Thinking about my old Ren Faire Days

It's a long story.


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1977 Renaissance Pleasure Faire Video

Posted by TheDarkGardener, this video shows the St. Audrey's Guild Opening procession.

Sadly, someone chose to dub a random bit of period music in place of the the Opening Song

OPENING

Awake, awake the day doth break,
Good craftsmen open your stall.
Come greet the light,
Shake off the night,
The Faire is open to all!

(If you are turning blue because you are unable to breathe while
singing this, try singing alternate verses with your neighbor.)

Fill in here with complete analysis of the two videos. Basically very poorly filmed scraps of the day. I would think this is what happens when a random per takes a camera to the faire and shoots whatever is in front of him. He records rather than create.

Only material of interest here is the people I could identify.

OH, this explains that:

Uploaded by TheDarkGardener on Jul 21, 2011


Here it is! Unearthed from the pits of the archives. Not only my first Renaissance Faire film but also my very first experience with the phenomenon of a Renaissance Faire itself.

I was part of a four man crew of young film students who shot this documentary at the Renaissance Pleasure Faire in Agoura, California in 1977. It features the (yet to be famous) Flying Karamazov Brothers juggling troupe.

Shot on 16mm film and edited on an upright Moviola (save your trims!).

30+ years later, I'm making Renaissance Faire films again. Huzzah!

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St. Cuthbert Guild

 ST CUTHBERT'S GUILD HANDBOOK

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This stuff needs editing, just ideas:


Saint Cuthbert Guild




About





Sue Honor Guildmaster


The Guild of St. Cuthbert is a group of villagers who gather together to parade through the streets of Port Deptford as well as presenting pageants that celebrate the season. They are known for their midday feast where many of the Port Deptford notables are found dining in their Guild yard. Phoebe, the Merry Widow of Port Deptford always has food upon her table and a story to share with the locals.

Founded in the Fall of 1974, by Don Studebaker a.k.a. Jon Declese as a performing group of the Renaissance Pleasure Faires in Northern and Southern California. 

Our job is to provide people for the Faires’ main parades and major in-house stage shows as well as performing pageants to entertain the visitors. 

The Northern group was originally St. Cuthbert’s Guild, and the Southern group was St. Audrey’s Guild. “Don Jon” was the original Guildmaster of the group and created the structure which we still use today. The second Guildmaster was 

Rosanne Reynolds, who succeeded “Don Jon” after a faire or two. 

Sue Honor took over at the Southern Faire of 1978 and has been Guildmaster ever since.

We are still essentially doing the same job today as when we started. We have added an environmental area to give visitors to the Faires an idea of what life was like during the first Elizabeth’s reign. A lunchtime feast is our specialty, with handicrafts, dancing and singing keeping things entertaining throughout the day.

* A special thanks to Gar Travis, Joe Foley and Tim M. Workman for their generous picture donations. Please visit their websites by clicking on their names.

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New St. Cuthbert Guild site



Not very much info yet.

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St. Cuthbert's Guild Handbook

                   ST CUTHBERT'S GUILD HANDBOOK
                             VER. 1.0
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                             PREFACE

It is the wish of the current editors to stress that our guild's
primary reason for being is to provide entertainment, and, where
necessary, assistance to visitors to the Faire. 

If there were no customers, there would be no Faire.

The Faire is a large stage, and whether we are just wandering about,
participating in a parade, performing during a show, or relaxing in
the areas of the Guild yard visible to customers, we are portraying
citizens of Elizabeth's England at a spring or harvest fair. The
portion of the Handbook covering guild related matters covers this in
more detail. 

The reason for the character development section is intended to
provide a supplement to the workshops, and, as it evolves, future
versions should also provide specific examples to serve as models.

The workshops we attend provide us with instruction in acting
techniques, improvisation, country dance, meet and greet, BFA, songs
of the time, and other topics which are intended to provide us with
the tools needed to be performers at Faire. Hopefully, the character
development section will provide something you can use to provide a
framework tailored to you as an individual in which you can exercise
the tools the workshops teach you. 

Finally, the Handbook should not be viewed as something which is
complete. We encourage all of you to contribute, comment, or just
make suggestions by contacting either Roger Russell or Carl Heinz.
Dame Phoebe, of course, reserves the right to review anything we wish
to add.