things remembered
In 1925, the Cleveland Play House staged Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, a puppet-only show designed by artist Julia McCune-Flory. During the performance, puppeteers stood on a backstage bridge while voicing and operating 21 hand-carved wood puppets — like the one pictured — that were whittled and painted by the Cleveland Womens' Council. "They would have these puppet-making parties," says Elizabeth Meinke, scholarly resources and special collections librarian at Case Western Reserve University. To pay homage to puppets of its past during its centennial season, the Cleveland Play House will stage Little Shop of Horrors next month. The production will star a puppet — in the form of a man-eating plant named Audrey II.
