My daughter's marionette puppet show

Once upon a time, the descriptive line of my blog read, "Songs, stories and puppet shows." I haven't done a puppet show in a long time. However, I am posting a 4:46 minute video of my 5 1/2 year old daughter's marionette puppet show she presented Sunday morning. It may be of interest only to close family members and early childhood educators (especially Waldorf-trained teachers) but who knows-- the rest of you might take away something worthwhile that I didn't anticipate. Here is the video:



The marionette itself is made of silk scarves and wool felt, with two strings arranged as long loops. This puppet is a simple version of the kinds used in Lucia's Waldorf kindergarten, and she is lucky enough to have a teacher who specializes in marionettes. The puppet shows I have watched have had a narrator/sound person separate from the puppeteer. The puppeteer usually doesn't wear a fancy hat-- that is Lucia's addition, thanks to her introduction to the Red Hat Society gathering we saw at Dave's Restaurant* in Milton, Washington before my second gig last Saturday.

After the little preamble, Lucia begins her show with, "From the land of the stars, from the land of the sun, from the land of the moon, here to where we now are." She ends with "Stars, moon and sun, our story is done." I am pretty sure that the story opening and closing with accompanying motions plus what we're calling the "Waldorf mood song" were picked up from her teacher. She draws from other elements of stories and songs picked up along the way. The section about being an orphan comes from the book Owliver by Robert Krauss, where the main character, a little owl, pretends to have no parents, only to be cheerfully scolded by his mother and father, who are told that he is only acting.The "shooting star" theme comes from one of the many stories I told her about how she came to be Bede's and my child.** (She knows her own hospital birth story as we've told it to her, but she also likes to hear the imaginative versions.) The song that plays over the credits is one that she made up for the video.

If you are interested in reading about this kind of puppetry with young children, take a look at the resources list on Suzanne Down's website, Juniper Tree Puppets. As someone who has been interested in storytelling with puppets from an early age, I hope to take a workshop with her someday.

*I ordered the bacon waffle in Adrienne's honor.

**A man and a woman wanted a child. As they looked up into the sky, they saw the first star of the evening., they said, "Oh, how we wish we had a child!" The star heard their wish, and said, "I've been a star for a very long time. I want to be a child now." The star began to travel through the heavens. As the star passed throug the solar system and flew past the planets, it got smaller and smaller until it landed in a strawberry patch on earth. As it rested among the strawberries, it changed into a child with brown hair, brown eyes and rosy cheeks. The man and the woman walked by the strawberry patch and said, "Look--it's our child!" [Lucia follows up with, "I was that child!"]

Oregon Shadow Theatre presents "Thumbelina"

"Flower Child Number Nine"

On Tuesday, I took Lucia and my mother to see Oregon Shadow Theatre perform their sixties musical shadow puppet production of Thumbelina at one of our library branches. Mick Doherty was the musician and DJ named "Hans" who provided narration and voices while Deb Chase worked the puppets and also provided voices for Hans Christian Andersen's tale of a tiny "flower child" and her travels through the world. Bugs sang "Food Chain" to the tune of "Chain Gang," Buford the frog sang, "I ain't nothin' but a bull-frog..." and during an insect beauty pageant, a caterpillar sang, "These boots, boots, boots, boots, boots, boots, boots are made for walkin'." The dialogue abounded with coy references to sixties songs, too. The mole in the story is named Darkness just so that the mouse (named Strawberry Fields) can say, "Hello, Darkness, my old friend." I'll admit it: the humor was right up my alley.


Thumbelina with the Sun King

Lucia thoroughly enjoyed the show, and was riveted from beginning to end. When she said she wanted to sit up in front with the other children, I was a little concerned that she would try to interrupt the program with her incessant questions, but those worries were unfounded. I had waited for years to take her to an Oregon Shadow Theatre program, as the program is geared for children ages four and up. Since the Oregon Shadow Theatre usually performs in a darkened room (which wasn't an option here), the age guidelines are particularly important. However, there were plenty of children under four, plus quite a few babies. The babies cried, the toddlers fussed, and I mentally gave gold stars to Doherty and Chase for plowing through all the distractions to give a stellar performance.

