Point Pleasant - The Jim Henson Foundation

The Unitards
P-24
CONTACT
Daniel Fay
402 Graham Ave. PMB 234
Brooklyn
NY
11211
631.796.7568
fay.daniel@gmail.com
danielpatrickfay.com
Project Budget
$13,511
Grant Request
$5,000
501 (c)(3): ThingNY
PAST GRANTS AWARDED
2014 Seed - Point Pleasant
Point Pleasant
Point Pleasant is a musical/puppetry experience based on the legend of the Mothman. The piece uses live feed miniature,
shadow, bunranku puppetry and sound to tell an eerie tale from American Folklore. The show uses movement and
sound as opposed to dialogue to convey the overall sentiment of the tale.
VIDEO SAMPLE
Title:
Point Pleasant highlight
Artists: Daniel Patrick Fay: writer, director and designer; Puppeteers: Amy Rush, Justin Perkins, Charlie Del
Risco, Sarah Jane Mumford, Jessica Simon; Shadow Puppetry: Jessica Lorence; Music and Sound
Direction: Andrew Livingston
Description: March 31, 2014
This is an edited video used as a "trailer." The video was taken from The St. Ann's presentation as
well as the workshop we completed in March.
PROJECT
P-24
Point Pleasant
WestVirginia
On November15,1966,two youngcouplesfrom PointPleasant,
encounterediwhat they describedas a largewinged manwith glowingred eyes.This
would be the first ofmany sightingsofthe creaturethat would be dubbedthe
"Mothman"by localpapers,and usheredin a year of terror for the smalltown. A year
that would not oDIybe markedby severalsightingsofthe creature,but a rashofother
strangenoises,
bizarrephonecalls,
ofaerialphenomena,
strangesightings
"menin black"on the communiq./.
andthe convergence
ofthe so-called
disappearances,
A localreporter namedMary Hire prints the eye-witnessaccountsofthe
Mothman,and other strangereports. While Mary strugglesto keepup with the strange
events,PointPleasant
seemsin thegrip of panic,andhysteria.As the sightings
intensif, and strangereports grow evenstrangerstill, all activity comesto a screeching
halt,when on a cold Decembereveningthe town suffereda greattragedy. For seemingly
no reasonat all, The SilverBridge,the main artery connectingtwo towns separatedby
collapsed
sendingdozensofpeopleintothe
the OhioRiversuddenly,
andunexpectedly
icy depthsofthe river, which would be,the climatic,and tellible end to the supernatural
eventsthat hauntedthe town for just over a year. Wasthe Mothmana messengertrying
to warn the town? An arbiter of destruction?Or a monster bent on the destructionof
the town and its people.
it is sucha strangeand
We focusa greatdealon the Mothmanitselfbecause
beautifulimageand what originallypeakedour interest. Howeverthe pieceis meantto
conveythe overallsentimentof this time, in this specificplace:the fear,sadness,and the
we usedpuppetry,
lackof comprehension.
Duringthe PuppetLab2013performance,
and the terror, and confusion
and soundto dramatizethe reports ftom eyewitnesses,
they must haveexperienced.We'veusedour seedgrant to further developthe piece
further.We'vework-shopped
new scenesin orderto fill in someof the "gaps"in the
pieceleft by the time limitations in our lab presentation.The new scenesfurther convey
thesecomplexemotions.The Mothmanis depictedseveraldifferentways,and used
differentpuppetrydisciplines
depending
on individualaccounts.Somedescribethe
Mothmanasa spiritor ghost,whileothersoffera morecorporealaccount.With the
variety ofways we depictedthe Mothmanwe createdan overall"vibe" to the town and
t h eh y s r e r i a
th a te n su e dw h i chw a slhethr u lineof l.hepiece.
Point PleasantProiectedBudqet: Based on a week run and rehearsalperiod
Puppeteerscompensationfor rehearsalsand pedormance:
$500.00eachx 6 $3,000.00
Musician fees:
$500.00eachx 3 $1,500.00
Directorsfee: $3,000.00
Theater Rental: $2,400.00
Board operator (for week run 5 shows) $300.00
Lightingdesignerfee: $350.00
Sounddesigner:$350.00
Animator: $350.00
Further Puppet building materialscosts:
Materials:
6 EthafoamSheets:$654.00
Styrene:$57.60
4 rollsof 50lb Dacron:$53.00
PVCpipe:$150.00
MachineScrews:$7.90
Lockbolts:$6.95
carvingfoamfor molds:$'140.00
Silicone
moldkits:$209.00
Latex:$240.00
Brushes:
$35.00
4 N.lixing
buckets:$72.45
Shipping
costs:$137.00
Lumber:$124.00
Eye screws:$'17.00
Woodenballs:$18.75
Teflontubing:$74.58
Fabrics:
$164.00
Total cost for Materials:$2,160.63
Contingencies:400.00
TotalBudget: $13,510.63
Bios
puppeteer,designer,director and artist. He has
Daniel Patrick Fay is a NYC-based
puppeteeredwith MabouMines,The SwedishCottage,The PuppetKitchen,The l,one
0pera.Hehas
TandemOtterandTheMetropolitan
WolfTribe,The CosmicBicycle,
performedon illustriousstagessuchasthe BerkeleyRep,ThePublicTheaterandLincoln
Center.He is currently the artistic director at StandardToykraft,a studioand
performance
spacehe co-founded.
Andrew Livingston is a bassist,cellistand composer/soundartist in Brooklyn.He
while earninghis mastersin
andmusicians
studiedwith a bunchofawesomecomposers
musicand
He playsin rockbands,composes
from CUNY.
musictheoryandcomposition
doessounddesigl for theatricalperformances.He hasperformedinternationallyand has
toured and recordedwith Mike Doughty,Toni Childs,ChrisStewa$,Clint Michiganand
variousother bandsand artists. Andrew works frequentlywith localodd ball Piad
music
Andrewis alsoa foundingandfull-timememberofthe experimental
Guyvessant.
group ThingNY.
Unitards is the weird synergytirat happenswhen DanieiPatrickFayand Andrew
Livingstoncollaborate.Overthe last 7 yearsUnitardshaveproducedsomedelightfully
strangeshowsin which puppetryand musicaim to be on equalfooting. Both artists
bring to the table their uniquevoicesin their respectivefields.The resultsrangefiom ,
strange,siily, hauntirigand beautiful.Theyhaveproducedand performedshowsand
TheirshowLandofShadowhastraveledand
puppetinstallations
from hereto Kalamazoo!
donewell both here and below the mythicalMasonDixon Line They are unstoppableand
yet very lovable.
Aboye: Photostakenfrom theSt.Ann'sPuppetLab 2013
Below: Photosfrom our mostrecentworkshopMarch2014Seed
GrantFunded