A Backstage Pass to
The Eulenspiegel Puppets

Video by Gary Olsen
and Tina Benischek of the Clarke College Media Lab

he Eulenspiegel Puppet Theater is world renowned puppet theater troupe based in West Liberty, Iowa. According to their website, the Eulenspiegel Puppet Theatre is a non-profit company organized to promote the art of puppetry by producing and presenting high-quality performances and workshops. The company is committed to educating the public about the arts, serving as a center for the exchange of ideas, and enhancing the quality of community life.

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Co-founders of the company are Monica Leo and Teri Jean Breitbach (Monica actually was a student at Bryant, so it was a homecoming for her), and they have made it their livelihoods traveling the country and performing puppet shows, many of which have a moral lesson.

Their latest production was historical fiction based on true facts about the famed Underground Railroad that rescued thousands of runaway slaves and spirited them through a series of "safe houses" to slave free states and Canada. The legendary John Brown commandeered a rail car in West Liberty, Iowa, and transported slaves to Chicago just prior the Civil War. This story serves as the tableau for the adventures of a young slave girl named Gerty who manages to stay once step ahead of the bounty hunter on her odyssey to ultimate freedom.

The original puppet play and music was created entirely by the Eulenspiegel company.

What is utterly fascinating about this particular puppet theater is the educational component. Their workshops get kids excited about puppet making, and not just hand puppets but other kinds of performing avatars. For example, among the most exciting and dramatic sequences of the Eulenspiegel productions are performed using an overhead projector that casts its beam from behind the set onto a scrim. As soon as the shadow puppets appear, the audience becomes thoroughly engaged.

Shadow puppets have their origins in several cultures. The Chinese and the French were some of the most creative artists in shadow puppet theater. Eulenspiegel borrows heavily from several different puppet crafts. And here's the best part: They all appear in the same production.

Join our school reporter from Bryant Elementary, Morgan Esser, as she takes us back stage and interviews our guests. The movie runs about 10 minutes.

Thanks to Mrs. Bev Graves and the fine students of Bryant Elementary for inviting us to this wonderful production.
Morgan Esser operates one of the Eulenspiegel puppets and interviews the puppetmakers and operators. All of these photos are linked to printable enlargements. Just click on them.

The variety of puppet artistry spans several disciplines including shadow puppets (at right) and masks such as the one above. There are rod puppets and hand puppets in the production as well.

   
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