Z Puppets Rosenschnoz

These artists have won the support of the National Endowment of the Arts, Jim Henson Foundation, Puppeteers of America, Ordway Center for Performing Arts, Indigenous Performance Productions, NDN Collective, VSA, Metropolitan Regional Arts Council and over 40 grants from the Minnesota State Arts Board.

Shari and Chris have also served as creative consultants, teaching and performing artists for the Educational Theatre Association, Perpich Center for Arts Education, MN History Center, MN Children’s Museum, Science Museum of MN, Mill City Museum, performing arts centers, festivals, schools and libraries in rural, urban and suburban communities.

At the heart of all Z Puppets’ work is the people with whom Shari and Chris work. “It is a great honor and responsibility to bring youth and adults into the process of making meaning of the world through the arts,” says Shari, who began her work in theater as a playwright. Chris, who started his career as an accomplished juggler/street performer, adds “We are especially thrilled to instigate the transformative experience of sharing laughter.” Thus, their company motto: Behold! The Power of Playfulness.

STEAM of Puppet Making – available virtually or in-person

Explore STEAM with hands-on, creative sparks-flying, puppet labs! Participants build skills in design, engineering while working with simple materials to create their own characters — adaptable to any subject or topic. Choose from puppetry styles, mixing traditions with innovations:

Shadow

Black light (Glow in the Dark)

Toy Theater

Recycled Object Inventions

Hand Puppets

Parade puppets

Happy Places (Artful Aging)

Share memories and visions of your happy places! Through stories and visual art, participants create “toy theater” (small-scale, 2-D scenes and puppets). The artists provide simple instructions with frequent thoughtful and gentle repetition to accommodate people with memory loss.

Each session includes:

• Creativity warm ups to ease participants into the project with music, light movement and fun improvisation activities.

• Story circles for participants to take turns responding to the artist prompts and tell the group a little about themselves or their lives

• Toy Theater Making- using simple materials like magazine images, fabric scraps and paper, participants choose to draw or collage their ideas.

With multiple sessions and budget for artists’ editing time, participants can create videos putting themselves in their Happy Places (via green screen).

Surprise and delight each other with tales people might not expect to see and hear from your lives and imaginations.

Maximum of 9 participants.

Cellula – Full Theatrical Production 

A glow-in-the-dark performance of cell division through the lens of mother and child. Through humor, dazzling sound and spectacle, “Cellula” illuminates the true marvels of cell science inside us all. Like a bedtime story as told by biologists, “Cellula” fuses a unique style of playful naturalism with scientific beauty. “Cellula” features the live music of highly acclaimed improvisational vocalists Mankwe Ndosi and Libby Turner. Requires staged venues with audio and lighting support.

Monkey Mind Pirates Minds: Find Your Island of Calm – Full Theatrical Production, Community Theatrical Production, or Interactive Presentation (Customizable to Setting)

Come aboard our adventure with the Monkey Mind Pirates and learn how to navigate the stormy seas of stress! With this mix of puppets, storytelling, music, and yoga fun, students will find their treasure of calm. Z Puppets’ original songs, lovable characters and playful approach will teach students creative tools for turning  “Arghs” into “Oms.” Full theatrical productions requires staged venues with audio and lighting support.

A La Carte: In a Fool’s Kitchen – Full Theatrical Production or Customizable to Community Setting

A comedy about cooking! A playfully interactive comedy featuring clowning, puppetry, live accordion music and a few unruly vegetables in which a French Chef battles a wily lobster. Who knew crustaceans could cook up such delicious mischief?

Say It! Sing It! Play It! In Cherokee – Full Theatrical Production or Customizable to Community Setting

A musical adventure with a Turtle and Wabbit into the Cherokee language. Sing along and you, too, will learn how to count to three, make the basic sounds, say hello and thank you through catchy songs and fun storytelling by Cherokee Nation citizen Chris Griffith and Shari Aronson. Grandmother Turtle is upside down. Turtle and Wabbit must find a way to help her get back on her feet. Help keep Grandmother alive by singing loud and proud with Turtle and Wabbit!

The Amazing Gnip Gnop Circus – Full Theatrical Production or Customizable to Community Setting

Step right up and allow us to astound you with a glow-in-the-dark, ping pong ball spectacular! Acrobats! A tightrope Walkers! Clowns! Wild Animals! Thrill in the dizzying stunts and dazzling charms of our miniature marvels.

Secret Life of Puppets – Interactive Presentation

Take a trip around the world and across time to learn the tricks of turning sticks, cloth, string and even your own hands into fun characters. Z Puppets will present a dynamic demonstration of different styles of puppets that have popped up across our planet with dips into students’ hands-on exploration of what’s behind the magic!

Z Juggling Rosenschnoz – Clown Performance, Customizable to Community Setting

One man, no words, a gajillion balls and lots of laughter! Mixing tricks with innocence, Chris Griffith charms audiences of all ages with his juggling and physical comedy.  A blend of physical comedy and aerodynamics, Z Juggling is equal parts ooh’s, aah’s and ha – ha – haa’s. This show features no spoken words and lots of non-verbal communication which makes it very successful for audiences across languages. Customizable to community settings.