"Out of the Mist...A Dragon" Puppet Production Sept. 16

The Wood and Strings Theatre will perform a puppet show in the style of Japanese Bunraku at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 16, in Wallman Hall Theatre on the Fairmont State University and Pierpont Community & Technical College main campus.

Tickets are free to FSU and Pierpont students and to students at Fairmont State GEAR UP schools. Admission is $5 for the general public.

 

This spectacular show, presented by the Office of Student Affairs, the Fairmont State GEAR UP Partnership and the FSU School of Fine Arts, is produced by Clarissa Lega and Leon Fuller, who together with their company of performers, are known as the Wood and Strings Theatre Company.

"'Out of the Mist...a Dragon' is a journey around the world of traditional folk puppetry," says Lega, artistic director of the company.

The show uses reproductions of carved masks of Native Americans on the Northwest Coast, Punch and Judy from Europe and rarely seen shadow puppets from Indonesia. However, the main characters of the show are reproductions of the classical and exquisite Japanese style of puppetry known as Bunraku.

"They become very life-like after you start moving them," says Lega, who spent many hours researching the Bunraku movement. The two male Bunraku puppets stand 4 feet tall and the lovely young princess is 3 feet and 6 inches tall.

They feature jet-black hair, alabaster-white skin, exaggerated eyes and richly-detailed kimonos. The puppeteers are dressed in traditional black, complete with black hoods that cover their faces. It often takes as many as three puppeteers to operate a single puppet.

The story of "Out of the Mist...a Dragon" unfolds in the courtyard of a shrine located on a small island in Japan. Here, a samurai war-lord prays to his goddess to provide his daughter with a suitable husband. But when his daughter, Lotus, falls in love with a humble fisherman, the father becomes enraged. With the help of a magic incantation, he changes the fisherman into a spectacular 9 foot long dragon.

A kindly spirit takes pity on the unlucky dragon and gives him hope. To break the spell, the dragon must travel the world and obtain the keys of wisdom. Only then can he change himself back into a man and marry the beautiful Lotus.

It is during this journey that the dragon encounters the puppets of the world. Returning home with his new-found joy and knowledge, he at last has the power to defeat the father's spell and become a young man of great consequence.

"Almost every country has a tradition of some kind of puppetry," Lega says.

Under the direction of Clarissa Lega, producer, and Leon Fuller, director, this professional touring company is involved in all aspects of production. Collaborating with four highly-trained puppeteers and many other talented artists, they create works of puppetry for performance. Their attention to detail from story line through puppet and set construction and on to original music and choreography becomes a complete interplay of the arts in their final work.

For more information, call Dr. Francene Kirk at (304) 367-4170.