If you have a chance to see Oregon Shadow Theare in the future, do so! I got to see Pecos Bill as a children's librarian before I had a baby, and always intended to take my husband to subsequent productions. Now that Lucia has reached the age where a wider variety of performances are appropriate for her, we're going to be attending many more shows.

Mid-Production

I had hoped to have a completed project to present today. While I'm done with principal photography, there is a lot of editing work still to do. This has been the most difficult project to date: we've run over budget, two of the main actors threatened to walk off the set after the goat got into the costume-bin, and initial test audiences have complained that there's not enough violence or humor in the main action sequences. One early reviewer said, "It's quite possible that "One Eye, Two Eyes, Three Eyes" will be the film-strip version of Terry Gilliam's The Man Who Killed Don Quixote. Is this really a House of Glee production? Try 'house of glum.'"

Brutal!

I may need to return to light-hearted comedy and leave the serious film-making to Wim Wenders.

Twenty-Five Things That Make Me Happy

A Wrung Sponge asked readers to write down twenty-five things that made them happy. Sure thing! I’ll list my items in groups of 5.

Five children’s books:

1) Constance—Patricia Clapp
2) The School for Cats—Esther Averill
3) Daughter of the Moon—Gregory Maguire
4) Dinner at Alberta’s—Russell Hoban (illustrated by James Marshall)
5) Henrietta’s House (UK)/Blue Hills (USA)—Elizabeth Goudge

Five folktales:

1) Why the Tides Ebb and Flow— retold by Joan Chase Bowden
2) The Old Woman Who Lived in a Vinegar Bottle— retold by Margaret Read MacDonald
3) Two Of Everything— retold by Lily Toy Hong
4) Lazy Jack— retold by Joseph Jacobs
5) “Talk” (i.e. "the talking yam story")—from The Cow-Tail Switch, retold by Harold Courlander

Five finger puppets:

Five camp skits:

1) JC Penny (In my outdoor education class, I saw this skit as "Thom McCann.")
2) Good news and bad news
3) The Man and the Coffin
4) The Most Horrible Thing in the World
5) Moon Trip

Five songs to play on the guitar in the key of G:

1) City of New Orleans
2) Orphan Girl
3) Lavender’s Blue
4) Can’t Let Go
5) On the Sunny Side of the Street

Return of Wanda

Do you remember Wanda? Wanda was the marionette that one of Lucia’s teachers had found at a yard-sale for 50 cents. I took Wanda home, sewed a black and white polka-dotted dress for her, and gave her some sparkly accessories. Lucia loved Wanda, and as much as I wanted to keep the marionette, I told Lucia that we would be able to visit the Wanda at school.

That Wednesday, Wanda was a hit during music time. The following Monday, Lucia saw Wanda hanging up with her fraternal twin brother, Marco (a red-and-white striped, brown-haired prototype of the Folkmanis Kid Gloves marionette, now discontinued) and though she cried when she had to say goodbye at the end of the day, Lucia was comforted to know that she’d see Wanda next time.

The next day, Wanda took a walk and never returned. There were no witnesses.

To say that I felt bad is an understatement. I had repeatedly reassured Lucia that, even though Wanda wasn't going to stay at our house, Lucia would be able to visit Wanda at school. I expected a meltdown, but Lucia was a good sport about the whole thing. I told Lucia that Wanda had gone traveling, and we didn't know where she was, but we were looking for her and hoped she would come back.

Although she didn’t cry, Lucia often asked about the marionette, and every time she saw a black-and-white polka dotted item, she said, “That’s for Wanda!” Eventually, when I realized that Wanda was indeed stolen, and not just misplaced at the bottom of someone’s craft box, I started to think about finding a replacement prototype. The trouble was that Folkmanis was not making the marionette anymore, and it didn’t seem to have been popular in the first place. I had no luck.

