Way back in the day – which, of course, was a Wednesday – we were all innocent enough to take the advice of a 6-foot yellow chicken puppet named Big Bird who, along with his friends, taught us how to spell, count and other important life lessons. Plush puppets were even enough to get us to imbibe Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. With this in mind, think of Weinberg junior Maya Nadison as Northwestern’s Jim Hensen. Last year, Nadison created L’tle Grain and the Sea-Bully, a puppet show meant to teach children how to react to bullying. Since then, the show has been performed around Chicago and Evanston.
Nadison sat down to talk with PLAY about her hopes for the show and why she thinks puppetry can touch lives around the world.
PLAY: How’d you get involved with puppetry?
Maya Nadison: I was working in the prop shop my first year with Ed Bevan – head of the NU prop shop – and I decided to take a class with him. He offered a class in puppetry last year, so I took his class. I liked it so much that I did an independent study with puppetry and health promotion. And I liked that so much that I applied for a research grant to create a puppet show about bullying, and I got the grant. With the grant I made the puppets and the set, and I wrote the script. Eventually I got a bunch of people from the theatre department to help out. I found a producer and a director and they made the show become real.
PLAY: How much preparation goes into a puppet show compared to an on-stage show?
MN: Oh, I’m sure it’s more with the puppet show because you actually have to make the puppets and the sets. And I’m inexperienced; I’m not a theatre major at all. Everything we used had to be made, so I pretty much made it all on my own. It took forever; I’ve been working on this since June.
PLAY: So it’s almost like a newfound passion?
MN: Yes, but I’m not interested in puppetry just for the sake of puppetry. I’m interested in making the puppets speak and deliver a message about health.
PLAY: Explain a little more about the message.
MN: Well, the show that I’m working on now is based on this “Stop Bullying Now” campaign by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Basically, since the Columbine shooting, many awareness campaigns have been established in schools to talk about bullying. Usually, these campaigns use traditional methods to teach the kids. I’m trying to put on a performance that will bring that same kind of education.
PLAY: So where have you performed so far?
MN: (We’ve performed) at Columbia College for elementary and middle school kids, and we’ve been to Evanston Hospital. Basically kids ages 8 to 12. The show is designed so you have a 20-minute performance followed by activities that engage the kids in shadow puppetry to show what they’ve learned about bullying.
PLAY: Do you think puppetry is more effective than a live-action show?
MN: Well, with puppets, kids can distance themselves from what’s going on. They can look at the puppets and not see that it’s actually an actor who’s saying those words. It’s a way of camouflaging the message. It’s more effective because it’s less controversial; it can say things the actors may not be able to say. It’s not so true in this country, but in Africa, for example, you have AIDS-prevention campaigns using giant puppets. The puppets can speak about AIDS and sex and condoms in a way that the actor cannot because it’s somewhat removed from reality.
PLAY: How far is this project going to go?
MN: Next year, I want to give the project to the Redmoon Theatre (1463 W. Hubbard) and have them use it as part of the community arts program, so I can work on a new idea. I’m trying to create a show with new puppets, new masks, new everything.
PLAY: This may be an odd question, but do you think puppetry can be an art form?
MN: I mean, I don’t consider socks that have stuck-on eyes that wobble a form of art. But when I do research on the Czech puppet masters – they’re all brilliant at it – I find they spend a tremendous amount of time carving faces and building sets and making sure the puppets move fluidly. That’s a form of art, not sock puppets.
