Junior League’s “Pelham Puppet Players” Puppet Show Packs the House

POSTED: JANUARY 2012

This past fall, the community was treated to a free puppet show at the Pelham Public Library. To the delight of the audience—children of all ages and their parents— the local third, fourth and fifth graders from “Pelham Puppet Players” brought to life the well-known folk tales featuring the puppets they had created themselves. The young performers enacted the stories such as The Four Magicians, Goha Gives His Son a Lesson About Life, The Very Smart Pea and The Princess, and Tricky Mr. Rabbit.

The “sold out” performance on Nov 9th was a culmination of the series of hands-up sessions conducted by artist Amelia Carling and librarian Lilly Hecker. Participants of the “Pelham Puppet Players” program were busy for two months preparing for the show. During the six 90-minute hands-on workshops held after school, the children read selected folk tales, discussed the morals of the tales, created puppets that represented the characters and enacted the stories using their puppets.

Pelham Referance Librarian, Lillian Hecker, explains an important takaway for the children who participated in the “Pelham Puppet Players” after-school workshops: “Kids and puppets make a great pair. No matter how shy or nervous a child may be, when he/she is holding a felt creature with a mouth that talks, shyness disappears because it is the puppet character that speaks.”

The “Pelham Puppet Players” program was made possible thanks to the volunteer efforts of the Junior League of Pelham. This is the second year the League has supported this successful program, as part of the ongoing community project, “Library Partners,” designed to promote a love of reading and library usage among children, explore the connection between reading and other forms of creative expression and increase the use of the Library by young readers.

The Junior League of Pelham is an organization of women committed to promoting voluntarism, developing the potential of women, and improving the community through the effective action and leadership of trained volunteers. Visit www.jlpelham.org for more information.

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