Nursery rhymes come to life during puppet show

Young audiences will delight in an interactive puppet show coming to Lopez Library.

“Nursery Rhymes and Tales” by Parasol Puppets will be performed on Saturday, May 3 at 11 a.m. in the library’s patio meeting room. It’s a storytelling and puppetry event for the entire family.

Puppeteer Peter Allen manipulates simple string puppets in full view of the audience as he tells the story of a little duckling’s first experiences in “The Little Duckling Who Couldn’t Quack.” Children will also enjoy reciting and singing along as brightly colored shadow puppets illustrate their favorite nursery rhymes. The classic tale of “The Three Billy Goats Gruff,” told with rod puppets and lots of audience participation, brings this gentle show to a close.

Allen has been performing as a puppeteer and actor for almost 40 years. Born in England, he began doing puppet shows at the age if eight. A Canadian citizen, Peter has performed puppet shows in England, Scotland, Germany, Canada and the USA. Peter moved to Hawaii when he married puppeteer Debbie Lutzky Allen in 1986. They created Parasol Puppets in 1987 and successfully performed and taught puppetry from their Hawaii base for 10 years. In 1997, Peter, Debbie and Parasol Puppets moved to a farm outside of Jamesport, Missouri. From this central location, they continue to tour with their puppet performances to the East Coast, West Coast, Hawaii, Canada and many points in between.

“The Carter Family Puppeteers [who live on Lopez] recommended these folks, that’s how we found them all the way in Missouri!” said Rosie Sumner, childrens’ coordinator at the library.

“Nursery Rhymes and Tales” is sponsored by the Friends of the Lopez Library; admission is free.