Puppetry is not just for playtime: Linnihan presents workshops starting this week

by Travis Ryder
Puppets aren’t just child’s play.  They’re a longstanding theatrical tradition and they can take on serious roles on stage and in the public square.  That’s part of what Theresa Linnihan is going to be teaching in a series of workshops starting this week in Grand Rapids.  Linnihan has run a children’s theatre in Massachusetts, and worked with the improv group Brave New Workshop in Minneapolis. Now she works with the Czech-American Marionette Theatre and the Puppeteers' Cooperative in New York.  She’s visiting family here this summer and presenting sessions on puppet building and improvisation at MacRostie Art Center.  I started my interview with her by asking about how puppetry helped her children’s theatre performances adapt to an outdoor space:  
Theresa Linnihan on Puppets, Improv, and this summer's workshops
Puppet-building sessions will be 10 to noon Tuesdays and Thursdays, July 12-28.  Another option will be Monday night sessions from 5 to 7.  The 10-foot tall puppets will march in the Tall Timber Days parade.  Improv classes are offered from 1 to 3 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays through August 18.