43
Puppets bring stories to life
Photo
Neighbors | Alexis Bartolomucci.Children attended the Stevens Puppets performance on June 23 at the Boardman library to watch a performance of "The Wizard of Oz."
Photo
.Neighbors | Alexis Bartolomucci.The families had an opportunity to go behind the stage after "The Wizard of Oz" performance on June 24 at the Boardman library to get a closer look of the puppets.
Photo
Neighbors | Alexis Bartolomucci.Gnoli Raynor showed the children the Dorothy puppet up close at the Boardman library on June 24 after "The Wizard of Oz" performance.
Photo
Neighbors | Alexis Bartolomucci.Children had the opportunity to look at the marionettes up close after the show at the Boardman library on June 24.
By ALEXIS BARTOLOMUCCI
The Boardman library hosted a puppet show presentation on June 24 as part of the summer reading program.
Gnoli Raynor, a puppeteer from Stevens Puppets, performed “The Wizard of Oz” for families to watch using only 10 hand-carved, wooden marionettes. The show consisted of music and prerecorded voice-overs for the puppets to act along to.
Raynor’s parents, Dan and Zan, are the current owners of Stevens Puppets. She has been touring her entire life watching and taking part in the performances her parents put on for others. Stevens Puppets consists of 157 total puppets and performs nine shows. The puppeteers at Stevens Puppets travel all over the world putting on performances for families.
Raynor has been touring on her own for four years and says her favorite part is the children and watching them react to puppetry.
“There’s a lot of kids who won’t sit and watch a 45-minute movie or TV show, but they’ll sit and watch my show because they are so entranced by the puppets. I just enjoy bringing it back to the kids,” said Raynor.
Stevens Puppets specializes in classic fairy tales and literature. Martin Stevens, founder of Stevens Puppets, started the company in Middleberry, Ind. in 1933. They are the oldest and largest puppet company in North America, aside from The Muppets.
“My dream is to bring it back into mainstream media. I want to bring puppets that much more into society, have them on TV, on stage, in schools,” said Raynor.
Raynor is majoring in theater and studio art and hopes to use her studies to keep performing with Stevens Puppets.