DoPE

DoPE (the Department of Pawpetry Entertainment), is the crew behind the pawpet show at Eurofurence. The show is also known as the LSD Show, as it was originally set at Lionel Scritchie's Dormitory. Despite the drug-refering puns of the acronyms, the only drugs involved in making the show are pure and utter nonsense along with a great love for puppetry.

History

The initiative for the show came from Fairlight, who took his lion pawpet to ConFurence 11 and met TeddyRuxpin of PawPets West, who was organizing the pawpet events at the convention. Fairlight immediately became addicted to puppeteering and organized a short music parody show for Eurofurence 6. Additional puppeteers on that show were Lynard, Eisfuchs and Jaryic. The LSD Show became one of the main events of the following Eurofurences.

Since Eurofurence 8 the stories have been written by Cheetah and Eisfuchs. Cheetah is also the director and sound effect creator of the show.

The following 10 years after the initial parody show, the main pawpeteers and their roles were:

• Eisfuchs (performer and voice of Lori the naïve vixen)
• Fairlight (performer and voice of Poke the big-mouthed and perverted ferret)
• Lynard (voice and performer of Lionel C. Scruffycat the rational lion)
• TaniDaReal (voice and performer of Mika the tough Snow Leopardess) (joined at Eurofurence 9).

Starting with Eurofurence 17, the team decided that the larger stage and audience demanded a change of the show format. The classic hand puppets were retired and new, custom built rod puppets were designed and used in the following shows, which were operated by at least two pawpeteers per puppet. This also meant to part with the old cast of characters in favor of story driven characters on a per-show basis.

Additional long-time puppeteers and stage-hands are FinFarenath, o'wolf, Tigerseye, Xan and Zefiro and many more, listed on the respective show sub pages below. Backdrops have been designed by TaniDaReal. Props, additional puppets and various set elements usually get designed and built by various crew members. The puppet stage manager and assistent director is Reesa who was joined by Zefiro in the later years. Sound and pre-recordings engineer is Jaryic, lights initially were operated and designed by Nightfox, which changed several times in the later years. The crew also includes the Eurofurence video documentary staff under direction of BigBlueFox and additional helpers for scene-shifting, curtain operation and lighting. The show at Eurofurence 11 had more than 20 people on staff. In the meantime this number rose to roundabout 30.

Among the special guests on the LSD Show were Lisanne Norman, Chairo, Uncle Kage and Heather Alexander.

Show Titles

• Lionel Scritchie's Dormitory (Eurofurence 6)
• Medieval Madness (Eurofurence 7)
• F.I.A. (Eurofurence 8)
• Ceška Paradisa (Eurofurence 9)
• The Phantom of the Pawpet-Show (Eurofurence 10)
• Songs of the Old Ages (Eurofurence 11)
• The Hounds of Blackwhite Castle (Eurofurence 12)
• The Unlucky Thirteen (Eurofurence 13)
• Dreamcatchers (Eurofurence 14)
• Operation Desert Snow (Eurofurence 15)
• Ogwambi (Eurofurence 16)
• The Year of the Rat (Eurofurence 17)
• Pompeii (Eurofurence 18)
• End Tide (Eurofurence 19)
• Keepers of the Light (Eurofurence 20)
• Goldeneyes (Eurofurence 22)

External links

• Official LSD Show Blog (archived)