Based on a portion of The Book of Genesis, Children of Eden is about familial relationships, profound love and confronting the pain of letting go. This month, Theater Works’ artistic director Chris Hamby and music director Jennifer Adams bring this 1991 musical by John Caird and Grammy Award-winning lyricist and composer, Stephen Schwartz (Wicked, Hunchback of Notre Dame, Enchanted) back to the stage with 42 dancing and singing actors, masterful set designers, musicians and… puppets! So, when the quest for a unique puppet ensemble began, this prolific costume designer ramped up her repertoire. We sat down with Cari Smith to pick her brain about the many facets of puppet-making.
What drew you into making puppets?
I am first a professional costume designer, mostly for large scale musicals. But I first began costuming for children’s theater. As two crazy best friends, Chris Hamby and I began Vagabond Youth Theatre in the late 1990s. We produced a few shows like The Honorable Urashima Taro that required puppets to facilitate sea animals. Necessity is the mother of invention… so I made puppets! A number of years later, Chris asked me to build a few hand-rod puppets for Theater Works Puppetworks. I have been building them ever since.
How did you learn?
Sewing was the first step and if I go way back… in 7th grade I took home economics and we made stuffed animals from a kit. I think that is where my ability to create a two-dimensional something into a three-dimensional something began. But my true education into puppet-making from a real pro was working on Avenue Q, Jr. for Theater Works Youthworks. Chris Hamby called in David Stevens, a remarkably talented and seasoned puppeteer and puppetmaker from Atlanta, who mentored me through the whole process. I still use his processes today for hand-rod puppets. I have moved into other styles of puppets, as well. With those, I research a variety of possible creation and sculpting methods and then go boldly into experimentation.
How long have you been making them?
It’s been about 10 years now.
Do you work exclusively with Theater Works, or do you make puppets for other theater companies? If so, which ones?
I have produced puppets for Childsplay, Valley Youth Theatre, Stray Cat Theatre and Phoenix Theatre along with other corporate and private commissions. Some of my favorites are the woodland bunnies for Childsplay’s Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and an adorable set of black light aliens for Theater Works.
What types of materials do you use?
My materials vary as to the type of puppet. Mainly upholstery foams, closed-cell foams, wire, paint, thermoplastics and fabric. Creative elements come in the decoration… spoons and buttons for eyes, beads for teeth, yarn and fur for hair. Many puppets I have created were for black light shows. So all of the fabric used needed to be UV reactive or were painted with UV reactive paints.
Are you also a puppeteer? If so, in what production(s) have you performed?
I am not a puppeteer. I am merely a maker of things. I rely on my puppeteers and performers to inform me on adjustments and modifications to better their manipulation.
What happens to the costumes and puppets after the productions come to an end?
The puppets tend to get put into storage. Theater Works has a closet full of my work. Theater Works does reuse some puppets or remounts a show, but I think it depends on the shows. Maybe one day they will be displayed somewhere. Though, at times, especially [with] hand-rod puppets, some are meant to be disposable… after a long show run with a hot sweaty hand, it’s kind of like an old sock or shoe that can’t be washed… you can only Lysol them.
You can check out more of Cari’s work at carismithdesigns.com.
Theater Works production of Children of Eden runs from June 10-26, 2022, at the Gyder Theater in Peoria. Tickets are available at theaterworks.org/events/coe or by calling 623-815-7930.
