Wilma Swartz The VENTertainer, Clean Comedy Ventriloquist from Sierra Vista, AZ

All my shows are strictly clean family oriented shows. Ventriloquist acts, Puppet Ministries, Teaching Ventriloquism, Teach making sock puppets, Corporate Speaker, do commercials, TV, movies, and parades. Been doing ventriloquism since I was 5 but went professional in 1993 and have been in 2 movies (DUMBSTRUCK as 1 of 5 VENTertainers starring and NINA CONTI: HER MASTER'S VOICE, where I costarred and killed London's top VENTertainer's Monk puppet.) TV shows I've been on are America's Got Talent 4th of July show, The 10! Show, A.M. Philadelphia, 60 Minutes. Magazines that have wrote articles about me are AARP for my work with Alzheimer patients using puppet therapy proving it's not a disease but a mental block, various Philadelphia magazines and newspapers, Johnson & Johnson, various Arizona newspapers. If you've a theme for your event, I can tailor my show to fit or I can perform one of my prepared shows. I show up 1 hour ahead to set up and the stage must be at least 6' from the audience so I can move around in front of the stage. Normally I'll have a roadie with me to assist in the set up and handling the sound for me. My goal's to make people forget their problems for an hour and just laugh. There's audience participation in my shows along with the audience dancing with a 6' ostrich doing "The Ostrich Dance" or "The Holy Bible". Traveling expense will be included in the quote. I'll travel up to 3000 miles. THANK YOU Wilma, Thanks for sharing your time and wonderful talent with us. Your performance was outstanding! Sincerely, Members of the Activity Board and residents of Casa del Sol East, Peoria, AZ. Thank you for performing at the 2015 Maricopa County Fair. We appreciate all of your time and hard work. You helped make our fair a success! We hope you had fun, and we look forward to seeing you again next year. Sincerely, Barbara Johnson, Phoenix, AZ The February General Meeting featured a ventriloquist from our local area by the name of Wilma. In her act, she goes under the title, "Me And My Shadow" (former name). After our monthly meeting, she spent a little over an hour with discussions with Pinelope and even brought up some of our local residents to join in the fun. I'm sure that her style of humor and manner of presentation was enjoyed by all. Wilma, many thanks for all of your hard work and a great show. Melody Lakes Homeowners' Association On stage, when Pinelope begins her job action, Swartz improvises by calling for volunteers from the audience. The human stand-ins are instructed to open their mouths whenever she squeezes the rear of their necks. Now, as Me And My Shadow (former name), Wilma performs both with Pinelope and a clutch of hand puppets, mostly at nursing homes, elementary schools, and her church. Always she's Pinelope's fall guy, the butt of a young tyrant's taunts. "I've to be the one who looks like the dummy.", she explains. "She gets all the attention and sometimes, when we're finished performing, kids will come up and say, "You deserved it." Then I know I'm doing my job right. I've created a real illusion. But on occasion the illusion's too real, as children vent their troubles to Pinelope, "At geriatric homes", Swartz marvels, "residents who regularly forget their doctors' names call out to Pinelope on return visits. With this power," Swartz says, "comes a sense of responsibility." Because children so closely identify with Pinelope, at a school performance she takes care to strap her companion in her car before driving away. (Though since she doesn't own a car seat, she was stopped by a sharp-eyed patrolman on one occasion) Dan Church, Staff Writer at The Intelligencer, Allentown, PA.