Rolande Duprey, a puppeteer with Purple Rock Productions, demonstrates the diversity of puppet-making and lectures on the history of puppetry. From the meager sock/stocking puppets of yesteryear to the animatronic puppets of tomorrow, this overview is intended to inform and entertain audiences eager to embrace the breadth of the medium.
If that isn’t enough to tickle the fancy of puppet fans, the Spring Valley Puppet Theater presents two puppet-based plays. The Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing, set in Mexico, is adapted from one of Aesop’s fables about a sheep, his protective shepherd, and a cunning fox. The second play is The Lazy Fox/El Zorro Perezoso, the story of a fox and an armadillo trying to outwit each other.
The History of Puppetry, July 24, $2-4, 12:15-12:45 p.m., Spring Valley Puppet Theater, July 25, $7-10, 1 p.m., Springfield Museums, 21 Edwards St., Springfield, (800) 625-7738, www.springfieldmuseums.org.