Puppetmaking and Pageantmaking

I wish that I had some pictures of the puppetmaking! I'll just have to tell you about it. Most everything is made from cardboard, paint, fabric, bamboo, paper mache and some wood. My impression was that most of the people there were not experienced at puppetmaking. Okay, now I am thinking about that and maybe half of the people were, but its not like you have to be an expert to create puppets - that's my point.

The puppets were created for a pagent to be presented at the annual SOA protest. We missed the first two days of the workshop, but it seemed like the entire thing was concieved, designed, built, and rehearsed in a week, which is pretty amazing. There were about 50 puppetistas creating the pageant. The whole process was incredibly democratic and friendly.

Steve babysat while I helped with puppets. The size and volume of puppets was incredible. Mostly I just cut cardboard. While I was working I didn't really realize the volume of puppets that were being made.

These pictures are of rehearsals at Koinonia. These are the two large, mutiperson puppets. The rest were one person handheld puppets and included freedom birds, huge people that represented liberation movements, faceless suits representing corporate power, families and other groups of people that represented victims of SOA violence.

The final pageant included hundreds of people - most of whom were trained the mornings of the performances! I didn't participate in the performances because Steve ended up drumming for them and so I was watching Aidan - and that's why I have pictures!

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