Puppets!

I'm not sure that any of you reading this would especially like to know about puppeteering, but hey, it's the topic of today's ramble, and you're going to like it! :) (And if you don't, I'll have my Lennon puppet come and eat your face. Not joking.)

First of all, let me tell you about my experience with puppets.

In eighth grade, I'd just moved to Alabama and I had absolutely no friends. We'd just gotten involved in a church, and my mother decided that we needed to get involved in the "extra" activities at church. For my sister, that meant Highway Kids (or something along the lines of that; that particular ministry has been shut down in the last few years). For me, that meant either Drama Team or Puppets.

As many (or none) of you know, I don't like being in front of people. I have horrific stage fright. I can't do recitals, I can't do much of anything that involves other people looking at me. The logical choice here seemed to be puppets.

So I went to the class. And I actually made friends. Everyone in the puppet team was an outcast - they didn't want to be in front of people, and they weren't part of the social "clique" that was in our church. (Yes, churches have cliques, too. It's really starting to get on my nerves.) So I fit in absolutely perfectly. And I discovered that I loved doing puppets. It was an amazing way to minister without having to be in front of people. It was so much fun learning routines, and so satisfying to perform in front of groups.

I've been in that class for five years now. Six, come this October, actually. I've seen people come and go; I've seen people graduate (I've stuck around because Mrs. Linda, the puppet teacher/children's church minister, needs me) and people drop out. It's an amazing experience, and I'm so glad I got into it. 

I've participated in four different puppet competitions (we have competitions every February). The first year, we won Silver. The second, Bronze. The third and fourth years, we won Gold. Next February will be my fifth year competing in competition. And we've got to get Gold three years running! It's going to be epic!

So, why the random rant about puppets, you ask?

Today was the puppet show at my local library, for the summer reading program.

The songs were did were:

• Hey, People!
• (Some Song I Can't Remember)
• Turn Your Radio On
• I'm a Soldier
• We Are The Free (blacklight number!!)

The best part about the shows are the blacklight numbers. (Our competition songs are ALWAYS blacklight numbers.) We're all dressed in black, and the puppets are NEON. 

I have a short video to show you (it's TERRIBLE QUALITY, BY THE WAY, but don't let that get you down!) that's of our puppet performance. This is from the Trunk-or-Treat back in October. This is the song that we did for competition this year, but the competition was in February. We were able to practice A LOT MORE between this and the performance! :)

Now, as for pictures from today's puppet show, I have a few of those to show you as well :)

I had a microphone, and I felt all-powerful! (I did some speaking with my camel, Camille.)

Taken in the hallway before  the show began. The blacklight people really stand out, don't they?

This is Camille. She's pretty much my puppet. She used to be a stuffed animal, but we chopped off her legs and ripped her insides out. Now she's a dearly beloved puppet.

I've done Camille's voice for nearly five years now. I'm the only one whose hand will fit up her neck and into her mouth, actually. I was the only one who could do that when I joined, and nobody's had the guts to take her from me!

This is from a few days ago. THIS IS MY JOHN LENNON PUPPET!! He's absolutely awesome. (And those are my friends Hunter (the blond) and Christopher (brunette) in the background. They're weird.)

This is before the puppets started -- a few of the team who could play guitar played some songs and got the kids engaged. They played "Makin' Melodies," "Toe-Knee-Chest-Nut," and a couple of other ones.

The first song - "Hey, People!" I'm the puppet on the right on the front row - the tan one. I was also the main lead. I learned this song in just one practice, because I was back-up in case she needed me. I did awesome.

The second song. This one was pretty much done by the younger kids. It was a Veggie Tales "remake" of an older song. I can't remember what it's called; sorry! It involved a lot of animal puppets!

The third song. It's either called "Army of the Lord" or "Soldier of the Lord." I'm not quite sure which one it is. But it's really neat. There's  a LOT more to it than just these three puppets -- we have a ton of signs on the back row while this goes on. But Mrs. Dana wasn't able to capture that.

The fourth song - "Praise and Shout." It's a remake of a Beatles number. It looked AMAZING. Two guitars, Ringo on the drums in the back, and John Lennon singing. (I was Lennon, remember?!)

The fifth and final song - our Blacklight number. You can't see it very well because the blinds let in a lot of light, but thankfully Mrs. Dana had the flash off. See? This is what the neon's supposed to look like!

The blacklight number again. You can see the other half of the stage this time -- the guitarist and the drummer. (They look EPIC, by the way. I wish you could see this real-time.)

This is pretty much the full stage. I'm only sad that it's from the side, and therefore you can't see it head-on like you're supposed to.

After the show's all over, we come out and take our bows, while Mrs. Dana tells the assembled people about the puppet team and how we're going to be performing again at 10:15 a.m. on Sunday morning at my church. (I'm messing with my hair in this picture; sorry.)

The entire team, plus Mrs. Linda (our leader, on the right side). I'm in the middle of this picture, holding up John Lennon. Can you find me? :)

The performance was amazing, as usual. Maybe some day I'll be able to get a really nice-quality video to show y'all (we're performing Sunday morning in church, actually!!), but for now, these pictures and the video that I showed you will have to do! Sorry, guys!

If your church has a puppet team, by all means, join it! This has been absolutely amazing for me. It's broken me out of my shell a little, and while I still like hiding behind the puppet stage, I do a lot more with speaking parts now, because I'm a little more confident than I once was. If your church doesn't have a puppet team, I feel a bit sorry for you. If you want to start one up, you can try, but make sure everyone has some sort of experience before you do!! Puppeteering is expensive AND extremely hard. It took five years of struggling to get where I am. My teacher has probably a few decades of experience. Don't think that you'll just waltz right in and be able to do everything. 

It's worth every aching muscle, though, to see the kids' reactions. These summer shows are always packed, and people come year after year just to see us. It's what I look forward to as soon as school lets out.