| Hi! Here are some details about myself: |
| My name is: |
Hank & Darlene Brooks |
| I have a home page at: |
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| My occupation (when I'm not doing puppets!) is: |
Retired |
| My approximate age is: |
60+ |
| I live in the state of: |
|
| ... in the country of: |
United States |
 |
| Here's some information about my church or puppetry organisation: |
| My organisation's name is: |
Grandma & Grandpa's Puppet Time |
| My organisation's website is at: |
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| Some of My Puppetry Background |
| Q: Why do you write puppet scripts? What motivates you? |
| Darlene and I have been doing puppet plays and singing songs for pre-school kids for at since the mid 1970's. Our interest has been re-kindled as our grandkids enter this age group. |
| Q: Tell us about your church or puppet organisation. |
| Our group consists of Darlene and myself along with our daughter, Connie (the one who gave us grandkids). Our plays use hand puppets and we use large animal marionette puppets to engage the kids before and after the puppet plays. |
| Q: How did you get started in puppets and what attracted you to this area? |
| We started by singing songs to kids at Sunday School. A natural extension seemed to be to use puppets to tell simple stories and sing along to our songs. |
| Q: Where does your inspiration come from to write puppet scripts? |
| First I become aware of the need for a particular type of play, usually from our religious program. Then my wife and I kick around how we could simply tell this story so it will be understood by kids. We check this web site for ideas. We look for a "hook" or clever way to get our point(s) across. |
| Q: What advice would you give to someone just starting out in puppetry? |
| Have fun, keep it light and simple and borrow ideas liberally. Don't try to re-invent the wheel or use plays exactly as written. Look for useful ideas and adapt them to your needs. Don't be afraid to make mistakes. Go for it! |
| Q: Who are your favourite puppet characters and what do you like about them? |
| I like our grandma & grandpa puppets (maybe because I'm a grandpa myself) because they enter a script to impart wisdom and settle thing down when the puppets are creating chaos. |
| Q: What are the most important qualities in great puppet scripts? |
| Remember your play must speak to your audience! The play should have a simple message which has a moral, be fairly easy to execute and be fun - both for you and the audience. |
| Q: What would you do if you were a puppet? |
| I would love to be a silly puppet that makes the little kids giggle. It would be great fun to see the smiles on their faces. |
