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SALT LAKE CITY -- As with other performing artist, puppeteers are required to infuse their role with expression and imagination if they are to catch their audience's heart.
At the City Library Sunday, puppeteers competed with TV, movies, computers and video games as they set out to capture the attention of their young audience. Without surround sound or computer animation, puppets and their handlers told the story of Petrouchka, a puppet ballet about a Moor looking for love.
A historical performing art, puppets still attract audiences, young and old alike.
"I think the live performance of a puppet in front of an audience is a very big draw," said puppeteer Freddy Spencer. "Children are mesmerized by puppets whether they are on strings or on rods or hand puppets or shadow puppets. The mystique is still there. It's a magical moment and children can absorb it, as well as adults."
Spencer feels that live storytelling has power to it that something prerecorded or created does, and the audience reaction and spontaneity are as much part of the experience as the performance.
"I thought it was great. You just go right into the puppets, sink right into the show you don't even realize there is a marionette," said audience member, Pat Bennett.
The puppets for the show were designed and performed by puppeteers Heather and Darryll Taylor, and the ballet was choreographed by Mary Lou Martin.
