By Bina Thomson
The Greenwoods Puppet Festival returns to Norfolk for a third exciting showcase of puppet magic. Children’s Librarian and Event Coordinator Eileen Fitzgibbons, who has coordinated the previous two festivals, is busy fine-tuning this year’s offerings. In addition to a full day of performances, a puppetry workshop for adults will also be offered.

Festivities begin on Friday, May 29, with Eric Weiss, an instructor and founder of Homeslice Puppetry, teaching a creative design sock puppet workshop. This two-hour session is limited to 12 adults and teens, and participants will leave with their own creation as well as a behind-the-scenes look at the puppet creation process.

The fun resumes on Saturday morning in the library’s Great Hall for “The Doubtful Sprout” with Liz Joyce. Viewers will join Worm and Sprout for an underground journey exploring the teeming life found inside the soil. Joyce utilizes multiple puppetry styles along with visual projections and songs. The show is 35 minutes long, and while puppetry is for all ages, viewers 3-8 years old will especially enjoy this tale.
Joyce is an award-winning puppeteer whose formal training in fine arts and arts education elevates her work. She previously served as the president of Puppeteers of America, and her puppet operetta received a UNIMA citation, the highest award in American puppetry.

After lunch, attendees will cross the village green to Battell Chapel for a performance by Heather Henson, daughter of renowned puppeteer Jim Henson. She is an artist, producer and philanthropist and brings her show “Remember the Way” to this year’s festival. A treat for adults and children alike, this show takes viewers on a journey through Earth’s interconnected waterways and shifting landscape, guided by four cultural keystone animals: whales, cranes, sturgeon and bison. Employing ingenious interactive storytelling techniques, the puppeteers bring these creatures to life to remind viewers of the profound connection between backyard water systems and the greater oceans.

Henson says this work “combines playful expression with deep environmental empathy, inspired by wisdom and the interconnectedness of all living things.” The performance is co-sponsored by the library and Norfolk’s Church of Christ; both organizations strive to uphold a deep respect and connection to the natural world and all living things.

The final performance, by returning puppet artist Sarah Nolen, will be at the library. Her new show, “Party Animals,” introduces a band of animal friends navigating the social hurdles of planning their first party and finding music as a powerful form of self-expression. The show utilizes hand puppets and features a great deal of singing and dancing that will be sure to get audience members grooving along. Children 5-10 years old will delight in these relatable characters.

Nolen received her MFA through the Puppet Arts Program at University of Connecticut (yes! UConn offers master’s and doctoral degrees in puppetry) and is also a filmmaker. Her children’s television program “Treeples” (2016) has been shown at film festivals across the country and received the Mister Rogers Memorial Scholarship to support its creation.

The festival will wrap up with a puppet parade around the library and a meet-and-greet with the puppeteers.

Fitzgibbons took a moment to reflect on all the work that goes into a festival, particularly on the part of the performers. “Puppeteers are amazing,” she says. “They are not only artists, but musicians, engineers, educators, film makers and playwrights. Often, they are their own agents and managers and have to do their own promotion. You don’t take this path of storytelling unless you feel like it really is a calling.”
Speaking about the power of puppetry in the current geopolitical climate, she said that “The puppeteers I have been exposed to are activists. They are really aware of social issues, and I feel that they are creative, intelligent, big-hearted people who want the best for the world. They are shakers and movers, and the world can change through their stories. I believe in them.”

Attendees are invited to enjoy festivities on the library lawn between performances, and Fitzgibbons encourages everyone to dress up as their favorite character from a story or fairy tale to add to the whimsy of the day. Performance times are posted on the library’s website and social media.

The Greenwoods Puppet Festival is entirely free, thanks to the sponsorship of the Norfolk Library Associates, Battell Arts Foundation, Norfolk’s Church of Christ and the Connecticut Guild of Puppetry. Registration, however, is appreciated for each show and can be done through norfolklibrary.org/library-events.