Puppets & Play (Learning by Trial and Error)

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Watching the Muppets on Seasame Street and Fraggle Rock made my imagination grow, and I am still fascinated with puppets today. Which is why I was so excited to be part of the Audrey II team and work with the students to build the 4 puppets needed for our spring production of Little Shop of Horrors.

Making the Audrey II puppets started in August with a workshop and have continued 2-3 days a week since then. Since January it has been 4-5 days a week afterschool and at lunch/x-block.

Kameron, Zoe and Rachel learn from a puppeteer from Cal Shakes.

Rachel shows the beginning of Audrey II, a complete top mouth with teeth.
Audrey II.1, Audrey II.2 & Audrey II.3 are mostly done–final paint stage. 
Zoe works on the detail painting for Audrey II.3

Audrey II.3 had probably gone through the most  transformation in it’s structure and looks from the drawing in August. This was also a spot in the projects where the students learned that communication is key–that you can’t “assume” that someone else “knows” what they are doing.

Rachel and Zoe both had a lot of fun while making their puppets. Even when the spray glue wouldn’t stick and they had to sew more than they planned or when the paint wouldn’t stick to the pot–these two persevered to bring their creations to the stage.

Fully assembled Alex Lewald (playing Seymour) tries out the puppet that he will have to manipulate during the show.
 Now it is time to make the man-eating largest version of Audrey II. 

Kameron and Zoe have directed most of the Audrey II puppet builds.
Here they test that she her big enough to “eat” people.
The top of the mouth now has “skin”, onto the bottom and insides.
In reflection with the students there was a lot of trial and error on figuring how to make these puppets. No matter if it was the smallest or the largest, each had their own unique challenges.
They appreciated being able to “try things out” and that it was “okay to fail” while figuring out the best way to do something. They also liked that the teachers took a step back and that it was up to them to experiment how to build the puppets and not follow exactly what a teacher told them to do. They like “owning” the project/puppets and look forward to showing them off in April.
In the end the students that worked the hardest, the ones that kept trying to figure it out are the most satisfied with the project.

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