Word: peschka
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Mash Notes. They are all puppets. Manipulated and animated by two men, Francis Peschka and Gordon Murdock, both 50, they have been attracting enchanted, totally devoted audiences at the 24-seat Little Players cheater for over a decade. To most of their fans, the Standwells are far more real than the cardboard actors of Broadway. Mail comes addressed to the puppets: mash notes to Mademoiselle, formal thank-yous to Isabelle, extravagant fan letters to Elsie. Bette Davis used to telephone the theater regularly for reservations, asking for "Miss Lump, please...
Puppeteers Peschka and Murdock first teamed up in 1952, after migrating to New York from Ohio. The Standwells began as a joint hobby-they were first shown to an audience of eight in the living room of Peschka's apartment-and gradually came to dominate both men's lives and careers. Now the Little Players company is a full-time operation. To help keep ;ntact the illusion of a family "at home," no money ever changes hands at the door; all reservations are handled by telephone and check. Season subscriptions, which cost $40, entitle holders to attend each...
...puppet voices-as well as the piano accompaniment for the Stand-wells' singing-come from Peschka. He vocalizes every day to keep his five voices in shape, "otherwise they'll collapse into just one nondescript baritone." A complicated system of tape recordings permits him to sing and play duets with himself. Because Murdock is busy backstage with lights, sound and scenery, only two characters at the same time can appear on the stage. When one exits, Peschka keeps acting with one hand while Murdock hastily strips one puppet off his outstretched hand, puts on another...
Bowles Ballad. It is the extraordinary timing and creation of emotion through character that make Peschka's puppets unique. Explaining his preference for hand-operated puppets over those using strings ("marionettes"), Peschka says, "How on earth can you make emotion travel down a string!" The mannerisms of voice and style and the personalities of the five Standwells are all clearly delineated. Their individual quirks of voice, accent and mannerism permeate whatever characters they portray. Whether portraying a cocotte in a worldly Molnar one-act or chanting a lovelorn ballad in a piece by Jane and Paul Bowles, nobody...
...professional compliment the Standwells ever received was from Director-Choreographer Jerome Robbins. While experimenting with repertory theater in 1967, Robbins bought out the theater one night and invited his cast. He had been impressed by a puppet performance of a scene from Romeo and Juliet; that evening, he asked Peschka and Murdock to repeat the scene, leaving out the words but explaining their puppets' actions and thoughts. When they had finished, Robbins turned and exclaimed to his cast: "That is exactly what I've been trying to get across to you people for months...
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