Daily Inspiration: Meet Calvin Lester

Hi Calvin, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I grew up in a small town in the coal fields of West Virginia playing sports and occasionally performing in church or elementary school plays. I spent a lot of time drawing, creating characters, and writing stories or shows. I had been inspired by the works of Jim Henson, Charles Schultz, Walt Disney, and Dr. Seuss. I loved watching films and then seeing how they were made.

My outlet to perform was non-existent due to our high school theater department not having funding. I ended up requesting to write variety shows and plays for the school while roping my friends into joining the cast.

I knew I wanted to be an actor, animator, writer, singer, puppetry… Anything in the entertainment industry. I loved the idea of performing and bringing a fun experience to audiences. I went to college thinking I would go into Psychology if my performance career wasn’t a true option.

Then in 2005, I had the opportunity to audition for the Muppets and Sesame Street. I had very little puppeteering experience but knew I could act through the characters vocally. I was kept for workshops and able to learn puppetry techniques from Muppet performers Kevin Clash and Tyler Bunch. I would be asked to come participate in some productions as a puppet assist.

From there, I showed some of my drawings of my characters to other puppeteers. They told me to turn these characters into puppet characters and grow from there. Within that same time frame, I auditioned for the Walt Disney Company and got a job as a puppeteer/performer at the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida.

I met a lot of other talented puppeteers at stages like “Voyage of the Little Mermaid”, “Bear in the Big Blue House”, and “Festival of the Lion King”. We bonded and slowly one of my ideas “Bird Call” became a reality with a troupe of performers I had met while at Disney. I created Bird Call in 2002 at the age of 15. But by 2005 it had evolved and gained a talented crew. The series is meant for an all ages audience. Our stories push diversity among the feathered flock.

“Bird Call” has been part of many charity organizations performing shows to raise money all throughout Central Florida as well as New York and parts of the UK. We also spent a lot of time over the years visiting kids and families in the Florida Hospital at the Walt Disney Pavilion.

We toured a series of shows to underprivileged schools to promote literacy in Florida and Illinois. Within the past two years, “Bird Call” connected with audiences in live streams during the COVID pandemic by reading stories live, playing trivia, or performing shows from home. We were asked to appear and perform in Lake Nona, Florida for their 4th of July parade and two Christmas parades. We built original floats that featured the cast singing and talking from the float to the crowds. In 2018 “Bird Call” was featured in an article for the Puppeteer’s of America magazine “Puppetry Journal”.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
The road to this point has been a bumpy one. My show “Bird Call” becoming a television has been the main goal. We’ve had a lot of opportunities to perform our characters in live productions… but it’s all been self-funded and out of pocket. The saying “you have to spend money to make money” has pretty much been our tagline for too long now.

We have tried the crowdfunding services Kickstarter and Indigogo seven years ago. But our fanbase was very small and I didn’t have a lot of support from the current team at the time.

We’ve pitched “Bird Call” to some network producers and it has always gotten good praise. But in one instance, the show was shelved due to a writer’s strike. There’s been many occasions where we’ve almost reached our goal and then in the home stretch, we were rejected. It’s hard to call it failure because we’re still pushing 18 years later to get it where we want it to be. We’re currently looking to find ways to get funding so we can produce our series for online or streaming services. We have a new team of dedicated performers and crew so raising funds for the show may go better than last time.

A lot of our filmings for “Bird Call” shorts or episodes have been filmed in various locations but mainly in our apartment. Kelsey and I have turned our apartment into a studio and workshop space when we schedule shoots. We hope to change that in the new year.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I have been with the Walt Disney World parks as a performer and Puppet Specialist (someone who trains shows with puppetry with Walt Disney World Resorts) for shows like “The Muppets Present Great Moments in History”, “Disney Junior Live on Stage”, “Finding Nemo the Musical”, and many more.

• Other: https://music.apple.com/us/album/bird-call-the-musical-original-cast-recording/1381029940