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The Dolly Wagglers puppets performing “The Hard Times of Woody Guthrie.”[/caption]
By Annette Hinkle
The 1930s Dust Bowl era hardly seems like typical fare when it comes to entertaining kids.
But puppeteer Lindsay McCaw has found much about the time period that kids can relate to. Especially through the life and music of Woody Guthrie.
On January 4, McCaw of The Dolly Wagglers puppets will bring her show “The Hard Times of Woody Guthrie” to Goat on a Boat Puppet Theatre in Sag Harbor for a show.
McCaw explains that the show is designed to reflect the era the 1930s through a style reminisicent of a film from the time and consists of a classic booth stage with the puppeteers behind it operating fairly simple puppets.
Key in the show is something she calls a “cranky” — a scroll of sorts that is rolled to create a theatrical or cinematic effect to make the background look as if it is moving.
“I make all the puppets myself,” says McCaw. “The design is not super fancy – paper mache — and they are made in the style of Punch and Judy. Those can be really ornate, but for the most part they are not. They have a lot of character that way.”
“We design the puppets to be humorous. They are rudimentary – cruder, but funnier than what sometimes people think of when they think of puppets. They have a limited color palette, like an old timey picture, and are down home looking.”
But it’s Woody Guthrie who is the real star of the show. In the story of his life, music and passions, McCaw found a great deal of material that appeals to kids. The notion of sticking up for the downtrodden souls one encounters on the road, lobbying for worker’s rights, the humane treatment of others and standing up to bureaucratic corruption and oppression.
“This particular show is kind of an overview of Woody Guthrie,” explains McCaw. “I went back and looked at a lot of his songs, read a couple of his autobiographical books and took snippets of what he wrote of his upbringing.”
“What I was most interested in was finding the songs we wanted to present,” she adds. “Basically the show is an explanation of the things he stood for in a relative chronological order of his life that fit into songs.”
Though he wrote of about very adult problems and issues, McCaw finds that Guthrie’s music is actually quite appealing to children.
“I’m a musician, so I’ve played some of Woody’s songs and I am a big fan,” says McCaw. “As a musician his music is really simple. I appreciated it especially when I first started out, because it’s so easy to play and sing along with.”
Though her skill as a fiddle, guitar and banjo player has progressed greatly and her tastes have changed over the years, in creating this show, McCaw dug deep into Guthrie’s music catalog to find songs that still interested her as a musician.
“A lot of songs are based on old songs. They are great, but not so musically interesting,” she says. “But he does have a handful of songs that are nice and haunting.”
Those include “Pastures of Plenty,” a ballad about people out of work. There’s also the well known “Do Re Mi” and one McCaw calls particularly charming — “Dust Bowl Blues” about being unable to find a home in the world anymore.
Guthrie always wrote quite a few children’s song, including one in which he’s singing gibberish, which opens the puppet show.
“They’re not dumbed down and are totally engaging,” says McCaw.
The show features live music and singing and McCaw adds that her musician friend Aaron Lewis will be on hand to help her out on the instruments while she’ll be behind the booth operating the puppets.
For McCaw, who will soon be going on the road herself in a move from Vermont to Detroit, the highlight of the show is the journey of the Dust Bowl refugees. She explains that Guthrie’s family moved around quite a bit during the era, and as an adult, he became an activities who took up the cause of the Dust Bowl refugees.
“Part of the show is a wild jalopy ride with music through the Dust Bowl,” explains McCaw, who finds that being down and out in life and standing up for a little guy is a theme that is as relevant today as it was in Guthrie’s time.
“He really took up with a lot of different causes in his life. I couldn't even touch all that in one show,” says McCaw. “I focused on his cause for people who couldn’t find work and the unions. We talk about hobos, he says that they’re not bums — they’re people looking for work. He was sympathetic to the hobos and takes up the cause of the union.”
“For me, what we tried to do was cover heavy topics in a light hearted way to get people interested in it,” she adds. “It’s for kids so we describe it in detail.”
McCaw notes that while the puppet show is appropriate for ages 3 to adult, it’s really the older kids who will get the most out of the story of Woody Guthrie.
“I think a lot of people think it’s great we’re covering some political things and trying to explain it in a way that’s not dry,” she says.
“The Hard Times of Woody Guthrie” will be performed at 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. on Saturday, January 4, 2014 at Goat on a Boat Puppet Theatre, 4 Hampton Street, Sag Harbor. Call 725-4193 for reservations.
