For this year’s National Day of Puppetry, the Columbia Association of Puppeteers teamed with the Albany (Oregon) Library and Department of Parks and Recreation to present the day-long Wonderful World of Puppets. It consisted of a morning performance of Tears of Joy Theatre’s Adventures of Perseus, followed by an afternoon of exhibits, hands-on workshops, demonstrations, and a gift shop at the local library.

First up was the performance of Adventures of Perseus. This show proves that you can adapt Greek legends for today’s school children. It tells the story of how Perseus, the son of a god, slays the Gorgon, Medusa and frees his mother from bondage. Originally presented as a part of Tears of Joy’s Family Performance series, it has since toured extensively in elementary and middle schools throughout the western United States. Performers Jason Ropp and Maya Michlall, fittingly garbed in Toga-like costumes, bring a fresh new life to the story. The appreciative audience stayed afterwards and peppered the puppeteers with questions about how the puppets work and how they were made.

Maya Michlall & Jason Ropp perform Perseus

Built in 1912, The downtown Albany Public Library is a historic building built through a grant from Andrew Carnegie, the philanthropist who paid for the building of over 2,500 libraries across America around the turn of the 20th century. It is a small, high-ceilinged building, with books on every wall as well as in free-standing shelves, with two ornamental fireplaces, one on each end of the building. All interior wood is oak, adding beauty, strength and long life to the building.

(from left) CAP members Dennis Strachota, Maya Michlall, Steven M. Overton and a local Albany family, all displaying their Dragons.

Since the library was closed to library business for the day, the exhibit of some 150 puppets was placed all around the main floor, even in between the shelves of books. We were only given access to the building from Friday night at five o’clock to do our setup, so we had prebuilt many of the displays so they could go in quickly.

Steven M. Overton, from the Olde World Puppet Theatre and a vice-president of CAP was in charge of the exhibit. He put out a call for puppets from other members of CAP. Bruce Chessé, Jason Ropp, Father Dennis Strachota, Geordie Humphrey, Kris Woolen, Esther Heydt, Larry Adrian, Chuck Mott, Candace Dobson,and Janet Bradley all came forward with items to be displayed. The rest of the exhibit was filled from Steve’s extensive personal collection of puppets from around the world. The result was an eye-catching display which was the subject of oohs and aahs from the visiting public.

One of the main exhibit areas

The favorite exhibit was Bruce Chessé’s giant puppet of Shakespeare resting his hand on the library’s bust of Shakespeare.

The hands-on area and demonstration classes were held in the basement of the library. They were introducing their new permanent puppet stage which was loved by one and all. There were all types of puppets to play with including hand, rod, marionette and radio- controlled ones.

Workshops included: Puppetry (for children & adults), Make your own Chelsey, the baby dragon to take home (hands-on); Manipulation & Performance Techniques (for teens & adults); Special Effects and the Art of Black Light Puppetry; and Using Puppets in the Classroom.

All in all it was a special way to celebrate a special day.

Bruce Chessé’s giant puppet of Shakespeare

A puppet by Ralph Chessé

Hans Christian Anderson by
The Oregon Coast Puppet Theatre and The Olde World Puppet Theatre

Medusa from Perseus

Grandma Jannod by The Olde World Puppet Theatre

To view pictures of CAP's other year's National Day of Puppetry events here in Portland, Oregon, click on their links at the top of this page.

The Royal Family (King Humphrey, Queen Selina, Prince Aaron & Princess Katheryn) by The Olde World Puppet Theatre