West Liberty, Iowa. It’s a nucleus of beloved racecars, the big Muscatine County Fair, and its internationally-known puppets.
For over 50 years, the Eulenspiegel Puppet Theatre has brought emotion and education to the town of less than 4,000 people.
“It’s the smallest puppetry center in the smallest town in the United States with a puppetry center,” says Monica Leo, puppeteer and managing director.
Small but mighty, as they say: The slight troupe has toured in over 30 states and four countries, putting on over half a dozen shows every month. Leo works with just one or two other puppeteers to put on each show, hosting regular performances and events near and far.
They recently hosted the annual New Puppeteers Festival (new, not necessarily young!), a tradition that began over 30 years ago. “This year, it was really almost half adults,” says Leo, who founded Eulenspiegel.
The day-long celebration introduces people of all ages to the art form—with consults from professional theatre experts and local teachers alike. They all walk away with a self-written and produced performance.
“The idea is anybody who is new to puppetry should try it out, make a show, build a show,” says Eulenspiegel puppeteer Stephanie Vallez. “It’s been really fun.”
STEPHANIE VALLEZ, PUPPETEER, EULENSPIEGEL PUPPET THEATRE“(Puppetry) provides a chance to think about something else for a minute, step outside your comfort zone, get to learning and stimulating your own brains. I think you really can’t overestimate the importance of escapism, especially when things in the world are a little iffy and weird.”
So what does it take to put on a show, especially with a small team?
Idea, outline, script, storyboard. Then it’s set and puppet building, lots of rehearsal, and booking.
Vallez and Leo have written plenty of shows for the local elementary school: one on washing your hands—“because my audience has sticky hands,” Vallez says—and others on the history of Iowa City and West Liberty’s Underground Railroad.
The Power of Puppetry
A fan favorite was the election show. Kids could vote for their favorite on-stage character via ballot (Turtle the environmentalist or developer Benny P. Beaver).
“‘P’ [in Beaver’s name] is for progress,” Leo says. “He wants to level the forest and build the world’s tallest beaver dam.”
“The majority of them chose Turtle,” Vallez says.
Puppetry can combine play with politics, silliness with seriousness. And that’s the point.
“People think they’re just watching a jolly little puppet show, and they don’t realize they’re learning a lesson in politics or history,” Vallez says. “I’ve seen puppet shows that had me crying the whole time.”
Over half of West Liberty’s population is Hispanic, so Eulenspiegel also hosts bilingual shows; working with Spanish-speaking puppeteers and musicians to produce them. Vallez says it lets everyone seep into community more fully.
“One year when we were doing the bilingual show for Children’s Festival, the kids were so happy,” she says. “They didn’t have a lot of English yet, and yet there was something here that they could enjoy.”
Puppetry can ground you in reality or bring you into a new one. It’s the most engaging—immersive and dimensional—tool Eulenspiegel puppeteers know.
“I think people are awfully tired of looking at screens and finding all of their entertainment by just sitting there with a screen in front of them,” Vallez says. “We’ve heard lots of teachers saying, ‘I don’t know if they have the attention span.’ And we’re like, ‘Yeah, they do.’ They do.”