I read a lot of times their are puppetgroups in churches, we don't know that here in Holland and I'm wondering what they are doing. How does it works, what are they doing, only for in the church or on the street too....so a lot of questions. May be some of you can anwser a few.

In my church the puppet teams are in charge of children's church in the morning during the worship service.  We also do performances during the mid-week children's program.  Sometimes we do special events like Mission Festivals.  Most of the time the puppet programs are for the children only occasionally do we do something for the whole church including the adults.  Hope this answers your question - let me know if I can answer any more.

There are Puppet street ministries. Where puppets are performed using vans or trucks that are constructed into stages. These become ministries on the move that go out into rual and low income areas that can not attend church. Some call it Street Sunday School. It is a very effective ministry and has become popular in many areas. Families will actually bring fold up chairs and blankets for the kids to sit on to watch the Sunday morning skits.

Billy D.

Billy:

I have not heard of puppet street ministries before. Sounds cool! Have you tried this?  Is the stage the width of the van or truck then?  How many puppeteers?

Gompie:  Our church is starting to use puppets.  They are used in the children's Sunday school hour.  Often the puppets will introduce or reinforce the lesson that is being taught in the Sunday school classes. 
The church I grew up in when I lived in Ohio used puppets during the summer in a program called VBS.  It stands for Vacation Bible School.  VBS is designed as a way to introduce Jesus and Biblical concepts to both the kids who attend the church and any kids who would like to come.  VBS lasts one week - Monday throught Friday.  Kids come every day from morning to lunch.  Puppets are used to entertain the kids and introduce the lesson taught later in the day.  VBS includes snacks, games and crafts too, so it's a real kid pleaser all around.  My kids LOVE going to VBS.  Many churches here in the United States have them and have them scheduled on different weeks, so a kid could go to more than one in a summer.  Moms drop kids off and pick them up later so moms like it too because it's like free child care!

Pam

Pam

I have not had one myself but have known friends usually Husband and Wife teams. Have you ever seen the food vendor trucks that the sides lift up and it is open. Well they use these type vehicles or pull behind cabs and add drappery to the opening. This leaves plenty of room inside to move around, store puppets and house sound equipment.
I have seen custom made ones from vans. Some convert uhaul type trailers into moving stages all with these custom type openings that make up the stage. I'll see if I can locate some pictures.

Billy D..

update:

I did find one site showing a stage
http://www.sidewalksundayschool.org/languages/english/pages/vehicle.htm

I found this site with drapery ideas............ very nice stage curtains.
http://www.haynesmarionettes.com/Puppets.html

Here we have a few professionel puppet theater groups (that work with thema's from the bible anD Gods word) they go to churchs who invites them. In churches puppets are used but what I have seen only a little bit but teams I don't know.
We know VBS, I know a team that has a progamm in the afternoons and do a lot of watergames ans another outside games after one hour sit and listen to the bible story.
Lj is everyone playing the puppets the who tells the story or one person that plays the puppets ??

Gompie, We usually have three or four puppets (each puppet being manipulated by a different puppeteer) acting out the story in a dialogue format.  The stories are written like plays with the puppets being the actors, does that make sense?

o allright that is totally different than I saw here (besides the pro theatergroup i saw years ago)

Thought I would share a article writen by our own P&S member Ron G. It tells a story about street ministries.
http://spoon.as.wvu.edu/spoon-bin/archive/archive_msg.cgi?file=spoon-archives/puptcrit.archive/puptcrit_2001/puptcrit.0106&msgnum=75&start=3897&end=3982


Billy D.

I wanted to add that there was a group here in Georgia when I lived down in the next county ten years ago that sent out something like a U-Haul truck to different neighborhoods and apartment complexes where lots of kids lived. They set it up so that they rolled up the back door and had the stage facing out of the back of the truck and gave the show from there. As I recall after they had rolled up the back door they also fastened loudspeakers to the back bumper of the truck for their sound system. They parked in the shade under some big trees in our neighborhood, but it still must have gotten hot in there. I didn't notice if they had any fans set up inside, or other ventilation.

There have been a lot of different variations of portable puppet stages over the centuries. I have witnessed a few outdoor performances which were very well received. I love the idea of bringing the performances to the audience - especially when it is children who wouldn't be able to attend a show in another town, or even another part of their own town. I wonder if anyone has done an entire VBS that way, and not just portable puppet shows. Back when I used to teach Sunday School it was a special treat for the kids when we held classes outdoors on nice days - though it could make classroom management more difficult, when there's no classroom.

 

Ron G.