(light music) - Little Theatre Auditorium is the name of this 104 year old building now that has had in those hundred and some years, many, many, many lives.

And this is this iteration of the theater.

(light music) New London is a rural Minnesota community, population, gosh, I think right now it's just under 1400 people.

I recently read the Census and our average age is around 37 years old, which is fascinating to me 'cause that's a big change in the last 10 years.

It used to be a lot older, which means we have a growing community, lots of generations being represented.

So we need to come up with activities to bring all those generations together.

- My gosh, you know what?

That's the thing about New London.

We're weird.

- I love it.

I love it that we're weird.

Having places like this is an asset to a community because where else are people gonna be able to come and learn how to do something new together, bring their kids, meet each other on really even ground?

They call it a third space where you can come and represent yourself as in the way that you want to represent yourself.

You make friends.

Like it's easy, you just make friends.

(upbeat music) We were looking at how to celebrate the harvest for the city's Harvest Fest week.

And that was the idea that came to mind was we can have a parade that celebrates local foods, local food producers, the harvest itself, the changing of the seasons, and what better way to do that than with a big parade that has flowers and giant food.

(laughs) So for two weeks we plan, actually it's almost two months we plan the parade and what the sections are gonna be, what the characters in each section are gonna be.

And then we plan the puppet building workshops and the materials needed to build the puppets in those sections to make a giant parade.

(upbeat music) During the holidays, this is where we grab all of our holiday decorations, but you know, here's the cats, because they kinda live up here and the other is Cool Cat and then Red Cat and Gray Cat.

(laughs) - Oh 'cause I'm wearing these really cool gigantic sunglasses.

I think it's just so important to showcase people's artistic ability, but also making it live entertainment for everyone.

I think it's just truly important to share fun stories, bring people together in a strong community-like aspect.

That's why I think community productions and community plays are so important is really bringing the community together and sharing a common story or goal.

- This year it was rain, no rain.

Rain, no rain.

Like watching, we were watching the weather for a week and it kept switching and going back and forth and we asked the puppet artists, you know, how do you make the call?

And they said, the parade, we parade.

No matter what, we go, unless there's lightning, but no matter what we go, I'm like, okay.

So it was a lot of that kind of like extra, keeping an eye on the weather.

But it seems appropriate considering that's what the parade's all about.

It's about nature and the changing of the season.

So to be hyper aware of that and how it was gonna affect our movements seemed appropriate.

But then, you know, people show up and I'm always a little bit worried, like, are people really gonna show up?

I don't know, maybe.

We'll see.

Like, last year we had 64 people in the parade.

This year I think we had maybe 50.

So it was pretty darn good.

Luckily we made enough puppets for everybody.

So we marched, we walked from here to Neer Park and didn't get rained on.

I was water, so I got a lot of exercise being water and there was a section of beavers who were trying to contain water.

And so my job was to try to not be contained.

And I think I ran like, five miles in this one little mile.

(laughs) But once we got to the park, we started the second part of the day on the water.

Art camp families, enjoy the show.

We're gonna have a play on the water at two o'clock.

Check out the market, check out the food, get something to eat, buy a t-shirt and we'll see you on the bleachers at two o'clock.

The Autumn Equinox Water Ballet is a reenactment of the Autumn Equinox on the Mill Pond.

So we reenact that in the water on boats with loud drums beating faster and faster and faster while New London sewer cats and the audience meow, encouraging the sun and the moon to align with the earth.

And when we get there, then we cheer because the autumn equinox has arrived.

And when we did that this year and our cool cat sewer cat announced, "Hurrah, we have made it.

"Autumn Equinox has arrived," pause, and then the rain came.

It just came down (laughs) and it was pretty dramatic.

It was awesome.

(audience applauding) - [Performer] Look at that, perfect timing.

- [Announcer] Thank you all for bearing witness to the Autumn Equinox and our amazing puppet artists.

(audience cheering) (audience applauding) - I think what's really cool about the Puppet Parade is there's so many different points of entry for people who have never participated in community activity in general.

And then on the day you can show up and someone will put something on your head and you'll become a bee and just walk.

Just walk.

That's all you gotta do.

- Where do you want us in the order?

Right here?

We good?

- Stay right there.

- Stay right here.

I love it.

- So it kind of eases a person into what the whole process is to making the final like parade, parade, in itty bitty steps that are fun.

And you meet people who are also doing that at the same time and you get to learn together.

So there's no competition.

- Even though I don't live in New London, I still wanna, I do as much as I can to support the New London Little Theater.

What they do for this community is awe-inspiring and I just want to do what I can to help keep it going.

- What kind of journey has Little Theater Auditorium and the Puppet Parade taken me on?

Oh gosh.

It's like a lifetime of memories and experiences that have obviously gotten me to this moment right now, but have led me to really love the idea of having a puppet parade and have made it possible for me to actually pull it off.

Having grown up in New London and grown up as a student who's come to this theater as a child, and then living in Minneapolis and being a theater artist and all of the technical tools you learn along the way made it possible for me to say we can do this here, which is fun for me to think about.

(bright music) (energetic music) - [Announcer] "Postcards" is made possible by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund and the citizens of Minnesota.

Additional support provided by Margaret A. Cargill Philanthropies, Mark and Margaret Yackel-Juleen on behalf of Shalom Hill Farms, a retreat and conference center in a prairie setting near Wyndham, Minnesota.

On the web at shalomhillfarm.org.

A better future starts now.

West Central Initiative empowers communities with resources, funding, and support for a thriving region.

More at wcif.org.

(light music)