HSC Bensonhurst Senior Center

Puppet Project

Blog 10 10/14/2021

Today Bensonhurst Senior Center is celebrating the Double Ninth Festival (Chong Yang Festival or Chung Yeung Festival) with an outing for the seniors, so our class was moved to 9am. According to the I Ching, nine is a yang number; the ninth day of the ninth lunar month (or double nine) has too much yang and so is a very auspicious date. 

We began with breathing and voice warm up exercises as we shall be voicing our puppets soon. Our seniors did a fantastic job in finishing the head of their human puppet and we enjoyed sharing them on zoom. Pun’s puppet had a decidedly French aspect with a pencil thin moustache and jaunty cap made from newspaper. She also made a female puppet and added a pink cap. So Sim knitted a white beret trimmed in beige for her girl who had braids plaited from black wool and bangs made from tissue paper. So Sim completed her with a pair of red earrings. 

Ru Ping’s puppet reminded me of a gypsy with an orange scarf tied around her head. She added a baby blue bonnet. Hui Fen’s female puppet has shoulder length black hair made from strips of paper and black bangs. She used her grandchild’s bonnet as a hat. She wore colorful drop earrings and Hui Fen placed a bindi on her forehead, symbolizing marriage. Jing Wei continued with the idea of strips of newspaper for hair, which sprouted from the head of her puppet making him look like a court jester or a punk. 

Sook Fong made a traditional conical hat from a paper plate which she decorated in a floral pattern. Her female puppet has rosy, red cheeks and green earrings. She made the hair from red and blue tissue paper. Stella’s big-eyed puppet has a red sun bonnet and an orange scarf around its neck. Lao Yu added bags under the eyes of her male puppet. Under his long aquiline nose, he has a curling moustache and a black goatee beard making him look quite rakish! 

The seniors used the pattern supplied to cut out the cloth for the puppet’s costume and hand sewed it together. Keeping with the French theme we listened to Edith Piaf while we were working. Next, they chose colorful felt and made a jerkin. Using the pattern for the human hands they cut out two and sewed them into the costume then sewed on the buttons. This was a good review of the techniques they first applied when making the animal puppet’s costume. For homework they will add any necessary trimmings to their costume. Can’t wait to see their creations!

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