Newsletter of the College of Architecture at Texas A&M University
Children at the Brazos Museum of Natural History were taken on a trip through time Dec. 2, 2010, by Bachelor of Environmental Design students at Texas A&M through a portal made of recycled materials.
In "Lost in Time: Tales of the Space Oracle," the ENDS 105 Puppet Players, led by Peter Lang, associate professor of architecture, staged a puppet show with colorful marionettes created from discarded items including milk cartons, potato chip containers, paper plates and microwave bowls, producing fierce-looking saber-tooth tigers, pterodactyls and other creatures from long ago.
The young audience heard a previously untold Brazos Valley legend, time traveling with the puppets to the Ice Age aboard a spaceship, then further back to the age of dinosaurs where they encounter a Tyrannosaurus Rex and other creatures before returning to the present day.
Leading up to the production, students created three self-portraits, researched puppet history, redesigned display cabinets at the Brazos Museum of Natural History, and researched internationally renowned museums of natural history.
"In true architectural logic," said Lang in the class syllabus, "you will learn to make a home for the making of an alternate self, a home as a theater. The client is the Brazos Valley Museum of Natural History, whose extraordinary collection of ancient artifacts will become the puppet’s surrogate world."
For photos and videos of the students' storyboards, puppet creations and rehearsals, visit thepuppethomeproject.
- Posted: Dec. 2, 2010 -
Contact: Phillip Rollfing, prollfing@archone.tamu.edu or 979.458.0442.
