“The Creative Spirit within Puppetry Arts”—WAPASA’s 2025 conference in Ghent, NY—was a wellspring of inspiration and renewal. It was also a chance to meet people from across the country and around the world who share a passion for puppetry as a healing art, gentle pedagogical tool, community gift and spiritual pathway.

During the introductory evening on “A Search for the Sacred,” Michael Lipson (therapist and author of Stairway to Surprise) led us through various exercises that had to do with presence, encounter and dropping masks. I will admit, I am not always keen on encounter activities at group events, and I felt welling up within me that initial feeling of, Oh no! But the exercises were led with such grace and finesse—and everyone participated in such a genuine way—that I couldn’t deny their quiet power. I felt more connected to the group as a whole and to individuals within it after just a brief time. This was especially true of my first partner, who ‘met me’ at my most reluctant, before I’d had a chance to warm up and let go; with a brief smile we quietly acknowledged our shared, though unspoken, beginner’s discomfort and almost instantly helped each other move past it. Michael Lipson clearly knows something about breaking down defenses and creating connection. The presence needed for the kind of puppetry we delved into over the following days was enhanced by these guided first encounters.

That same evening, Jennifer Aquirre invited us on a journey through her beautifully crafted Mountain Pine Tree Story Puppet Apron, featuring the puppet John Muir, famous naturalist and author, as well as various characters from California’s Sierra Nevada, each of whom had a song or rhyme to share when coaxed out of their pocket home. Prior to the evening introduction, some attendees had engaged in an optional plant-dyeing workshop with Janene Ping; they surely have stories to tell about a wonderful immersion in color and fabric, and about the fickleness of weather when it comes to outdoor dyeing projects.

Each conference morning began with singing that somehow--despite the seeming odds given those first, halting attempts—merged into beautiful, harmonic melodies by the third session. Following the singing were whole-group discussions with special guest Nancy Mellon, therapist and author of several books on storytelling that were pivotal for me years ago as a young mother and new teacher wanting to open up to the power of story. Topics included cultivating attention in puppetry and storytelling, and the recurring themes of intention, destiny and freedom central to the world’s most enduring stories.

Participants then dispersed into their chosen, in-depth workshops on “Color Transparency Puppetry for Young Children” with Cindy Sydow, “Puppet Magic: Unfolding a World from a Suitcase or Basket,” with Mindy Upton, or “Pedagogical Puppetry” with Jennifer Aguirre, featuring a circle-time, interactive puppet show based on Sibylle von Olfers' classic, “The Story of the Root Children.” 

I participated in the color and light shadow puppetry option with Cindy Sydow, a true artist and skilled teacher who led us through the techniques and processes related to her intriguing medium in a way that enabled each participant to create something “presentation worthy” over just a few days’ time, while also leaving ample room for personal expression and varying levels of skill. Whether quite simple (as my own was), or more complex, the array of color-drenched creations that emerged were a true joy to see and experience.

The puppetry cabaret evening—introduced and MC’d by the Nashville, Tennessee puppeteers known as The Professor and Mary Mary, allowed for an entertaining outbreath followed by a chance for some of the conference participants to share presentations they’d created in their home communities or were in the process of developing. This was a showcase of whimsicality and meaningfulness, delight and depth. The evening also provided me a chance to present a bit of the thesis I recently wrote, titled “Waldorf Early Childhood Puppetry: A Balm for Our Times,” for an M.Ed. program at Antioch. It was a treat to be able to introduce the work to an audience that whole-heartedly shared the sentiment—uttered by Rudolf Steiner a century ago and which served as a centerpiece of my study—that puppetry could be “a remedy for the ills of civilization.” I appreciated everyone’s warm reception of a thesis presentation in the midst of a cabaret of puppetry offerings.

The following evening consisted of a gracious dessert and tea gathering at Janene Ping’s house, and a chance to experiment with color and light shadow puppetry on a larger scale in Janene’s home studio using Cindy Sydow’s extensive collection of sea-themed shadow puppets that lent themselves beautifully to the dreamy medium.

On the final conference day, we saw highlights of all the workshops—from a rabbit-themed puppet show that magically sprang to life from a small suitcase, to the Root Children’s circle-time puppetry journey, to our various color and light shadow-puppet creations.

“Delight” was a word—and a reaction—that seemed to bubble up frequently during the conference, and one we all came to understand as something quite different from “cute” or “sweet” or “endearing.” After all, the word itself means “of the light,” and that is what we are all wanting to open ourselves to, work out of, and convey. The photos in this newsletter give a glimpse of how artistic and uplifting the various presentations were, and perhaps even hint at how the experience of contemplating, crafting and creating together over several days readily makes friends out of a collection of strangers. Drinking in the participants’ final conference reflections, it was clear to me that the fruits of this puppetry gathering will lead to a ripple effect in everyone’s own community. I couldn’t help but be further convinced that Steiner was right: Puppetry is a balm for our times.