Puppet Theater brings environmental awareness to UNC

A giant trash monster, a huge robot and a pinecone pangolin will be among the creatures brought to life by Paperhand Puppet Intervention in their 20th annual puppet pageant, “We Are Here.”

Paperhand Puppet Intervention is a puppet theater company based out of Saxapahaw, N.C. and will be performing an environmentally focused piece titled “We Are Here” in the Chapel Hill Forest Theatre every Friday, Saturday and Sunday until Sept. 29.

“You’re not looking at an actor so you’re able to suspend disbelief and it’s a very powerful space when they get into this magical world,” said Donovan Zimmerman, co-founder and director of Paperhand.

Zimmerman said he grew up participating in art, drama and music, and was drawn to the synergistic energy of puppetry.

“I found puppetry and I just lit up like a lightbulb going off — this was the thing I was going to do from here on out because the possibilities are endless how you can approach the work, design and music,” Zimmerman said.

Attendees will see about 35 people on stage, a full band in the pit and puppets of all kinds, some of which are two stories tall.

“The music alone is worth coming over for, but it has so much for all ages, the second half of the show is all inspired by Japanese monster movies,” Zimmerman said.

One of the monster fights in “We Are Here” is between a pinecone pangolin and a giant robot.

“The pinecone pangolin, we call it, a scaled creature reminiscent of a pangolin and a pinecone, fights a giant robot and uses earth powers like fungal filament and micro-invertebrates that can get into the wiring,” Zimmerman said.

Paperhand’s band writes an all-original score for each one of their performances.

“The music is very moving, the puppets are creative, we have a giant trash monster that represents the swirling plastic garbage in the ocean,” Kathryn Wall, co-stage manager of Paperhand, said.

The trash monster is made out of everything from plastic forks to zip ties to potato chip bags and even Christmas ornaments.

“It’s not just a children’s show, the message this year is about protecting the environment and the trees that sustain us — but it’s not just an environmental message piece,” Wall said. “To me, it’s about the beauty of the world around us and whether or not we are going to step into a place of stewardship or if we’re going to stand on the sidelines and watch things be destroyed.”

The trash monster was built on commission for Greenpeace and was used for environmental activism during the summer before being included in the show.

“It’s more of a call to action, it’s an intervention, it's reaching into the business of everyday life with our art and saying for us to wake up together and rise up and resist the status quo which is destroying everything,” Zimmerman said. “We are trying to shift that with our piece, with our art.”

According to a Paperhand press release, Zimmerman said the mission of Paperhand is to inspire change within the community.

“I see the show this year as a challenge to step into a place in our environment that is of it, for it and not just near it,” Wall said.

@AaronJSugarman

arts@dailytarheel.com