Another Bloomin' Puppet Company talked puppetry Wednesday in front of 90-100 IUP elementary education majors in the HUB Ohio Room.
"Dr. Millwood saw our demonstrations of puppet making and puppet performing at the Kids Konference," co-founder Rob Stoerkel said.
"Dr. Millwood thought it would be a good idea to do a demonstration in front of the elementary education students. He thought that the demonstration could give the students some kind of passion for getting their own future students involved."
Stoerkel said a "passion" for getting students interested and involved through puppetry is important to have in today's teaching world.
"To bring puppets into education makes students want to learn," Stoerkel said. "Puppetry is something different that can be brought to the classroom and can increase interest in learning.
ABPC uses full-size puppets, animals, insects, marionettes, hand puppets, sock-puppets, inanimate and caricature puppets in their theatrical tales and puppetry workshops. Co-founders Leslie Swentosky and Stoerkel put on a Hamlet demonstration to show how the use of puppetry can be both informative and interesting in the classroom setting.
Swentosky, with a diagram, explained the process of creating various kinds of puppets from scratch. Stoerkel informed the students on how to get children involved in telling their own stories.
"Children sit and tell their own stories," Stoerkel said. "Then we take what they say and turn it into a story, then change the story into dialogue."
"The presentation was well received and their interest in the puppets and in having their own future students create their own stories will allow them to incorporate that into their future lesson plans," Stoerkel said.
The students enjoyed the presentation.
"I think that this workshop presented a good opportunity for the elementary education majors to learn how to construct and incorporate puppets into their future classrooms," Jodi Abraham (graduate student, school psychology) said. "Puppets can make learning interesting."
Abraham worked the puppetry demonstration as Dr. Millwood's grad student.
ABPC will perform in 2005 for nonprofit organizations alongside "Partners for the Arts" and is currently in its second year of performances.
"We can go into schools and our plays are both entertaining and have a message," said Stoerkel, "We try to put on true G-level entertainment.
"So much of G-rated entertainment just isn't G-level anymore."
However, even if the stories are tame, they are important.
"When you see us perform, you'll understand that although our 'cast' may be puppets, our stories are alive," Stoerkel said.
Another Bloomin' Puppet Company can be reached at www.bloominpuppets.com.
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