We're getting ready to schedule the Summer Neighborhood Tour! This year's community-building tour will put special emphasis on shows for homeless shelters, neighborhood centers, and free meal sites. The tour offers free shows to people of all ages, promoting togetherness in a joyful atmosphere. Let us know if you'd like the tour to come to your location!
April 11, 2021: An exciting new community show!
REMEMBERING BUXTON
It’s time to produce another community puppet show!
Each year—pre-pandemic—Eulenspiegel Puppet Theatre has produced a show that’s performed by the Eulenspiegel crew along with a group of community members, adults and older kids. It’s a barrel of fun and a great participatory learning experience! This year we’re creating Remembering Buxton, a show about the unique southern Iowa town of Buxton, a coal-mining town established in 1900 where Blacks and whites were treated equally and Black Americans were leaders in the community.
Remembering Buxton looks at the town through the eyes of Anna Williams, a fictional white schoolteacher with a diverse student body and an African American husband and friends. We learn about the integrated schools, neighborhoods, coal mine, YMCA, and company store. We witness the dramatic fire that burned down the Y and attend an event featuring Booker T Washington. We listen to the Buxton brass band.
Puppeteers Monica Leo and Stephanie Vallez are collaborating with historian and author Rachelle Chase of Uniting Through History, a non-profit organization based in Ottumwa, and Dartanyan Brown, a highly regarded African American musician from Des Moines, to create this compelling show.
Eulenspiegel Puppets performs a brand new show featuring the fun adventures animals had while humans limited their community contacts. Based on true stories of animal antics during the pandemic, with a lot of imagination thrown in.
Eulenspiegel Puppets presents a new adaptation of The Bremen Town Musicians, a beloved Grimm’s fairy tale! In this version, Till Eulenspiegel’s donkey retires and makes common cause with a bluesy hound, a rockin’ rooster, and a jazzy cat.
Who will win the big election for Leader of the Beasts? Will it be Benny P. (for Progress) Beaver or Terry E.
Bring our bilingual show, Uncle Rabbit's Adventures, to your community!
Uncle Rabbit's Adventures uses large, beautifully crafted hand puppets and lots of fun props to tell the story of a wealthy land-owning goat who doesnʼt want to share with his neighbors.