-Hi, I'm Curt, a New Victory teaching artist and a puppeteer.

Some puppets can be small, like finger puppets and hand puppets.

But puppetry can also be epic and on a huge scale.

Puppets, big or small, can tell the tallest of tales.

There are many forms of puppetry you might want to explore, like shadow puppets.

[ Exhales forcefully ] Or found object puppetry.

[ Mellow jazz plays ] But today we're going to focus on the art form of bunraku puppetry, which originated in Japan and is now seen all over the world, often involving multiple puppeteers working together to create one character.

There are many ways to make a bunraku puppet.

I made one out of paper a few years ago.

This is Suki.

There are three ingredients, as puppeteers, that we can use to bring Suki to life -- breath... First, the breath.

That's how we give life to our puppet.

Imagine that your breath is traveling down your arm, through your hand, into your fingers, and, finally, into your puppet.

You can show the audience how your puppet inhales... ...and exhales -- Ahhh!

The breath is also how you'll let the audience know how your character is feeling.

For example, are they happy and joyful?

[ Inhales sharply ] Ahhh!

[ Inhales sharply ] [ Laughs ] Or nervous and scared?

[ Panting ] Secondly, be super specific about where your puppet is looking.

It's focus.

Practice making your puppet look at specific things, like the ceiling... ...the floor... ...out the window... ...you.

Lastly, and maybe most importantly, we have to ground our puppets in the physics of reality.

There is nothing holding them up, except for us, so, we have to give them a sense of weight and gravity, especially when they move.

Now, this is where having another puppeteer can be very helpful.

This is my friend Mana from the new 42 Youth Corps.

Hi, Mana.

-Hi, Curt.

-Would you be able to help me puppeteer Suki's feet and take them for a walk?

-Sure!

-Great.

We have to lift each leg and place each foot down, in order for the audience to believe in the character and the world that they're living in.

Now that we have the three basic ingredients of puppetry -- breath, focus, and physics -- we can start to discover all the amazing stories that puppets can tell, unlocking our imaginations and taking us to places we wouldn't be able to go on our own.

Like the moon... Or under the ocean...

Finally, it's time to put together all that we've practiced and see what stories unfold.

Ready, Suki?

-Mm-hmm!

Once, there was a person who longed to visit the moon.

[ Tranquil tune plays ] ♪♪ One day, they woke up and discovered they could jump incredibly high.

♪♪ At first, they were scared.

But then they remembered -- the higher you leap, the more you can see.

♪♪ They landed on the surface of the moon and had never felt so at home.

♪♪ So, the next time you look up and see a full moon, know that you could be up there just as soon.

Wow!

Suki took us on quite an adventure today.

What stories could you tell from your community, culture, or family, using puppetry?

We can't wait to see the stories you come up with.

Have fun and we'll see you next time.

Bye!

-Bye!

-Bye, everybody!

-Bye!

Bye!

Bye!