Dog Powered Robot took the Orlando International Fringe Festival by storm last year. It began as a short three minute show as part of the Creative Mind Project. The premise of the Creative Mind Project was to have many different artists interpret the same music. I was there opening night since I had edited a short video using my sketches to the music. A small cardboard city cluttered backstage and when Dog Powered Robot made its appearance the audience went wild! They were laughing, screaming and shouting. I had to stay back stage, but I peaked out through the curtains.
Fisher, the dog behind Dog Powered Robot was an instant star.
I went to Evan and Christie Miga’s home where they had set up a mini sweat shop making Dog Powered Robot tee shirts. Doug Berger was dabbing blue silk screen ink on the stencil and using a squeegee to force the ink through the screen onto the shirts. His wife Carla Stanton used a hair dryer to quickly dry the inks and then the shirts were hung from the rafters.In the living room hundreds of buttons were being assembled.
A few days later I returned and the garage had been converted into a robot manufacturing plant. Joey Corcoran was there helping assemble a huge robot. He was using pvc plumbing pipe to create arms which would be maneuvered by the operator like the controls inside a tank. Light flexible tubing hung above the work bench and it blinked brightly with rainbow colors.
The bright pink Lollybot was finished. Her life’s mission is to dispense candy for children. Large blue foam DPR letters stood ready to announce this phenomenon at Fringe. Music is being composed by David Traver for the show with lyrics supplied by Britt Daley. Josh Sales edited the Dog Powered Robot teaser and he is responsible for all the special effects. With the simplest of supplies and plenty of ingenuity, Dog Powered Robot is bound to make a huge splash at Fringe and beyond. A fundraiser is being held at Blank Space (201 East Central Boulevard) on March 10th starting at 8PM. Trust me, you don’t want to miss it.