
{"id":3252,"date":"2008-08-14T09:01:47","date_gmt":"2008-08-14T17:01:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/?p=3252"},"modified":"2008-08-15T13:02:22","modified_gmt":"2008-08-15T21:02:22","slug":"a-picnic-packed-into-a-squirmy-stilted-show","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/2008\/08\/14\/a-picnic-packed-into-a-squirmy-stilted-show\/","title":{"rendered":"A picnic packed into a squirmy, stilted show"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/08\/puppet081408c.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft\" style=\"border: 0pt none; margin: 1px; float: left;\" title=\"From the newest Paperhand Puppet show, I am an Insect. Photo by Noah Rosenblatt-Farrell\" src=\"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/08\/puppet081408c.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"72\" height=\"109\" \/><\/a><em>By <strong>Valarie Schwartz<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>It doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t seem possible that I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been putting it off this long, but every August since the Paperhand Puppet Intervention (PPI) started bringing weekend shows to the Forest Theater, it has been my intention to attend. Finally, in its ninth year, we made it over Sunday night for I am an Insect: A Fluttering Processionary of Infinitesimal Ideas.<\/p>\n<p>What a delightful scene!<\/p>\n<p>And the show was great too!<br \/>\n<!--more--><br \/>\nIt\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s doubtful that when Donovan Zimmerman and Jan Burger (co-founders of PPI and co-directors of the shows) conceived the idea of presenting summer shows, they visualized the community gatherings that would result. The shows start at 7 p.m., but like the cast and crew, the audience members begin gathering on the stone steps of the Forest Theater much earlier on Friday, Saturday and Sunday evenings, bringing with them their picnic dinners, bottles (or boxes) of wine, family members and neighbors.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s very intimate in a way, sitting there with people, being together,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Zimmerman said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a great aspect of that space, to sit there in the light and be with each other.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>Unlike the intimacy of an indoor theater, where \u00e2\u20ac\u0153the house\u00e2\u20ac\u009d goes dark as the entertainment begins, amphitheater audience members can still watch as people around them share mozzarella balls and cupcakes or refill beverages while booing and hissing the dung beetle or applauding and cheering the grasshopper performing onstage (at a puppet show one is encouraged to voice reactions).<\/p>\n<p>Many were the multi-generational families in attendance, with children moving from the comfort of a mother\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s lap to hang onto a grandfather\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s neck while giant insects metamorphosed, danced or flew before them, all accompanied by music that set the scene.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153The music steers the emotions and energy in different directions,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Zimmerman said. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s hard to believe that only six musicians produced such a constant, steady backdrop to the action on stage, using even more instruments than there were insects. Drums of every tone and origin, keyboard, flute, chimes, stringed instruments, all \u00e2\u20ac\u0153reacting to what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s going on onstage and following the pulse of the music,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d added Zimmerman.<\/p>\n<p>It takes a community to put on shows like this, where so many elements come together to produce not only entertainment but messages that children and adults carry home. From the main theme (this year\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s being the insect world) come the scenes, which flesh out and explore the theme. Each scene contains \u00e2\u20ac\u0153characters\u00e2\u20ac\u009d made out of paper, papier-m\u00c3\u00a2ch\u00c3\u00a9 and all manner of (mostly donated) recycled or re-purposed objects.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We have people who come to the studio and help do papier-m\u00c3\u00a2ch\u00c3\u00a9, painting, sewing and a sundry of tasks,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Zimmerman said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153There are a lot of different things that go into it.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>Then, of course, there are the puppeteers, willing to gyrate, crawl, walk on stilts and, mainly, SWEAT their way through every weekend in August and into September for the sake of providing their community a unique experience.<\/p>\n<p>If you haven\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t had a chance to go, give a try to what will likely become an annual family event. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s well worth the ticket price ($10 adults, $7 children), every weekend through Sept. 7 in the Forest Theater, moving to the N.C. Museum of Art in Raleigh for shows on Sept. 12 and 13.<\/p>\n<p>Learn more at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.paperhand.org\">www.paperhand.org<\/a> .<\/p>\n<p><em>Contact Valarie Schwartz at 923-3746 or valariekays@mac.com<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Valarie Schwartz It doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t seem possible that I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been putting it off this long, but every August since the Paperhand Puppet Intervention (PPI) started bringing weekend shows to the Forest Theater, it has been my intention to attend. Finally, in its ninth year, we made it over Sunday night for I am an Insect:&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3252","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-community","category-recently"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3252","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3252"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3252\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3252"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3252"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3252"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}