A new generation learns the craft and fun of shadow puppets

Photos by Martha Benedict

A roomful of kids and their parents received a lesson in shadow puppets on Saturday at the Audubon Center at Debs Park.  Led by  Alan Cook of the International Puppetry Museum and sponsored by the Arroyo Arts Collective,  the Shadow Puppet Workshop  introduced the art form to the pint-sized puppeteers. Martha Benedict was there to take some photos and provided details of the event:

Alan captivated a big room full of children and parents almost as soon as he said hello. First he explained the idea of a shadow puppet and then performed a very brief show of The Three Billy Goats Gruff. Within moments, everyone was cutting out their own puppets, taping on coffee stirrers to operate them and crowding into the cardboard box theatre eager to perform their own dramas.

Saturday’s class was the last of three puppet workshops.  The next week Arroyo Arts Collective puts on three puppet performances at the Highland Park Ebell Club as  part of Puppets Retake Northeast L.A.

Martha Benedict is a photographer and Montecito Heights resident.