Junior League of Charlotte has Passion for Puppetry!

We've had a great time working with the Junior League of Charlotte to produce a puppet performance on healthy eating habits.



"You Are What You Eat" premiered last Fall. The show is a pastiche of every game show you've ever seen. Host Guy Goodeats guides contestants such as Jack B. Nimble, Little Jack Horner, Little Miss Muffett and the evil Junkfood Jake through a myriad of questions on good eating and exercise. Guy has the complete support staff on the game show too; the lovely Gloria Grain, the energetic Richard Slimmons and the Don Pardo-esque "Jay" are all on hand.



What's neat about this production is that members of the Junior League themselves take this show out and about all around town and perform it themselves. They set up the stage, hook up the sound system as well as manipulating the puppets.



I have found their dedication to this project to be amazing. All of the puppeteers have a great passion for this theatre form and it has been wonderful. Throughout the entire production process these performers have brought an intensity and concentration that I just think is so cool!



I went into the project with a mission. I didn't want this production to end up as just another amateurish "puppet show" with bad manipulation and a sloppy soundtrack. The Junior League Puppeteers bought into my mantra of making this show something special. The passion they bring to their performance is fantastic. We began with an intense, day-long puppet "boot camp." I think that taught them right then and there that manipulating a puppet correctly was more than just shaking a character on the end of your arm. They understand the concepts of "economy of movement," "a physical thought process," and the idea that a puppet can often say more non-verbally than verbally.



If you have the opportunity, catch "You Are What You Eat" around town here in Charlotte. It's a real hoot!

A T-Shirt in Lumberton

Last week I performed our show called Bathtub Pirates at Tanglewood Elementary School in Lumberton, North Carolina. Two back to back performances left my throat feeling raspy but my heart was happy. These were two wonderful theatre audiences and performing for them was just great.


Following the second performance, I stopped to chat with some third graders in the front row as they waited patiently for their teacher to give them the "o.k." to head out. One boy wondered if I'd ever been to a Panther game since I had mentioned that I was from Charlotte in my post-show speech. Another two girls wanted me to hear their rendition of "Loufa," one of the characters from the show.


Then I noticed a girl wearing a cool t-shirt. The shirt said "Peace" with a picture of Kermit the Frog below it. I told her that I liked her shirt and she smiled and said thank you. Then her face turned more serious and she solemnly said "I'm very fond of him." I said that I was too.

Driving back to Charlotte, it struck me that what this little girl said and how she said it was quite profound. How amazing that she would state her love for Kermit in such an adult and meaningful way. It was fantastic and it has stayed with me for these days following the shows. What a term of endearment and a testament to Kermit's enduring legacy.

It made me think back to that sad day in May, 1990 when Jim Henson passed away. Once again I was on the road performing that day when a call from the studio delivered this dark news. I remember how difficult it was to gather my emotions and still perform that morning; no easy feat with such a heavy heart.

The little girl in the Kermit T-shirt also made me think of that simple, wonderful little book called "It's Not Easy Being Green." I treasure my copy of this book, with its folded corners and tear-stained pages. I'm not sure why the philosophies of this small work affect me so, but they do in a deliberate and consistent way. I find it to be an amazing piece every time I picked it up.

So here's to Kermit and the people everywhere who are, as she said, very fond of him.