s minds like in improv.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Puppet Up\u00a0<\/em>is what that improv morphed into, over time. There is a host who will solicit ideas and terms from the audience, and these are fit into broad pieces that are improved (for example, the trailer for a movie, or a dating game). If anything, it reminded me very much of\u00a0Freestyle Love Supreme<\/em>, which was an improvised hip-hop show from the brain of Lin Manual Miranda<\/a>. As it is based on improv, the show essentially changes every performance, modulo some pieces (at our show, Business Business and Glowworm) that seem to be regular pieces.<\/p>\n

Memorable pieces from our show included the dating show with a trump-loving conservative tour guide, a vegan, and a man who liked eating pet food; the audience participation bit with a concert pianist; the James Bond movie with Pussywillow; the deli on the edge of the Grand Canyon, and … well, you get the idea.<\/p>\n

Oh, and yes, there are naked puppets.<\/p>\n

With the increasingly bad news coming from the Trump administration, and the news about Colbert, this was just the humor that we needed. Much of the run is already sold out, but if you can find a seat,\u00a0Puppet Up\u00a0<\/em>continues at the Kirk Douglas until July 27. Tickets and more information are available here<\/a>. Puppet Up also has a website<\/a> where you can sign up for their mailing list<\/a>. The show was hilarious.<\/p>\n

Cast and Crew<\/h3>\n

Puppet Up! Uncensored<\/em>. Created by\u00a0Brian Henson<\/strong> and Patrick Bristow<\/strong>. Directed by\u00a0Patrick Bristow<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Cast<\/span> (note: the cast changes every night; see this page<\/a> for the current list)\u00a0at our performance<\/span>: Patrick Bristow\u00a0Host<\/em><\/span>; Bill Barretta; Grant Baciocco; Peggy Etra; Dan Garza; Brian Hensen; Ted Michaels; Kathryn Chinn Molloy; Stoph Scheer; and the Miskreant Puppets. Other performers in the rotation: Raymond Carr; Brian Clark; Ithamar Enriquez Host<\/em><\/span>; Sarah Oh; Michael Oosterom; Ben Schrader; Colleen Smith; John Tartaglia; and Allan Trautman.<\/p>\n

Production and Creative<\/span>: Willie Etra Music Director<\/em><\/span>;\u00a0Dan Kelly Audio Supervisor<\/em><\/span>;\u00a0Jenna Pletcher Lighting Designer<\/em><\/span>;\u00a0 Bishop Rhone Video Supervisor<\/em><\/span>; Kate Russell Video Supervisor<\/em><\/span>;\u00a0Kathryn Molloy Puppet Wrangler<\/em><\/span>;\u00a0Rachel Burson Puppet Wrangler<\/em><\/span>; Jordyn Pritsker Company Manager<\/em><\/span>;\u00a0Cameron Zetty Production Manager<\/em><\/span>;\u00a0Tim Moore Technical Director<\/em><\/span>;\u00a0Joe Witt Associate Producer<\/em><\/span>;\u00a0Brian Henson Producer<\/em><\/span>; WestBeth Entertainment\u00a0Producer<\/em><\/span>;<\/p>\n

Thoughts on One CTG<\/h3>\n

The Center Theatre Groups likes to promote their subscription as \u201cOne CTG\u201d, but that\u2019s not how the treat it internally, and that creates problems. Internally, they treat the single subscription as an Ahmanson Subscription and a Taper Subscription.<\/p>\n

This is significant because they don\u2019t coordinate the two, and because of the size difference between the venues, the subscriptions have different weeks. In our case, we seem to have the first Saturday of Ahmanson shows, and the last Saturday of Taper shows. This isn\u2019t a problem if they stagger the shows right, but in the upcoming 2025-2026 season, there are two conflicts. For two of the dates, our Taper shows and our Ahmanson shows are at the same time.<\/p>\n

If this were truly\u00a0One CTG<\/em>, then CTG would resolve the differences. But this being really\u00a0Two CTGs<\/em>, we\u2019re on our own. The first day you can exchange tickets, its up to you to resolve things with whatever seats are available to exchange.<\/p>\n

ETA: Oh, and it turns out that the first day you can exchange tickets … you can’t, if you are on a payment plan. They don’t bother to tell you this. I had to find out when I tried to do the exchange at the box office at\u00a0Puppet Up<\/em> (because I couldn’t figure out how to do things online).<\/p>\n

CTG, this is poor form. If you want to want to be the best in customer service, you will work to resolve this.\u00a0Broadway in Hollywood\u00a0<\/em>did, ensuring that Dolby Shows and Pantages Shows didn\u2019t leave subscribers with conflicts. You can do better.<\/p>\n

More importantly, if you want people to subscribe, you need to reduce the friction. CTG: Although you are great on parking and accessibility, this ticketing situation is poor customer experience. Subscribers should be easily able to find out their shows, and know that the shows as they come from the box office have no conflicts on dates. As for 5-Star Theatricals, where we’re going Saturday: Parking there — in an empty garage — has gone up to $16, and security is more draconian than going through TSA. This is a large amount of friction — so much that we’re thinking of dropping the 5-Star Subscription after this season and looking into the Rubicon in Ventura.<\/p>\n

Don’t bemoan the fact you are losing subscribers, when you are actively making theatre uncomfortable for the subscribers.<\/p>\n

Administrivia<\/h3>\n

I am not a professional critic. I\u2019m a cybersecurity professional, a roadgeek who does\u00a0a highway site<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0a podcast<\/a>\u00a0about California Highways, and someone who loves live performance. I buy all my own tickets, unless explicitly noted otherwise. I do these writeups to share my thoughts on shows with my friends and the community. I encourage you to go to your local theatres and support them (ideally, by purchasing full price tickets, if you can afford to do so). We currently subscribe or have memberships at:\u00a0Center Theatre Group<\/a>\/Ahmanson Theatre<\/a>;\u00a0Broadway in Hollywood\/Pantages Theatre<\/a>;\u00a0Pasadena Playhouse<\/a>;\u00a0The Soraya<\/a>, and\u00a05-Star Theatricals<\/a>. We\u2019re looking for the right intimate theatre to subscribe at \u2014 it hasn\u2019t been the same since\u00a0Rep East died<\/a>\u00a0(it\u2019s now\u00a0The Main<\/a>, and although it does a lot of theatre, it doesn\u2019t have seasons or a resident company), and post-COVID, most 99-seaters aren\u2019t back to doing seasons (or seasons we like). I used to do more detailed writeups;\u00a0here\u2019s my current approach<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Upcoming \u2666 Theatre \/ \u2663 Music \/ \u25ca Other Live Performance \u2013 Next 90ish<\/em>\u00a0Days (\u2295 indicates ticketing is pending).<\/p>\n