Unintentional Significance: A Puppet Show About Everything and Nothing
Featuring Puppets and Puppetry by Sean P. Mette
The Digital Program
Unintentional Significance: A Puppet Show About Everything and Nothing runs 58 minutes.
Thank you for supporting my art by watching Unintentional Significance: A Puppet Show About Everything and Nothing.
Please enjoy learning a little more about the show.
Creative Team Bios
Sean P. Mette (Puppeteer & Puppet Builder)
Sean P. Mette is a writer, actor, and puppeteer. Sean started his professional theatrical career as a touring puppeteer and actor for Madcap Puppets. Since then, he has performed for the Know Theatre of Cincinnati, the Carnegie and OTRimprov, where he is one of the founding members. As a puppeteer, Sean has operated puppets for a few organizations including with CET Public Television as a performer in their $martpath series. In 2018, Sean’s experience in puppetry allowed him to join as an adjunct faculty member of Capital University, teaching a course in puppetry. As a writer, Sean has had several of his plays produced by Autumn Kaleidoscope including “Furlesque”, “The Haunting of William Howard Taft”, “Martha” and “The Bassoonist”. In the past year, two of his plays were produced by Greater Cincinnati area companies: “Silent Scream” by the Carnegie in October 2020 and “Krampus Claus” by the Know Theatre of Cincinnati as part of their Radio Know programming in December 2020.
When Sean is not writing or performing, he is likely creating unique s’more recipes and discussing dinosaurs on his YouTube Channel: S’mores & Dinosaurs.
(Photo of Sean P. Mette and Binky the Monkey taken by Mikki Schaffner)
Autumn Kaleidoscope (Production Company)
Autumn Kaleidoscope creates theatrical performances that aim to be high in quality, well researched, and feature elements of both the familiar and the absurd. Founded by Sean P. Mette to tell the story of a girl wanting to dance in a Burlesque show for furries (“Furlesque”), Autumn Kaleidoscope has been creating art in Cincinnati for seven years. Autumn Kaleidoscope’s newest productions often premiere at the Cincinnati Fringe Festival.
Productions History:
Furlesque (2016 Cincinnati Fringe Festival)
My Darling Dilophosaurus (2017 Cincinnati Fringe Festival)
Billy: The Haunting of William Howard Taft (2018 Cincinnati Fringe Festival)
Martha (2019 Cincinnati Fringe Festival)
The Bassoonist (2020 Cincinnati Fringe Festival)
Unintentional Significance: A Puppet Show About Everything and Nothing
2021 Cincinnati Fringe Festival
2021 KeyBank Rochester Fringe Festival
2022 Pittsburgh Fringe Festival
A Note from the Puppeteer
Everything is significant. Nothing is significant.
On a few occasions after a performance, an audience member has found me with the desire to discuss the performance that they have just attended. Sometimes they want to glean the symbolism presented in the show, ranging from acting choices to costume to set pieces. Yes, as artists, we make certain decisions to allow something to embody a much deeper meaning or truth. However, sometimes, a decision is made purely out of necessity. The entire set needed to be able to fit in a closet. The costumes were donated. The actor had to leave through that door because…there was no stage left.
I will never correct these audience members because, they obviously found a connection that truly meant something to them. They constructed a new way for the performance to become much deeper in meaning that it was intended to be. Why would I ever take that away?
Which brings me to this show. The concept seemed simple: create a show that could be completely open to interpretation. Devise a show that would allow the audience to interpret what they wanted from the show. To create a conversation. A show where everything was significant and, at the same time, allow for nothing to be significant.
Notice, I said that the concept “seemed simple”. The show took months to design and build. As I began to work on certain puppets or scenes, I discovered that what I was creating was no longer to the original concept of the show. Of the original forty-two scenes for this show, less than half survived to the final product. (All is not lost, there is another real good puppet show to be created from the material that was cut that will be presented in the future.)
Admittedly, there was a second, more personal goal for the show. I wanted to perform puppets in ways that I have never performed them before; ways that would not normally work on a traditional fringe stage. This is a long way to say, that I wanted to get things wet and set things on fire. However, like many things in this show, proved easier said than done. The Rain Dragon took weeks to design and build, only to be broken beyond repair on its first film outing (it’s a miracle that we got what we needed). The Firebird (that was not seen in this production) had to be scrapped due to design, construction, and safety concerns. (The test puppets may have started a small fire.)
However, for each set back there are also moments of true joy. The plesiosaur puppet changed truly little from concept to final product. For as simple as the puppet may have been to build, the happiness that it continues to bring me is unequaled. The scene of the plesiosaur playing with me at the end of the show, spitting water on my face was not scripted. That elation on my face is truly genuine and I honestly cannot believe that I was able to capture it.
If you are reading this, you have most likely already seen the performance. Thank you. It may not seem like much, but I deeply appreciate your support. You did not have to see this show, but you did and for that I am eternally thankful.
After viewing the performance, I invite you to think about what you have witnessed. Was there something that made you think? Was there something that made you question? Was there something that made you angry? Was there something that made you smile? I will be the first to admit that I could rattle on about potential underlying symbolisms in this show. However, that does not interest me. I want to know what you think. What did you discover?
A Quick Note About the Puppets
The puppets of Unintentional Significance were all designed and built by Sean P. Mette, with the following exception:
Binky the Monkey
Designed by Jerry Handorf
Built by Jerry Handorf, Lisa Hall and Roberta Webb
Production Galleries
Official Production Stills
Wish you could see that one image from the show again? See if it’s one of the Official Production Stills.
Puppet Portrait Gallery
Meet the cast of Unintentional Significance. Who is your favorite? Is it the Rain Dragon or The Flower Wisp? Find them all here!
Behind the Scenes Gallery
Interested in seeing some images of what it looked like behind the scenes? Check out this gallery the show being built.
An Unintentional Significance Video Playlist
Do you want more Unintentional Significance? Check out the video playlist on the Autumn Kaleidoscope YouTube Channel. New videos will be added throughout the course of the 2021 Cincinnati Fringe Festival, so make sure to check back for more content.
Merci! Danke sehr! Thank You!
We would like to offer a special thank you to the following organizations and people, without whom, this production would not have been possible.
Mary Ann & Brian Mette
