Here is the cover to Volume One. The book is about to be released to the public. I'm working on planning a book tour and expect to release a Signed Limited Edition. The signed editions will only be available to persons who attend the signing sessions or who become investors in the production. There will also be a silent auction with bidding on the signed Limited Editions of the Constable Warren Garden Gnomes. More on this later. Check the Facebook page and IMS Producing Partners. AG
Here's a shot of a test chassis. You can see the relationship between the head and the body. This head is one of the modified "Gnome-skulls". On this one the neck has not been properly sized for length. This chassis has specially designed joints, which are not going to be used on the Marionettes, but rather on the articulating figurines and the animatronic puppets. The animatronic puppets will be used on the parade float, in the stage sets, and in the cyclorama presentation. I expect to be using mirco-neumatics or hydraulics. More on this later. AG
After watching The Rose Parade and The Mummers yesterday (New Year's Day) I've been thinking about the parade presentation for The Gnomes of New Hope.
Initially, I was thinking about strictly a puppetry presentation on the float, but now I'm thinking of something more.
When we did the parade in Southampton with The Shakespeareans of Tamenend Park, we had different themes each year. Basically, the Shakespeareans worked the crowd, rather than perform a specific show. I thought that would also be the case with The Gnomes. But now I'm thinking that we should make a presentation taken from the Libretto.
So with that in mind, I'm inclined to take a few pages out of Gnome Fest, which rather leads into the festival theatre presentation as well. I was not planning on producing Gnome Fest before we mount the stage musical, but I suppose it might be possible as a precursor to the Grand Openning/Premeire of the musical.
This would required a massive effort, but it might be advantageous to design those elements to integrate as a conjoined effort, yet still maintain the ability to function fully as separate events.
In any event, the first venue/platform is the parade. I have been tossing around the float platform, having designed numerous staging scenarios under which this format might take place. I keep returning to a self propelled parade float. There seems to be a certain size which has a nice presence in a parade.
In my initial effort I had acquired a haywagon that I intended on building into a float. Along with that haywagon, there was a medium-sized truck which I redesigned as a mobile stage. I actually had more than one customer lined up to by the stage if I built it, but it became clear that if I were to sell the modified trucks as a four-unit stage, I would need to use new chassis. So far I have not looked into acquiring new chassis and making the units available for resale. That would have been too distracting from completing the Core Creative Materials of The Gnomes of New Hope.
Unfortunately I lost that haywagon and the flatbed truck when the farm got sold and a lot of my other equipment in storage there got scrapped. I was busy writing the music for The Gnomes and was not informed about the sale in the clean-out. Writing the music was so all encompassing, that I failed to check in for almost a year, during which time the farm got sold and cleaned out. I knew I ran the risk of something happening, but finishing the music was too important to let that stuff get in the way. I tried to locate the equipment, but the farmer departed the area and we could not locate the equipment. Oh well.
So now I have a four-wheel drive Dodge truck I'm considering using as a donor for the parade float. The size of the wheel-base may be an issue. I'm also considering using a Corvair truck as the foundation, but the issue there is the gross vehicle weight. But the beauty of using Corvair is the flexibility of the drivetrain. I might be able to adjust the wheelbase without much difficulty using Corvair. The other alternative to use an International Loadstar. They are plentifully and my big truck is a cab over Loadstar, so I could use the extra parts.
Well, so much to consider.
That's all for now. AG