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Sadecky’s Puppets brings show to North Elementary
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Neighbors | Tim Cleveland.Sadecky's Puppets performers Mike Sadecky (left) and Joe Milliren posed with their puppets prior to their show at North Elementary.
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Neighbors | Tim Cleveland.The Sadecky's Puppets stage takes approxinately 30-45 minutes for performers Mike Sadecky and Joe Milliren to set up.
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Neighbors | Tim Cleveland.Puppeteers Mike Sadecky and Joe Milliren performed a scene during the 40-minute Sadecky's Puppets show at North Elementary School.
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Neighbors | Tim Cleveland.North Elementary students filled the school's cafeteria for a performance by the Sadecky's Puppets touring company. Sadecky's does 300-400 shows per year.
By TIM CLEVELAND
In its 33rd year of operation, the Sadecky’s Puppets company puts on 300-400 shows per year with two teams hitting the road in several states.
Students at North Elementary gathered in the school’s cafeteria on Dec. 15 to witness one of three shows Sadecky’s puts on, “The Ice Skates,” which is the holiday show.
The other two shows Sadecky’s does are “Spun” and “A New Kind of Hero.”
Mike Sadecky and Joe Milliren were the performers putting on the show for the North students. It takes approximately 30-45 minutes to set up their stage for the 40-minute show that they do in schools, at shopping malls and parties.
The music and voices for the show were pre-recorded ahead of time, allowing Sadecky and Milliren to concentrate on manipulating the puppets.
“It’s a matter of memorization,” Sadecky said.
Sadecky founded the company with his brother Jay in 1981. He was asked what prompted them to start it.
“Just wanting to be our own boss,” Mike Sadecky said. “We had an interest in the theatre; he took some playwriting courses and I had some experiences with the puppets as a teenager. We decided to come up with a business model that would work in schools.”
Jay Sadecky writes the scripts for the shows while Mike does the music. While the company is based in Tarentum, Pa., Jay lives in Florida where he works on writing the shows, booking them and doing the accounting.
At its peak in the late 1980s, Sadecky’s Puppets was doing 1,200 shows per year with seven different teams on the road. There are two teams working now, one that works east of Tarentum and the other that goes west. The company has done shows as far south as Virginia, as far east as New England and as far west as Chicago.
Milliren celebrated his 25th anniversary with the company in September. He joined Sadecky’s from another puppet company. He said he’s made his living in theatre since 1985.
“I’ve worked on and off since then,” he said. “I also work as a voice artist for them on occasion as well as a puppeteer.
“It’s been a lot of fun.”
Mike Sadecky said all of the Sadecky’s Puppets shows have a positive message that is imparted to the children.
“All our shows have their own messages contained in them,” he said. “Some are anti-bullying messages, some are health-related, some are community, citizenship, things like that. They’re all based on character-building points.
“We get a lot of satisfaction out being able to bring those character-building messages to the children and see their faces light up when they see the shows.”