Rexburg puppet enthusiast to share collection at Friday’s Art Stroll
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REXBURG — Trelva Schuck of Rexburg loves telling stories. It’s her passion.
When her children were young, she loved sharing family history stories with flannel boards, using cutouts of the characters to bring those stories to life. She remembers many puppet shows with her kids using a baby blanket thrown over a curtain rod to set the stage. Now, when she’s with her grandchildren, the family often gathers around to hear stories told through puppets.
“I love stories and storytelling,” she says.
Schuck says her love for puppets started very young, when she was around 6 or 7 years old. She remembers using a toilet paper roll and some other supplies to create her very own puppet.
“I’ve always had a passion for puppets,” she says. “It’s just something I’m completely drawn to.”
Over the years, Schuck has crafted hundreds of puppets — hand puppets, finger puppets and more. Inspired by the movie, “The Sound of Music,” she had a collection of marionettes created by a professional puppeteer in Argentina. Her plans were to dress them in Nativity costumes to be able to tell the Christmas story to her grandchildren through the marionettes.
“I brought them back from Argentina, but then my children and grandchildren were scattered all the way across the United States, so I didn’t have this Christmas Eve gathering or get around to stringing them and dressing them,” Schuck says.
Rather than having the beautiful, mint condition marionettes sitting in a box in her house for years, Schuck decided she wanted to donate them to the Romance Theater, in hopes they could be used and enjoyed by the community for years to come. She’ll be presenting a few of them Friday at Rexburg Arts’ monthly Art Stroll from 5-8 p.m. at the Romance Theater. She’ll also bring a bunch of her other puppets for people to see, and she’ll lead visitors in a take-home puppet-making craft.
Art Stroll is free to the public and open to all ages. In addition to the puppet activities in the lobby, Rexburg Arts will be showing a free puppet-themed movie at 6 p.m. Because of their license, Rexburg Arts can’t advertise the name of the movie, but you can see the title by subscribing to their newsletter here. (Hint: It’s a 2011 comedy featuring well-known and well-loved puppets on an adventure to save their own historic theater.)
For more information on Art Stroll and all Rexburg Arts programs and events, visit rexburgarts.org.
