Patrons can check out creations from library
SAXONBURG — The South Butler Community Library now can offer puppets as a part of its collection.
Any patron in good standing with the Butler County Federated Library System will be able to check out some of the huge puppets taking up residence at the library, 240 W. Main St., until November.
“So far, the response has been really positive,” said Library Director Mandee Williams.
The library has five puppets: a giraffe, a dog, a green rabbit, a sun and a flower. They range from 7- to 11 feet tall. The puppets made their debut at last week's Mingle on Main event.
Patrons can check up to three of the puppets out at a time for one week. Although any Butler County library patron can check them out, the puppets must be checked out at the South Butler Library.
The puppets were created by Pittsburgh artist Cheryl Capezzuti and are a part of her studio's Puppets for Pittsburgh initiative.
“They're really fun,” Capezzuti said.
The puppet heads are made of papier mache on cardboard, and the bodies are made of cloth. The puppets have a backpack frame that operators put on.
“It's very simple, and lighter than your bookbag,” Capezzuti said.
Inside each puppet is a pole attached to the frame to hold its head up and two sticks for the operator to move the arms.
“They're fairly simple to operate,” Capezzuti said.
Part of the fun, Williams said, is the operator can see through the puppet's cloth body while wearing it, but other people cannot see through the cloth from the outside.
“It's just so much fun when you are in it and you are anonymous, and you look at people's faces. The reactions are amazing,” Williams said.
She said the puppets could be used for school and community events.Puppets for Pittsburgh has been around for 10 years.Capezzuti has been making puppets since 1996. In 2005, she began loaning the puppets out directly to different organizations. About three or four years ago, she became involved with the Allegheny County Library Association to loan the puppets out to libraries, such as the Braddock Carnegie Library and the Bethel Park Community Library.Williams has been a puppeteer for Capezzuti for the past few years. She became the library director in Saxonburg in March.After that, she asked Capezzuti if she would be interested in doing a puppet workshop at the library. Capezzuti offered to loan the library some of her creations.“I was really excited to do that,” Williams said.Capezzuti said she was excited to expand the program into the county.“It felt like a great fit,” Capezzuti said.Currently, Capezzuti has 300 puppets in her collection. All of the libraries return the puppets to Capezzuti around the end of the year so they can be used in the First Night Pittsburgh parade. Capezzuti is the parade's artistic director.Capezzuti said she is open to having the library take in the puppets again.Williams said the library may get more puppets in the next few months and would like to see them return next year.And the library will be offering two puppet-making workshops.An adults-only happy hour workshop will be at 5:30 p.m. Thursday. There will be a family-friendly workshop at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday.
