Moonstruck:
An Improbable Romance
She knows the Moon is in love with her. But how does she tell the moon the love is requited? Seek the answer in this imaginarium of winding thoughts, as a love correspondence with the moon unfolds through mechanical pictures, crank-able curiosities, and storyboxes.
This show was part of PuppetLab: Emerging Artists, a program with In the Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theater here in Minneapolis. In the show, I play a character named Maria Lou whose love for the moon compels her to write love letters. She sends her poetic letters by kite, hot air balloon, message in a bottle, from the edge of a mountain and finally by climbing a ladder that reaches through the clouds, past the stars and all the way to the moon! Maria Lou interprets delights of nature as responses from the moon and proof that the love is requited. The story is told through mechanical pictures and the audience is invited to turn cranks, squeeze bellows, and spin the set to animate the pictures.
The performance that accompanies this installation/set is delightfully interactive and engaging for audiences of all ages, and would certainly enthrall younger audiences as well as their parents. The rhyming language is playful and sweet and the imagery of the show is akin to a pop-up book that comes to life! This is truly an imaginative story about the importance of make believe. Children will also be exposed to the opportunity to have direct tactile contact with the puppets as they turn cranks and animate the pictures themselves!