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Puppeteers Get Kids Into The Act

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By ANGELA DELGADO

The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 28, 2008

TOWN 'N COUNTRY - "Do you like to pretend?" Kim Rivers asked the audience.

"Yeeeeessssss," the crowd of about 40 children and babies replied in unison - as parents and caregivers looked on..

Good answer, considering Rivers and Jody Wren of the Creative Arts Theater were about to put on a puppet show for them, based the book "Hammy Birthday, Moon," by Frank Asch. The book is about a bear who wants the moon to talk to him and tell him when the lunar orb celebrates its birthday.

Rivers and Wren worked their magic on the kids June 19, engrossing them in the production by making it interactive. The children wiggled their fingers in the air to simulate grass. They raised their arms high to replicate trees. And they joined their hands over their heads to make a mountain.

When Rivers made the bear, the story's main character, dance, the children laughed. And they felt bad when the bear hurt himself.

The puppet show was presented at the temporary site for the Town 'N Country Regional Library and North Tampa Regional Library, at 5455 W. Waters Ave.

The Creative Arts Theater was founded about 40 years ago by Virginia Rivers, Kim's mother. It began as part of the city of Tampa's library system but in the late 1970s it moved to the Tampa Parks and Recreation Department's Creative Arts Division. The troop of four full-time employees and two part-time employees puts on puppet shows to promote theater and literature to children.

"There are a lot of children in our community that have never experienced live theater," said Wren, who has been with the theater for 32 years. "Maybe in their whole life, they'll never see another production, but they can see ours and it doesn't cost them anything."
Virginia Rivers wanted the productions to be free so all children could experience theater.

"Art is for everyone, not just those who can afford it," Kim Rivers said. "I want this work to continue. It's valuable."

For Rebecca Stumpfhauser, 4, of Town 'N Country, the show was a hit. She was there with her mother, Tina, and brother Joseph, 11 months.

She said she liked the show because, "...the moon and bear had a cozy tree and a cozy house. I liked the bear 'cause he was brown."

"I thought it was fun and interactive," said her mother. "We would definitely come to things like this again. She liked it."

That's music to Wren's ears.

"It's uplifting; when you get involvement from the children, its positive reinforcement," she said. "It's just a rewarding thing to make the children happy for that little bit of time."

UPCOMING PERFORMANCES BY CREATIVE ARTS THEATER
THURSDAY: Robert W. Saunders Sr. Public Library, 1505 N. Nebraska Ave., Tampa

JULY 8: Port Tampa City Library, 4902 West Commerce St., Tampa

JULY 10: Bruton Memorial Library, 302 McLendon St., Plant City

JULY 15: Thonotosassa Branch Library, 10715 Main St., Thonotosassa

JULY 16: SouthShore Regional Library, 15816 Beth Shields Way, Ruskin

JULY 17: West Tampa Branch Library, 2312 W. Union St., Tampa

INFORMATION: Hillsborough County Public Library Cooperative, (813) 273-3651; Creative Arts Theater, (813) 931-2106.

Reporter Angela Delgado can be reached at (813) 865-1501 or adelgado@tampatrib.com.

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