Meet Travis Marsala

Today we’d like to introduce you to Travis Marsala.

Travis, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
Wow. This is a doozy of a question. If you want me to take it way, way, way back, my mom says the first time she ever heard me laugh as a baby was at the two headed monster on Sesame Street. Do you know the one that speaks in gibberish? Then, of course, I grew up on the muppets, and in my teens took an intense interest in filmmaking.

Puppetry fell out of my life for a long period as I pursued filmmaking in high school and a good portion of community college. One day, a friend was going to an audition at Mesa Community College’s theatre. I didn’t get cast, but I tagged along for the next audition and got that one. That was the Twelfth Night and I played the sea captain and other small roles. Not much, but I was hooked. It came as a surprise to myself and the majority of the family. I had always operated as a quiet, shy, behind the scenes kind of person. Yet here I was, on stage and loving it (Most favorite role being Renfield in Dracula).

While at MCC I met and worked with amazing people in amazing shows. People I still communicate with regularly: Billy Jones, Sean Ryan McBride, Michelle Luz, Haleigh Brown. In addition to all the plays we were doing, we had an improv troupe that performed monthly and several short films and sketches were filmed. I’m fairly certain they all still exist on the internet somewhere.

Haleigh Brown went on to Northern Arizona to complete her degree, some of us went to U of A, some went out of state, some stayed around for ASU. Sometimes I wonder what would have happened if we had all just stayed put and started working in earnest, but that wasn’t in this life’s cards, I suppose. Anyway, I ended up choosing NAU as well.

For the sake of brevity, I’ll jump ahead to the crux of where I am today. A professor at NAU, Kate Ellis, taught a class on puppetry and strongly encouraged us to use recycled materials. It was like something deep inside of me unlocked. During my senior year, I had extra credit space, and Kate taught an independent study in puppetry just for me. You know it must have been something special when a senior takes on more than they need to for their final semester.

After graduation, I toured briefly with The Missoula Children’s Theater (puppetry skills can land you gigs in children’s theatre when you can’t sing, for anyone out there who’s curious). From there, I moved to Chicago to pursue the sketch/improv vein I was on. I studied at the iO Chicago and The Second City putting up shows all over town. Here, besides my sisters and mother, I have met the most important women in my life. My wife, Betsy. My writing partner, Adrienne Teeley. And my Sajja and Kabba collaborator Sacha Foxx.

Brief aside about Adrienne Teeley: We have filmed so many goofy sketches and have them online. Search YouTube for Not Your Mother’s Baby. We will have a short film out (hopefully) 2020.

Okay, back to puppets.

Around Christmas 2017, my nieces and nephews were watching stuff on YouTube. Curiosity got the better of me and I watched with them. You’ll… there’s a lot of garbage on kids YouTube. I had thought about how cool it would be before to maybe run a kid’s show, but this sealed the deal. I had a puppetry background. I had a theater background. I had a filmmaking background. I could do this.

I can’t remember exactly when I met Sacha Foxx. It was in an improv class. We also co-produced a variety show out of her basement. Sacha is one of those people that just seems to know everyone else. I’m far too much of a hermit. Her gentle nature and her way of bringing people together made her the perfect candidate to help get this show launched. I put needle to fur, I enlisted the help of Billy Jones (remember him from earlier??), we scraped together a small team, and here we are a year and a half later.

Sajja and Kabba are incredibly near and dear to my heart. They are innocent, genuine, curious and above all, plain silly. Every day I feel like we step closer and closer to finding their most pure and elegant form.

In addition to the YouTube channel, we will do live events where the kids can interact with the puppets and we will produce puppet based social media content for businesses. A couple of Chicago ones have been Jimmy Beans Coffee, Timeless Toys, and Kids Science Labs. Currently, I am talking with people in Arizona and Missouri to create videos for them (just can’t say who yet as nothing is official).

2020 is going to be a fantastic year for Sajja and Kabba. We’re going to cut back on the number of videos and produce fewer, higher quality ones. A lot more music coming next year, too!

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Certainly, the culture of kids YouTube has been difficult. There are these animation houses that mass produce low quality content that is loud and has bright colors. If you’re a parent, you know what I’m talking about. It seems like every other week there’s something in the news about the dangers of YouTube. And I think something is going on legally that starts in 2020 that might make things more difficult for us. I need to read up on it.

Ideally, I would love to move to a streaming platform that is safer for children and we have a lot of pitch materials ready to go for when the right person comes along. We are very protective of our characters and the world we are creating because it’s about trust. Parents NEED to trust that you will teach their kids well.

I would say that’s the biggest challenge: earning trust. The internet is a hard place to earn it.

Tell us about your company. What do you do, what do you specialize in, what are you known for, etc. What are you most proud of as a company? What sets you apart from others?
We’re kind of a mini-production house that focuses on puppets! Sajja and Kabba is the main show that we produce a ton of content for, but we have plenty of other plans. We’d love to do a puppet show for adults. Not to be dirty or raunchy with it. But to find a fun way to explain, I don’t know, what a W-9 is, or how to change a tire. We have several things like that you will start to see in the next year or two.

But our uniqueness also allows us to approach businesses that are looking to stand out on social media. There is a LOT of bad puppetry out there. There’s a reason why The Muppets and Sesame Street still dominate the arena. Now, I’m sure if Dave Goelz walked into one of our filming sessions he would have plenty to correct us on, but we are pretty dang good at this puppet manipulation thing.

Puppetry is a developed skill that I push our team to work VERY hard at. Everything you’ve ever learned in acting you are drawing up from the bottom of your toes, down from your head, through your heart, up to your arm and then making a mass of felt and fur convincingly emote. Don’t believe me? Film yourself performing a puppet. It’s HARD!

I think I kind of went off on a tangent there, but that’s something I am very proud of: the amount of effort we put into our puppet’s performance.

So, what’s next? Any big plans?
Just more variety. Sajja and Kabba have a very firm foothold now. We more or less know what the show is and who the characters are. We just want to do more content for different age groups. The Sajja and Kabba show, especially lately, has had a very wide array of topics that have made it difficult for audiences to focus on. I think that’s a sign that we are ready to explore other avenues and Sajja and Kabba know what it needs to be.

For example: I’m extremely into science, astronomy and geology specifically, but there’s stuff I want to make videos about that are just way too complex for the Sajja and Kabba target audience.

So, what’s next? Any big plans?
Just more variety. Sajja and Kabba have a very firm foot hold now. We more or less know what the show is and who the characters are. We just want to do more content for different age groups. The Sajja and Kabba show, especially lately, has had a very wide array of topics that have made it difficult for audiences to focus on. I think that’s a sign that we are ready to explore other avenues and Sajja and Kabba know what it needs to be.

For example: I’m extremely into science, astronomy and geology specifically, but there’s stuff I want to make videos about that are just way too complex for the Sajja and Kabba target audience.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.SajjaAndKabba.com
• Instagram: @travismarsala, @sajjaandkabba
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sajjaandkabba/
• Other: www.youtube.com/sajjaandkabba

Image Credit:
031819 cover- Pictured: Dr. Laura Blount-Odum
031819 frumpy- Pictured: Alejandro Salinas
31819 Kiara- Pictured: Kiara Goodwin
31819 lucky trikes- Pictured: kids band The Lucky Tikes

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