Some of My Puppetry
My day job is teaching theatre arts and reading at the middle school level. Below are some examples of the kinds of puppetry my students engage in.
Hand Puppets
About 40 of the approximately 150 students I have each year learn to use a sewing machine to build their puppets. Others hand sew. A few use a glue gun.
For several years now, I have sent my brother a Star Wars puppet that I made for him as a birthday gift.
YouTube Video:
Marionettes
In Fall 2023, marionette puppetry became part of my theatre program. All told, my students have built over two hundred marionettes.
Here are "Father" and "Jonas", two of the marionettes I have built for an upcoming performance.
The YouTube videos below show examples of short marionette stories and one student's dragon marionette.
YouTube Videos:
Meh and Dreary: "The Proposal"
Meh and Dreary: "Pet the Pet"
Dragon Marionette (Two Persons Needed to Work It)
Shadow Puppetry
Shown here is a student example of shadow puppetry on one of the several practice theatres. Shadow worlds encourage imagination, and shadow puppetry has always been for me a project with high levels of student engagement.