Then, I read this blog entry by Doug of Wordswordswords:
It Keeps Happening. The "discontinued" Dodo Bird wasn't meant to be anything more than a joke, but it got me brooding about Wanda again. I thought of Trixie’s father in the book Knuffle Bunny, and how he got mad when the beloved stuffed animal was nowhere to be found in the laundromat. Trixie's daddy rolled up his sleeves, decided to "look harder," and stuck his head inside the washing machine.

So, I looked harder. I didn't have as strenuous a time as Trixie's daddy, but I did finally find the marionette in question at Purciful's Magical Toys.



I won’t tell you how much I paid (including shipping), but suffice to say, it was more than the 50 cents Lucia’s teacher had spent at the yard-sale. The “new” Wanda arrived yesterday morning, and I dropped everything I was working on* to sew a dress for her. I believe that Lucia understood that this marionette was not the same as the one we brought back to her school, as she said, “That’s a Wanda dolly!” She also knows that her Bert, Ernie, and Raggedy Ann dolls are different from the ones she sees in other places, but loves them all anyway.

I do not use the word “love” lightly. There is something about the affection Lucia feels for her stuffed animals and dolls that goes beyond the physical possession of toys. What is it? Despite this rambly post, I am at a loss for words on how to explain. Perhaps if you have ever bristled at the statement, “It’s only a toy,” you understand. If you don't understand, then please simply trust me. It’s just one of those things.



*In the interest of full disclosure, I already had taken the sewing machine out of the closet.

Update: Nonny has posted photos of her beloved Raggedy Ann dollies mentioned in the comments section below.

Recovery Day

Hi, all. I've had a busy week. My Aunt Brigid came to visit us for a few days and was instrumental in helping us get to where we had to go (relatively on time). My in-service presentation went well, and Lucia's teachers were suitably impressed by the Suitcase of Animals.



Saturday, we all went to the Seattle Children's Museum to see the grand opening of the Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood exhibit. Brad the Gorilla came with us, too, and afterward penned a tribute of sorts to the Man in the Cardigan. Frankly, I was surprised, because I thought Brad the Gorilla was too gruff to take an interest in such a slow-moving show such as Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood. I had no idea he had worked on the set in the early years. Brad introduced me to Mr. McFeely, the "speedy delivery" mailman, and I told Mr. McFeely that even though I wasn't allowed to watch that much television, Mr. Roger's Neighborhood contributed to my love of storytelling and puppetry. (By the way, it wasn't until I was in fourth grade that I found out Mr. Rogers was a subject of much humor. Mr. Rogers took the lampooning of his personality much better than I did, but then, I was a serious child.)

Lucia enjoyed the exhibit even though she had never seen an episode of the television program. Her favorite part of the whole exhibit was Mr. Rogers' piano.



Today is a recovery day. I plan to do some sewing and writing. Perhaps I'll even cook. As I write this, Lucia is sitting on my lap, holding her Bert and Ernie dollies, singing, "Boys, boys, boys" (pronounced "bow-ays"). Should I be concerned?

P.S. I am the newest contributor to the Cute is Key blog.

Monkey's Deep Thoughts and the Family Folkmanis

I have to share a link to someone else's creative output. The blog of Monkey's Deep Thoughts is a true delight. The post called "Spinning Girl and I Make Hot Cocoa" had me in stitches. Over the phone, the blogger Spinning Girl guides Monkey (pictured left) through the process of making delicious Mayan hot chocolate, complete with real vanilla beans and chili peppers. However, Monkey becomes disoriented, and unbeknownst to the cooking instructor, changes the plan to something slightly simpler.

Monkey is from the Folkmanis family, and I suspect that my toddler storytime helper, Chester, is a close cousin They may look similar (though note Monkey's close-cropped haircut), but their personalities are quite different. Monkey is a bit of a jet-setter who gets to travel to exotic places like Boston and make movies. Monkey's blog is rated "R", not because of anything terribly risque written in the actual blog posts, but because of the uncensored comments.

