Dear Diary:

School's been out for three or four weeks now, and my little sister and I have already gone through every toy and comic in the house--it's really boring!

Last night Mom finally gave in and said she'd take us to the puppet show, the Second International Puppet Theatre Festival of the Asian-Pacific Area (I think that's what it's called). So after lunch we all dressed up and set off.

When we got to the Youth Cultural Entertainment Center we saw a lot of grownups and kids going inside. We were early so we got seats, but some of the kids who came later had to stand in the aisles.

The first group was the Kingfisher Puppet Theater Troupe of Japan. A man with a black shirt, black pants, and a black cap worked a little puppet up and down in time with the music and back and forth on a swing. It looked very happy. Because the puppet was so small a lot of the kids without seats moved up near the stage, and some of them started fighting and playing around.

Pretty soon a little dog puppet came out. It could jump real high, but when the box was too high and it couldn't jump over it, it would roll over and play dead or ask for a treat, just like our dog Frisky.

Then a little puppet as big as the palm of the hand jumped out of a box. His arms and legs were linked together in sections. He danced a wild dance and he played all kinds of pranks. My sister couldn't take her eyes off him, and even my mother kept laughing. I wish I had a puppet like that so I could put on a show at home for Mom and Dad and Sis.

After the Japanese group came the MeeRai Theater Company from South Korea. The program they put on was an ancient Korean folk story called "Red Fan and Green Fan." I didn't really understand the dance, but it was a lot of fun watching the puppet's nose get bigger or smaller whenever they waved a fan at it.

The next group came from the Philippines. It was called U.P. Teatrong Mulat Ng Pilipinas (I kept the program so I'd remember). They didn't use any backdrop; they just wore covers over their heads. They did a folk story too. It was about a monkey king who ordered all the animals in the jungle to keep quiet because he had a headache. One day a little yellow bird reported that the frog had talked and broken the rules. The monkey king asked the frog to explain why. The frog said that he was frightened by the tortoise, which carries his house on his back. The tortoise said that he was scared by the firefly carrying fire. And the firefly said that it was scared by the mosquito wearing a sword.

The monkey king decided that the mosquito was guilty, and he ordered it to stay still. He grabbed a hammer and was about to hit it, but it flew onto his head and he hit himself in the head instead.

I thought maybe that would make his headache go away, because when the radio broke once at home Mom hit it and it worked again. Every time a different animal came out the music was different. I liked the tortoise best. He wore a tie, and he could stretch his neck way, way out. My sister thought the mosquito was really mean: The monkey king already had a headache to begin with, and on top of that it made him hit himself on the head.

The last show was by the Rodsiri Theatre Company of Thailand. It looked a lot like a Chinese puppet show. The puppets all wore shining gold costumes. The play was called "The Female Cannibal of the Ocean." It was about a mermaid who ate people and who fell in love with a human and they had a son. When the boy grew up, he and his father ran away, and it made the mermaid very sad.

A lot of kids were running around by then, and one of them started crying for his mother.

By the time the shows were over it was already dark, and Mom took us to McDonald's. It was the happiest day of my whole vacation.

August 27

Dear Diary:

Time's gone by and school's getting closer and closer. I called my classmate Bobby this morning to ask him if he'd finished his summer assignments. He told me his mother had taken him to see the Moki Children's Theater a few days ago to encourage him to finish his assignments. He said they were going to put on four more shows today at the China Times Plaza, and I should try to see it because it was really good. That's close to where I live so I decided to go there and take a look.

When I woke up from my nap I looked at my watch--it was already 2:55! When I got there everybody had gone inside and it looked like the show had already started. I gave my ticket to the girl at the gate and she helped me find a seat.

There was a big grownup lying on a table in front, and two puppets wearing red clothes and hats were dancing on top of him. Pretty soon a bunch of other puppets came out, all made of stuff you can find around the house. The one carrying a toothbrush called himself the king. And there was one with long hair called Madonna who kept talking a lot. I asked the kid next to me what was going on and he said that the big guy chained to the table was called Gulliver. It was Gulliver's Travels, right?

After a while some other big people came out, squatted down, and started walking around swinging their arms and twisting their faces, just like monkeys. A lot of kids yelled, "Monkeys! Monkeys!" Then a hat seller came out and sat down to rest. When he fell asleep, the monkeys stole his hats and imitated the way he slept. When he woke up and found that the monkeys had taken his hats, he thought of a way to get them back. He threw his own hat into a basket, and all the monkeys did the same thing. I remember my teacher telling us that monkeys like to imitate people.

Next were two grownups dressed like little girls, Mary and Jane. On the way to school they met a bad man who tried to get Mary to go with him by saying that her grandmother was in the hospital. And then he tried to borrow money by saying he was lost and needed it to go home. But Mary and Jane were smart little girls and he didn't fool them. Their parents and teachers had told them not to talk to strangers. I'll have to tell the story to my sister when I get home.

When I got home my mother asked me how the show was. "Great!" I told her. She said that kids today are really lucky. It used to be they could only see puppet shows during festivals at the temple.

[Picture Caption]

By having adults and simple puppets perform together onstage, the Moki Children's Theater succeeds in bringing a smile to young and old alike despite a lack of elaborate scenery and costumes.

"Get back, or you'll be on the stage!" The curiosity of the little viewers was evident everywhere.

Pan performs a rhapsody in a play by the Kingfisher Puppet Theater Troupe of Japan.

In a scene from a puppet play by the U.P. Teatrong Mulat Ng Pilipinas, the little yellow bird tells the monkey king about the frog's misbehavior.

The Cup Theater performs a story from Flowers in the Mirror, the Chinese equivalent of Gulliver's Travels.

The Cup Children's Theater uses fluorescent marionettes to act out the story of the blind men and the elephant.

The Moki Children's Theater makes use of a small stage to reduce the distance between performers and audience. Shown is a scene from The Body Wonderful.

Children's theater by nature is a form of play. Adults and children can both join in the fun.

By having adults and simple puppets perform together onstage, the Moki Children's Theater succeeds in bringing a smile to young and old alike despite a lack of elaborate scenery and costumes.

In a scene from a puppet play by the U.P. Teatrong Mulat Ng Pilipinas, the little yellow bird tells the monkey king about the frog's misbehavior.

Pan performs a rhapsody in a play by the Kingfisher Puppet Theater Troupe of Japan.

The Cup Children's Theater uses fluorescent marionettes to act out the story of the blind men and the elephant.

The Cup Theater performs a story from Flowers in the Mirror, the Chinese equivalent of Gulliver's Travels.

Children's theater by nature is a form of play. Adults and children can both join in the fun.

The Moki Children's Theater makes use of a small stage to reduce the distance between performers and audience. Shown is a scene from The Body Wonderful.