I'm reading Howlin' Hobbit's blog and I discover that he knows Rob D'Arc, formerly of Kid'Stuff Puppet Theater in Riverside, which got defunct by the wise fathers of the city because I don't know why. I think it may have been due to a local trendy restaurant wanting the space.
I met Rob through a mutual friend who ran this sporadically produced variety show. I occasionally performed in this show. Rob did this Kangaroo Rat puppet with the mutual friend. Sometimes, he'd do other puppet schtick as well.
His puppets were always amazingly realized. It was a sad day when his theater was closed. He put a lot of work into it.
The last time I saw Rob, he was doing the K-Rat bit at one of the mutual friend's shows and, during the intermission, he approached me, a little angry, but subdued, and asked me what I knew about something my brother supposedly did to some deal that he was trying to work out with the local Community Players.
I had no idea what he was talking about.
My brother, a talented actor, singer, and director, was a member of the Community Players' board of directors or something and I always got the impression that every decision was democratically arrived at and that every decision was also a frustrating battle that left him and his friends frustrated to the point where, one by one, they quit. Many of the people on the board were very conservative in their tastes and resisted any new ideas or exciting plays.
I appeared in a production at the Community Players and attended one meeting of this board, but never actually joined the group, mainly because being that involved sounded more frustrating and stressful than a hobby ought to be.
So, if Rob had any deal in the works, I knew nothing about it and could do nothing about it. If my brother had any opinion about it, he never told me.
So, just exactly what Rob was angry about I did not know. I told him as much, but he quietly persisted.
I may have walked away. I know the conversation didn't get very far because I couldn't say much about something that was outside my Universe of Obligation.
Anyway, Rob is a very talented fellow and that was the last time I saw him. It look like he is doing well in his new location. I suspect that Seattle is a city with a little more creative yeast in its metropolitan dough.
The other interesting thing is that I asked Pops Bayless of Shorty Long fame to be my friend on Myspace. There are a lot of ukulelists on Myspace, by the way. He sent me a message with the words "Poly High" in the subject. Turns out he was in Poly High school's concert choir with my brother.
I wouldn't be surprised to find out that we have each appeared in a different movie with Kevin Bacon.
11 comments:
I have friends in the Seattle area. What's the name of Rob's show up there?
We have for many years thought it should be 6 degrees of separation of Billy Canary.
donita - Rob is mainly working with his own little puppet company (you can find it at www.planetofthepuppets.com).
He's currently involved with this year's iteration of Drunk Puppet Night. That's what I was writing about in my blog.
Had a game, had a game, polytechnical game,
By the name, by the name, of a technical name,
Poly High, Poly High, Poly High High Low,
Then Kevin Bacon does what he oughta,
and soon there's salty watta...
Me and my arrow,
Straighter than narrow,
Wherever we go,
Everyone knows it's
http://www.planetofthepuppets.com/
I do not have a clue what Rob was talking about. i supported him when ever his name came up. I thought him a local treasure.
Yeah, I don't know if I ever mentioned it to you. It was odd. But it was a Community Platers thing and I think that he felt that the CP's had let him down.
Maybe it was because all the old people running the Players couldn't stand any of the younger peoples ideas?
LOL, Billy = younger people. True enough since the core were all in their 70's and 80's.
Small WOrld! I did A Chorus Line with Bacon in '77!
I made that^ up.
He was just starting out. 17 years old I think. It was at the San Bernardino Civic Light Opera.
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