The Dragonsail Puppets are a musical comedy ensemble featuring two dogs, a retired cat and a human mammal of mysterious gender but unambiguous style. They began as unadorned escapees from a childhood toybox and immediately started distinguishing themselves by providing dubious art critiques and films about eggs and french culture. It was only when they got set loose in the music studio that the possibility of casting them in a theme-driven situation comedy series began to percolate in my brain.
Now the Dragonsail Puppets sing their songs and hone their comedic craft while sailing the seas aboard the "Club Dragonsail", a huge old whaling vessel that is somewhere along the spectrum between luxury liner and rickety piece of antiquity that should never have been coaxed out of retirement. Upon this war-scarred ship, which Surrenda in her lovingly dismissive tone refers to as their "tugboat", they entertain their "willing captives" —aka patrons who have dared to buy a ticket and take the ride —and dock every so often to regale fans in various ports.
When not on the ship, they busy themselves in their rural hometown running errands at the Pinch-My-Penny or getting styled up at the Color-Me-Crazy Salon, all in preparation for the next leg of their collective journey(s).
It is probably wise to start here. A former street kid and self-described southern classical beauty with impeccable comic timing and a sense of funk whose vocal stylings land her somewhere between Chaka Khan and Ethel Merman, her will is her strongest asset and her hunger for fame, for recognition of her gifts and her innate superiority, might accurately be called ravenous.
Lacking in extensive formal education of any kind, for years she honed her craft at the Hobnail Lounge, a place that could be described as a "booty bar" (according to Bruce). Surrenda, however, counters this assessment, defining it instead as a "respectable establishment...a cabaret club where serious performing artists perform for well-heeled clientele". Surrenda has survived a shoot-out in the parking lot and a smoke bomb hurled onstage during a live performance at this posh facility.
When the club is bought out and transformed into a "Taco Nirvana", Surrenda finds herself unemployed and in a wretched psychological state, until Catatonia comes to the rescue with healing herbs that help her descend into a coma so that she can be surreptitiously snuck aboard the Club Dragonsail. On this ship she continues to work and hone her craft and manages to control her seasickness with Catatonia's herbal concoctions.
Fame as Surrenda would define it, a blend of global adulation and charismatic tyranny, continues to elude her, and so she finds herself unexpectedly doing the unimaginable - establishing actual connections with her compatriots....though this certainly would not have been her first choice.
A retired tenured art professor (and a feline) with a history of performances in the theatrical avant-garde, as well as an extensive expertise on the book "Moby Dick", Catatonia was best suited for the earliest incarnation of the puppets: the art films about eggs, the art critiques, the French Naturalism discussions, etc.
Once Surrenda, with the help of Bruce, literally stole the show out from under her by performing the song "Disco Biscuits" and generating the motor for the musical series, Catatonia found herself at a crossroads. Silently to herself, she no doubt mused that she might now finally fully retire to her condo and spend her days reading and writing treatises for Art in America, attending Parisian museums and art openings, and leave the Dragonsail Puppets for good.
However, much as Surrenda might have enjoyed being rid of her frenemy so she could be the sole queen bee, she stuck her foot in it when she teased Catatonia, saying "aww, are you wondering where you fit in inside the new world order? Heh heh!". Accepting this as a challenge, Catatonia went to work making herself relevant to the new situation, managing to change their location of activity from a bar to a roving ship (whereupon she could entertain fantasies of living the life of a Moby Dick voyager).
This move she could easily justify as a way of also increasing the fortunes of the other puppets by exposing them to audiences all over the world, a justification Surrenda would only, at best, begrudgingly accept.
A young adult dog with the spirit of a pup and a fairly limited range of intellectual pursuits, Bruce has two ambitions in life: to sing and get stoned. Perhaps it might be put more delicately. He has a sanguine disposition that, while it does lend itself to joyfulness and free-spirited boundlessness, can often descend into rather compulsive patterns.
Indeed, Bruce's life is one of being cyclically either torqued up on caffeine or smoothed out on catnip (and other substances), with the occasional alcohol thrown in when he has the opportunity to assist Catatonia in her study of French wines and Kentucky bourbons.
Much as Surrenda would be loathe to admit it, the musical part of her act would only begin to gel once she, with extreme ambivalence, allowed Bruce to sing with her at the Hobnail Lounge. A goofy baritone whose vocal stylings land him somewhere between Tom Jones and Tiny Tim, he, in his unrefined enthusiasm, ironically manages to anchor Surrenda's siren attack.
Luckily for Surrenda, he is devoid of any purpose beyond the momentary joy of singing and being complimented, and so she has found a suitable vessel, if not servant, for the realization of her hard-rocking and ever-so-funky music projects....even as she must occasionally kick him out of his inebriated stupor to make him productive.
At the heart of the enterprise sits little Onree, the young pup just starting out in life and trying to make sense of the world around him... especially the adults in his orbit who exhibit such baffling behaviors.
Catatonia, impressed by his simplicity and goodness and ability to be imprinted, takes him under her mentorship and enrolls him in Civil Disobedience School while educating him about French Naturalism and avidly encouraging his creative pursuits.
Although it is still not certain that her assessment of his intellectual potential is warranted, it is certain that her guidance is a positive force in his life, as he would otherwise have only two dubious major influencers in his development: a perpetually chemically-altered best friend and a conniving diva on a diet of slimming shakes.
Aboard a ship dominated by the interplay of such powerful and often contentiously willful entities, Onree's easy-going and egoless approach to life provides a much-needed grounding for one and all.
So here we have the basic dynamic and all the major players. Now all that's left to be done is to make sure you get your ticket for the voyage aboard the Club Dragonsail. As Onree says, "Merci buttercups!" And as Surrenda says, "Ya'll live in light....or suck it up, bitches!"
