Stories of the Summer part 1 of 5

Written by Magan Carty

On Monday, June 6, Nakai Theatre’s ensemble doubled in size with summer staff arriving from Ottawa and Vancouver to join the team. Jacob Zimmer, Norah Paton, Jordan Kaltenbruner, Claire deBruyn, Courtaney Raadschelders and I, Magan Carty, dove headfirst into our Big Fish Summer.

Within the first hour and a half of working with Nakai, I was fully immersed in one of their biggest puppets, Allison Button’s Frida Fox, having climbed inside her with a glue gun and screwdriver for emergency neck surgery. By noon, she and a plethora of other puppets had emerged from hibernation in storage and were ready for their 2022 performance debut.

Waiting for our cue around the corner from the LePage Park stage, I met Nakai regulars Nicole Bauberger and Susie-Anne Bartsch, who had both created new puppets this year. Nicole grabbed the puppet I first set my eyes on – a pink and blue jellyfish cleverly fabricated out of a beach umbrella by Claire Ness – while Susie-Anne strapped into the headpiece of a giant salmon, handed out its middle pieces and tail, then gave us newbies a crash-course in manipulation of the five-person puppet created by Linda Leon.   

Before I knew it, we were following Jacob’s dancing Frida to the playing space and accompanying the band with our parade of puppets. I swam through this park I’d never been to before as the tail-end of a big fish, following the trail of the four other salmon puppeteers in front of me. I had been in Whitehorse less than 24 hours and was 5,407 km away from my comfort zone, but already felt at home. This was going to be a special summer. 

We returned to Arts in the Park every morning that week and made hundreds of mini cardboard fish puppets on sticks with kids while different bands played live music each day from noon to 1 p.m. Our puppet-making station was swarmed from every angle on Wednesday, which featured a special kid-focused performance. By the end of the concert, schools of colourful, googly-eyed fish were everywhere in the crowd, dancing along with the children who made them. 

JOIN IN THE FUN! Visit us at Wondercrawl, Friday September 2nd