Chester (pictured right) has a simpler existence. He is a perpetual toddler whose main job is to help the children in storytime feel at ease. A number of children like to pet Chester's soft fur and the brave ones will let him nibble their fingers. Chester respects other people's space, though, and will wave to the more cautious children. Every March, I tell the people in storytime that Chester's birthday is that month, and I bring in homemade cookies all the week of my birthday. The children sing "Happy Birthday" to Chester, and sometimes make little cards for him. You may think it's sneaky to have Chester pretend to have my birthday, and to have him turn 3 years old every year... but how else are we going to get the cookies?

Wanda in our life

The first law of S. R. Ranganathan's Five Laws of Library Science is "Books are for use." This law applies also to puppets and stuffed animals. If no one plays with them, makes up stories with them, or holds them close for comfort, they become dust-collectors. If they’re lucky, they end up at yard-sales, where they have chances to reinvent themselves with people who actually want to play. Such was Wanda's fate.

Wanda’s prototype was a discontinued Folkmanis Kid Gloves marionette. Technically, she was supposed to be a boy. Since the prototype of Wanda's brother Marco (one of the principle players of the Boyer Children’s Clinic) was originally designed to be a girl, the teachers and I decided to roll with the emerging trend. One of Lucia’s teachers had found Wanda at a yard-sale, paid 50 cents to liberate her, and then hung her up on the wall. Even though she had jaunty black-and-white striped limbs, compared to Marco, Wanda lacked vim.

Of course, I had to take Wanda home. Lucia's fascination with the marionette made the work a challenge, but we cheerfully ignored all of our other chores so we could attend to Wanda's makeover. I trimmed Wanda's hair, sewed on tiny peridot earrings, and stitched a black and white polka-dotted dress onto her torso. A silver heart charm once found in a Christmas cracker turned into Wanda’s belt-buckle. I experimented with other accessories (green Mardi Gras beads, a silver lizard pin for the black velvet beret), but decided that the focus really should be the polka-dotted dress as a counterpoint to the striped stockings. The green high-tops stayed, of course. They were an important part of Wanda’s ensemble.

After I finished Wanda’s makeover, the arm strings bothered me. They were stretched out and didn’t help at all with arm movement. I cut the strings attached to Wanda’s hands, and restrung fishing-wire from her elbows to the puppeteer’s glove. While Wanda would never be able to clap through string manipulation alone, now she could wave.

Lucia and I are bringing Wanda back to the Boyer Children’s Clinic today. I hope that some teacher will take a shine to Wanda and work with her in the classroom. Lucia is going to miss having Wanda at home. I know that if I said to the teachers, “Please, let me keep Wanda,” they would probably say yes, but I don’t want to stand in the way of Wanda’s career. At this time, I do not have any active storytelling gigs, and Wanda has hung on the wall long enough. While Wanda is made of cloth and string, I think of her as alive, not in the way I think of the house cats or plants, but in the way that children care for their stuffed animals as friends instead of toys.


From Pablo Neruda's
"Ode to Things:"

O irrevocable
river of things:
no one can say
that I loved
only fish,
or the plants of the jungle and the field,
that I loved only
those things that leap and climb,
desire, and survive.
It's not true:
many things conspired
to tell me the whole story.
Not only did they touch me,
or my hand touched them:
they were
so close
that they were a part
of my being,
they were so alive with me
that they lived half my life
and will die half my death.

Attack of the Combs: a puppet play

Once, in the not too distant past, a group of good friends gathered at the house of two hippos. The friends thought they would spend a pleasant afternoon in each other's company. If only they had known that someone (or something) had cruel designs to upset their revelry. The story began on a sunny afternoon:

Attack of the Combs

Puppet show teaser:

Here is the teaser poster for a harrowing theatre production filled with treachery, deceit, and a few shameless allusions to Star Wars: The Phantom Menace. I will not give away important plot details, but as I promised Darth Phil and Galatea,there will be two potamuses and a Sith Lord.

Opening day for the puppet show will be Monday, August 15, 2005.

Originally posted on Saturday, August 13, 2005.