Children's Theatre and Nature Conservancy in the Painted Desert...

And here, tardy, is my report on the trip to GORGEOUS Phoenix, Arizona, where I was welcomed with open arms by Nancy Smith, and an ARMY of beautiful puppets.

Phoenix is stunning.  Pure and simple. At the time that I went there, in March, the orange blossoms and bougainvillea were in riotous bloom; so much so, in fact, that the entire city was under one of the most beautiful clouds of natural perfume I have ever smelled.  Upon arrival at my hotel--which was simple, but clean, comfortable, and affording a priceless view of the Superstition Mountains, I was informed that there had been "a few scorpions sighted in the area," but that I should be fine.  Happily, I received no creepy-crawly visitors in my room, or anywhere else.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that my hotel was only a mile from the airport, and in an almost straight line only three miles from Great Arizona Puppet Theater.  After about a seven minute journey from my "suite," I arrived at a most beautiful site (spelling intended): GAPT is housed in an old (read: historical landmark) Mormon church building.  The building, reminiscent of an old Spanish Mission, is HUGE, made with infinite care, and thick, thick walls.  It is a beauty, and unlike many theatres, situated in the middle of a residential neighborhood of some means.

 

Stepping inside, I am greeted by dozens, upon dozens of puppets, of all kinds on display--all created by Nancy and her husband over many years of making theatre arts for children.

Soon, the theatre is packed to over-flowing--children in the front, parents off to the sides and in the back.  I begin to fear that the place will burst, there are so many children, babies, students, and parents in this place, but finally, all settles down to nothing but a murmur of anticipation.

GATP does puppet theatre from its heart.  The fare is a well-known story, The Three Little Pigs, and the PUPPETS...oh, the puppets.  Unfortunately, the sound system that they used to body-mic the actors left a great deal to be desired, so I, at least, sitting in the back, had a hard time understanding what was being said and sung, but the children in the audience simply ate it up.  And the puppets...

The show was darling, the students and families happy and bubbling...and once they had all departed, what I consider the REAL magic started. Nancy happily took me on a tour of the entire building--workshops, scene shops, backstage, offices, EVERYWHERE.  She is proud of what they have achieved and maintained for decades.  And she should be.  To not only continue in their given community, but to SERVE it, and to make it a better place, they have partnered with such agencies as the Nature Conservancy and the Desert & Water Conservancy in their area, creating puppet programs to travel to ANYWHERE they are needed in their community to teach about preservation, conservation, and green living.  They have also developed programming with a local dentist, to help educate very young children about how and why you go to the dentist--and to teach about health and nutrition in a way that children and families can hear.  Nancy is such a firm believer that this is the right way to reach out to children and to schools and families to make them aware, that these have become their biggest educational outreach programs.  She showed me the puppets created for these shows, and they are stunning.  And highly accessible to small eyes, ears, and hands.

GAPT showed me the art of Making a Difference in your community in action and practice.  I left there, wheels turning on ways to make more of an artistic difference in my own community.  As beautiful as it is, I am not moved to relocate to Phoenix, but I definitely brought some of it, and some of its artistic ideals and ideas home with me...hopefully to help make my own community an even richer place through the arts...

Very special thanks to Nancy Smith for taking a BIG chunk out of her day to host me...

                                                            Live long, and PUPPET ON!!

Alison is the recipient of a 2016 Creative Workforce Fellowship. This Fellowship is a program of the Community Partnership for Arts and Culture. Funding for the Fellowship program is made possible by the generous support of Cuyahoga County residents through a public grant from Cuyahoga Arts & Culture.