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.