YOU CAN’T CATCH ME!…… I’m building a Gingerbread Man!

Ahhh, Gingy. For such a small cookie, he sure is a SHREK icon!

Say it with me now: “NO!! NOT MY GUMDROP BUTTONS!”

(Admit it. You just said that in your best falsetto voice. Don’t be proud. You know you did.)

When the prospect of designing this show came around, Gingy was my very first sketch. He seems pretty simple on the surface, right? Who hasn’t seen a gingerbread man shape before? Believe it or not though, this basic design was the source of my first production challenge.

Without getting into too much “legal stuff”, when you pay for the rights to perform a show, certain things are included in the license. You get the script, the score… but not necessarily the likeness of the characters. For example, when Disney first licensed “Beauty and the Beast” for amateur performance, they explicitly stated that Belle couldn’t wear a yellow ball gown in the show. It was iconic, instantly identified with the character… but forbidden.

Hrm. REALLY?

Welp, while annoying, rules are rules and they must be respected.

For this show, things were… interesting. Dreamworks Theatrical has only juuuuust released the rights and, as SHREK is their only “boat in the water” so to speak, I wasn’t sure how strict they were going to be. To be on the safe side however, I started thinking of alternative “looks” for the little guy. A purple gingerbread man?… you laugh. I prepared myself for that possibility.

PICTURED:
Artist’s nightmare Photoshopping from The Land of “What Copyright Almost Begot!”

NOT PICTURED:
Artist softly weeping & slowly rocking in the corner if this had come to pass.

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[music]

An EXCLUSIVE behind the scenes video from the GLOVE Performing Arts Center and PacKay Productions

Meet… PacKay Productions!

“Oh, hey! Welcome to the PacKay Productions studio where we build all of our crazy and wacky characters, including the stuff for this July’s Shrek: The Musical. Before I take you around and show you some of the work we’re doing here, I just wanted to take a quick moment and say thank you so much for donating to the indiegogo campaign. I know that the economy is tight, but every single dollar means so much to us, and supporting the arts is a HUGE part of what PacKay Productions is all about, so… thankyou, thankyou, thankyou, I promise you will get your money’s worth!

That said, it’s time for me to show you some of the stuff around here. Let’s go!”

Founded in 2012, PacKay Productions is a brand new company focused on fantastic family fun through puppet production and performance. Yeah, that’s a mouthful. Let’s make this simple: Packy + Kay = PacKay Productions! As a new company, we are absolutely thrilled to tackle the design challenges presented by a massive show like The Glove’s production of Shrek. Each three-dimentional puppet created for this immense musical has been custom designed and built right here in the PacKay production studio. Everything has been done in-house: from sketch pad to sewing machine to paintbrush to finished product. Our idea is to create a puppet plot that echoes the famous characters without copying them lockstep… for, um… *ahem* legal reasons as much as creative ones.

In a time when computer-generated animation and digital media have become the industry standard, we feel it’s both refreshing and quite important to be a company that focuses exclusively on the “old-school” way of doing things. When you bring your family to the show, you’re immersing yourself in the fantasy, not just sitting back in a movie theater with a pair of funny glasses strapped to your face, attractive as they may be.

We hope you’ll bring your whole family out for Shrek: The Musical, this July at the historic Glove Theater. Come see these puppets in action, plus some absolutely excellent performances from a truly talented cast. We’ll be here, ready to whisk you off to the land of far-far-away… yes, adults, I’m talking to you, too.

Shrek: The Musical

— performances —

July 19, 20, 25, 26, 27 at 8PM
July 21 at 2PM

Tickets:
(518) 773-8255

or via OvationTix

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Greetings you wonderful SHREK backers, you!!

This is Kay again, your friendly neighborhood Dragon and production puppetmaster! Thank you SO, SO much for contributing to our indiegogo campaign over the past month. The $2000 raised is going to make this show a truly memorable & magical evening of theater. I know it gets said a lot, but we really, truly couldn’t have made this happen without your support.

So I suppose now… it’s time to get on with the promised PRODUCTION BLOG, isn’t it?

I guess the first thing I’ll say is that right now our plan is to post 2-3 blog updates per week. Sound like a lot? Well, opening night IS only a month away (whoa!) and we have a LOT of great stuff to share with you between now and then! Don’t worry. If you’re too busy to log in and read an entry the day it’s posted, you can always read the archive later. It’ll be there. This blog has absolutely no time limit!

Even before the fundraising campaign clock reached zero, we were WELL under way creating content for you guys. I have already filmed numerous sitdown interviews with both cast AND crew. Donors at the basic level will have access to a transcript of each interview + pictures. Those who contributed $25 and above? You get the full video experience! (*insert trumpet fanfare here*)

So, STAY TUNED! There’s a LOT more to come…

All My Dragony Love,
Kay

OH!

P.S. – The email that included your blog password already said this, but it’s worth repeating: please, PLEASE don’t share your password with people who haven’t contributed funds to this show! All entries will become public after closing night, but until then, the Production Blog is meant to be something special for you, our backers!

P.P.S. – I also want to quickly mention something since I’ve been asked about this. After SHREK has opened on Friday, July 19th THERE WILL STILL BE BLOG UPDATES until closing night! So, don’t touch that dial!

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