'The Night Zoo' Brings Magic to the Mission Vista Theater
What do you imagine when you hear the word puppet? Maybe about a hand puppet, well, the new puppetry program has been working on a showcase called The Night Zoo with puppets over 6 feet tall. This is a show unlike any other. Will it become a new MVHS tradition? Let's hope so!
The puppets in The Night Zoo were no ordinary sock puppets, these were realistic puppets with a great amount of detail, had-crafted and built by a team of student artists.
According to direct, Tania Yager, speaking before the show, “This show will NOT be like anything that has ever been presented at the school.” And she wasn't joking. The show, which took place on stage in the MVHS theatre on February 13, was not like the puppet shows many of us grew up with in the libraries and classrooms of elementary school. This show included puppets of all sizes: little ones, furry ones, and all kind of animals that you can only find at a fantasy zoo.
According to Yager, this new MVHS puppetry group has been working for months. Although Yager has been working with puppets for 5 years, many of the students involved were new to the craft. “Puppetry is not easy. You are bringing life to an inanimate object and the audience has to believe it's real,” explains Yager, who started the puppetry program at MVHS by recruiting students that wanted to join and make art.
The students involved were thrilled to be able to participate in a new, unique opportunity. Several student puppeteers were especially impressed with how they were able to control puppets so large.
“It's been a long time since we in the Western civilized world have believed in magic” said Yager, who has proven to those who attended the show that even our modern world could use a little more magic.