Poway boy has passion for puppetry
Zachary Crook of Poway could be following in the footsteps of the late puppeteer Jim Henson, who created Kermit the Frog, The Muppets and other fanciful characters.
Crook, a sixth-grader at Bernardo Heights Middle School, has about 100 puppets and marionettes, which cling to a wall in a bedroom or dangle from a double decker bed until it’s show time.
The 12-year-old said he loves naming his puppets and practicing voices to give each one its own personality.
It will be his voice that audiences hear for the puppets in the upcoming “The Boy Who Cried Wolf,” which starts June 9 at the Marie Hitchcock Puppet Theater in Balboa Park. Crook is the theater’s youngest puppeteer.
Show times are 11 a.m., 1 and 2:30 p.m. at 2130 Pan American Place in Balboa Park. Tickets are $5 for adults, $3 for children 2-12, while children under 2 are free, and $4 for seniors and the military. For reservations, call 619-544-9203.
For more information, go to www.balboaparkpuppets.com.
The family-friendly show will offer the boy’s interpretation of the popular fable about a young shepherd whose false cries for help lead to trouble when the wolf finally shows up.
Many of the characters are Crook’s own creation and some, including the curly-haired sheep “Sheldon,” “Ramalam” and “Bonita” were made by his parents, Terri and Alan, from sweatshirt sleeves.
Terri Crook helped her son write the script, which she says deviates slightly from the traditional one, but the updates seem not only funny, but appropriate, she said.
“I’ve written it in a way that some of the lines have a double meaning, which kids might not get, but parents will,” she said. “The show is definitely family entertainment.”
Parents don’t have to worry about any squeamish wolf-eating-sheep scenes. There are none, just a suitable substitute, which she prefers not to discus so the ending will be a surprise, she said.
Zachary started his pastime six years ago when his sister gave him his first marionette, which he named “Paublo,” a souvenir from a trip she made.
Crook started building his repertoire of voices, which he would practice in front of the bathroom mirror.
“I’d hear all these different voices coming from the bathroom, before I realized Zac was perfecting his craft,” his mother said.
According to a press release, the boy first discovered the craft of puppeteering after he attended a show at a summer camp at the San Diego Zoo and found out that the performer was a regular at the Balboa Park theater.
He soon started planning his weekends around the theater’s schedule and attended workshops, conferences and performances across the United States.
He later joined the Balboa Park Puppet Guild and was able to participate in their annual December Nights performances and assisted professionals at the theater.
Last year, he was given the chance to perform his own show for a week, as he presented “The Frog Prince/Continued.”
These days, the boy researches famous puppeteers, such as Henson and others, hoping to glean something from their style, variety of characters and ways of captivating an audience, he said.
He even met Henson’s daughter at one of the recent puppet conferences he attended and got her autograph.
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