Puppetpalooza!

OK gang, I’ve been pretty busy this semester with lots of Young Author shows and library summer reading shows, so it’s about time I got back to the blog.

Big event coming up!  It’s the Pupppetpalooza!!  The Central Illinois Puppetry Guild will be presenting a family friendly puppet show every Saturday between May 30 and June 27th, 2015 at the Lincoln Square Mall in Urbana, IL.

This event is in conjunction with the Urbana Public Arts Program.  The guild received a generous grant from the UPAP to work with some of the merchants in the mall to help provide the city of Urbana some for family oriented arts events.  This sounds pretty pompous, but essentially what were doing is helping the mall attract some foot traffic while spreading the word about puppetry.

Saturday, May 30th is Clothespin Puppets’ Saturday.  We’ll be performing our full Picture Book Show at 11:00  and then hanging out with the kids afterwards.   Below is a flyer with a complete list of guild performers and the schedule.

So, if you are in the Central Illinois area on any of these Saturdays, come by Lincoln Square Mall and see a great show!

Read Across America Time!!

Just a quick and simple plug for our next show.  Clothespin Puppets will be at the Lincoln Square Mall in Champaign, IL for the annual Read Across America celebration!   March is officially National Reading Month and Read Across America is the National Education Association’s signature program that focuses on motivating children and teens to read through events, partnerships, and reading resources.  You can check out the NEA’s website here.

The city of Champaign, IL sponsors a huge Read Across America day at the Lincoln Square Mall every year.  This is the second year we have been a proud part of the annual event.  The day starts at 10 a.m and runs until 1:00 p.m.  We will be performing on the main stage at 11:15 a.m. and 12:45 p.m. and also throughout the day.  Grab the kids, grandkids, nieces, nephews, neighbor kids, and come out and join the fun.  You can check out the Champaign Read Across America Day page here.

And below is a video put together by my friend Benard McKinley Jr. at Driving Force Productions.  It’s a promo video feature Clothespin Puppets at last years’ Read Across America event.