2002 Day of Puppetry in the Twin Cities

TWIN CITIES PUPPETEERS
NATIONAL DAY OF PUPPETRY

Hennepin County Southdale Library
Saturday 27 April 2002

The Day of Puppetry was held on April 27, 2002, at the Southdale Library.

Otis Rabbit, operated by Wayne Krefting, was in charge of the opening remarks and the big welcome. Diane Gasch performed the "Real Story of the Big Bad Wolf", and the children laughed as the wolf (with allergies) sneezed the little pig's houses down. Tom Davis amazed everyone with his Toy Theatre, which has a history that goes back to the late 1800's and early 1900's. Laura Krentz, with a large collection of puppets and props, did storytelling on "The Very Hungry Caterpillar", " Mushroom in the Rain", and "Jennie's Hat".

The Forest Floor Players, puppets operated by Wayne Krefting, performed a funny show with Bil Bug and other characters.
This is Wayne with Otis Rabbit

Andy Hayward showed us puppet construction, and many of his colorful puppets, which were on display along with other puppets for visitors to the Library to enjoy.

Diane Rains demonstrated how shadow puppets are used
behind a screen, and told us history about them as we commented on their beautiful colors.

Paul Eide and Karen Backes performed yet another
Red Riding Hood show with puppets that Paul made almost 30 years ago.

Nanda Gearhardt, a newer member from Iowa, told the story of "Puss in
Boots" with a beautiful Puss that she designed and made.

The audience enjoyed, once again, Kurt Hunter's great marionette show with his bird
characters.

Brenda Noyed uses black light in her church youth puppet troupe, and we enjoyed the colorful puppets dancing to popular music with a religious message.

With a little more time to fill, and our members packing up their equipment, Paul and Karen performed Red Riding Hood one more time. It was nice to see Irene Odegaard, who had surgery recently, and her son Jerry at the event.

We all had a great time, and stood for a couple group pictures at the end of the day.

Thanks to Laura Krentz and Wayne Krefting for all their organizing and coordinating.