What began in the spring of 2025 as the seed of an idea, to bring together puppetry and visual arts to celebrate the elements, grew steadily over the summer, and in November became a month-long interactive community event which involved many local artists in addition to the gallery exhibit and three performances of the puppet play.

The Opening Event, which took place in the new gallery at our local community center, featured a blessing by a local Snohomish leader, an invocation of the Elements by the Women’s Frame Drum Collective, and the presentation of life-sized Spirits of the Elements with original poems composed by a local poet, accompanied by traditional tunes from an Irish musician. Children followed with fish, bird, flower and butterfly puppets that they had made in a workshop the week before. The Gallery was overflowing

The Fool, a character from the puppet play, appeared briefly to invite the participants to attend the puppet play premiering on the following day. The ceremony began and concluded with the dramatic reverberations of a giant brass gong.

I wrote the puppet play, “Laughing, Crying and Catching the Threads,” as a story to illustrate the enlivening qualities of the elements, not only in nature but also in each of us.

“On the far side of the rainbow lives an old woman She is a weaver. She sits by her loom all day long weaving together the earthly and heavenly threads of life. Her tapestry is a magical covering for the whole world. It is made of earth, water, air and fire.”

In my introduction, the audience learns that this story drops the veil between worlds- between the outer world we can see and touch and the inner world of our dreams and visions, between visible nature and the invisible forces and beings behind nature. The story also helps us dissolve the separation between our individual worlds and allows us to experience what we all have in common.

“And what do you have to do with water?” The fool (who is full of riddles) asks the child who has wandered over the rainbow. “I drink it when I am thirsty” replies the child. “Yes,” says the Fool. “And there is more. You are mostly water, salty water like the ocean. You can rush like the ocean, flow like the river and there is a deep pool of compassion, here in your soul.”

Five puppeteers, a narrator and a musician created each performance. Each of the three performances included a participatory activity with a guest artist. For the first performance our guest artist guided the audience in an improvised walk in nature. Our second guest artist led us in singing songs that celebrated the elements. For the third performance a classical guitarist graced the audience with four original compositions, one for each of the elements.

While each event was unique and enjoyable, collaboration was the overarching theme of the festival, and for me, this was the aspect that was most satisfying and most in tune with the needs of our times. I am so grateful to my chief collaborator, Melissa Koch, and to Alice Springs, who painted the scenes for the Cranky, and to my fellow puppeteers, My Huynh, Debora, Brie and Mary, and our narrators, Michael and Lori. There were so many others, too many to list, who contributed and supported the project, and I send them my thanks as well!

The puppet play was full of magic (the children hardly blinked!) and the collaboration of the team of puppeteers and all the other artists was equally full of magic. During rehearsals, the Opening, and the performances we could feel the presence of the spirits of the elements watching, listening and weaving through our play. It was as if the Fool was saying, “Yes, and there is more.” “When you work consciously with the elementals, they come close and work with us.”