Scaredy-Kate & the Monsters -or- How to Pay the Rent
Feature Movie Script by Demian
Logline:
Under pressure from her mother to maintain her academic excellence, and violence from the class bully, Kate retreats into a fantasy world of puppets. While her mother struggles to pay the rent, Kate discovers her own amazing strengths.
Contains a Marionette Opera, with music by Joseph Haydn.
Genesis of “Scaredy-Kate & the Monsters -or- How to Pay the Rent”
There was never a time in my childhood when I didn’t have puppets. I had a Howdy Doody ventriloquist dummy. A Howdy Doody marionette. Hand puppets of Snap, Pop, and Crackle. In my teens, I made a reasonable facsimile of Burr Tillstom’s Oliver J. Dragon (member of the Kukla, Fran, and Ollie TV show).
It wasn’t until seeing Burr Tillstrom’s performance on “That Was the Week That Was,” on NBC's live news revue, via national television in 1964, that I realized just how profound a puppeteer’s work could be.
He presented, with just his hands and a piano accompaniment, a story about the brief lowering of the Berlin Wall. His hands became two people who hadn’t seen each other for a log time, sharing a joyous reunion, and their heartbreak at again being separated, and, finally, outrage at the pointless inhumanity of the Wall. By the end of the piece, I was sobbing.
Professionally, I’ve worked as a puppeteer in a touring marionette company, for 79, hour-long performances. In 1971, I created, directed, and performed in the Dadaist satire “UBU,” using an original translation (by Jim Bierman ) of “Ubu the King” written by Alfred Jarry.
In 1981, I wrote “Scaredy-Kate and the Monsters - or - How to Pay the Rent,” which was inspired by witnessing my downstairs neighbors, a mom and her two young boys, being being kicked out of her apartment, as a result of overdue rent.
“Scaredy-Kate was originally conceived as an all-puppet production and performed for “Bumbershoot” in Seattle, in 1982. It ran 28 minutes, and it was clear that the predominantly youth audiences, loved this story. Steve Bryant and me worked the marionettes in back of a drapery, however, we could be seen by the audience. After two minutes, the kid (and adults) ignored us puppeteers, and followed the action intently.
The music is excerpted from Josef Haydn’s marionette opera, “Die Feuersbrunst” (aka Das Abgebrannte Haus (The Burning House)). It is probably written for the marionette theater at the Esterháza castle between 1776 and 1778. Overture music is from the 5th movement of Haydn's “Trio #4.”
The original show ran with a prerecorded sound track of the actors and professional musicians, however, we were restricted to a single weekend . We rehearsed, and recorded the entire half hour without stopping, twice.
Years later, I decided to make a second recording of Scaredy-Kate, with better recording gear, more musicians, recording more than nine 6-hour sessions, and, had all the editing tools needed to finesse a performance. For both the original and later recordings of the play, the music arrangement and conducting were by Steve Bryant.
Many more years later, I decide to make the original story into the secondary story, with live people surrounding and paralleling the puppet events. This latest version is now in your hands.
Demian, 2021-02-21
