The public is invited to join “Puppets on the Path” as they celebrate the “Sounds of Niaulani” through a special blend of original music and puppetry representing the native rainforest in Volcano.
The performance will be at 3 p.m. Saturday in Varez Hall at Volcano Art Center Niaulani Campus in Volcano Village (19-4074 Old Volcano Road).
“Puppets on the Path” began as a special program at the Volcano Art Center in 1983. The production has grown to entertain audiences in schools, museums, shopping centers and sciences conventions statewide.
Their original stories of songs and puppets through the years have portrayed both marine and forest ecosystems of Hawaii, from coral reefs to the rainforests.
The “Sounds of Niaulani” celebrates the Niaulani Forest trail, where Ka ‘Apapane sings of her life among the hapu‘u ferns and ‘ohi‘a trees, and where young mamaki and ‘ohelo plants sing as they grow from a rainforest nurse log. This special blend of nature, science, music and puppetry is the hallmark of the “Puppets on the Path” productions which continue to bring “edutainment” to audiences of all ages.
Puppeteers and musicians include Kate Schuerch, Loren Brownlea and Dina Kageler.
This free family-friendly theater production is a part of the 50th year anniversary celebration for the Volcano Art Center, and is sponsored in part by a grant from the Atherton Foundation of Hawaii.
The Volcano Art Center is a nonprofit educational organization created in 1974 to promote, develop and perpetuate the artistic and cultural heritage of Hawaii’s people and environment through activities in the visual, literary and performing arts.