First performance

This is a photo from my first public Puppet Show. It was taken at Children's Fairyland (Oakland) in August of 1998 (very Pre-Swazzle!). The show was Little Red Riding Hood and the puppets were built by Tim Miller. The stage was designed by Nick Barone of Nick Barone Puppets. I used this stage unconventionally then. This show was performed standing up, behind a scrim. I've seen a few shows performed like this. Usually Punch and Judy shows. Roger Mara from Snapdragon puppets performs in a similar manner (and was my inspiration for this style). It's both comfortable and difficult to do this type of performance. It's great not to have to stretch so far to keep the puppet over the playboard but, it's very challenging to perform with your arms at a 45 degree angle.