Museum’s Rapunzel Performance Provides Rainy Afternoon Fun

Museum’s Rapunzel Performance Provides Rainy Afternoon Fun

By Mike Lauterborn

(for Fairfield Citizen News)

2/24/12

Fairfield, CT – Jumping about with puppets, blowing a harmonica and dressing up in wash rags, a zany performer kept kids entertained at Fairfield Museum & History Center, which provided a warm haven on a rainy Friday afternoon.

Featured was Rolande Duprey, performing the tale of “Rapunzel”, or at least a creative reinterpretation of the beloved story. On loan from Purple Rock Productions, Duprey holds a Masters of Fine Arts in puppetry from the University of Connecticut, where she studied with Frank Ballard. She has taught puppetry and storytelling for the past twenty-five years and is a Teaching Artist with the Connecticut Commission on Culture and Tourism.

“We do a lot of family friendly activities during Vacation Week,” said Christine Jewell, Director of Education. “It’s great this year especially to have a performer as it ties in well with our Bravo regional theater exhibit.”

Hartford-based Duprey said she performs extensively throughout Massachusetts, New York and Connecticut, doing both solo and collaborative work. “I’m a four-year-old at heart,” she smiled.

Duprey used simple props like a sheet slung over a clothesline, various baskets of washing, clothes pins, a washboard and an iron – items that evoked memories of interacting as a little girl with her grandmother on washing day – to tell her tale. A scarf became hair and puppets were incorporated into the storytelling.

Duprey’s jolly way kept children laughing and smiling, and helped chase away the dreary day.