It’ll be your favorite nursery rhymes like you’ve never seen them before. On Aug. 20 Nappy’s Puppets brings an interactive shadow puppet show to the library, retelling popular nursery rhymes and songs.
The man behind the screen is Jim Napolitano, who has been doing shadow puppet shows for the past 15 years. The Connecticut resident does anywhere between 125 to 150 shows a year in the tri-state area.
“I love that every show is different. Each audience brings a different energy and helps me create a unique performance,” says Napolitano.
While most of his audiences are children, he says his show appeals to people of all ages.
“I want the adults to be entertained too and enjoy spending time with their children and not be bored,” says Napolitano. “We want to engage the parents too. These shows are for people who like to laugh and that’s all ages.”
Napolitano notes that there is a very simple, primitive connection that people have to shadow puppet shows.
“You’re seeing an image and giving it substance and weight, and giving it emotions. Shadow puppets are just a step back into the primitive part of us where we’re looking at lights and shadows. It goes back to when we were in caves and discovered fire,” says Napolitano.
Napolitano discovered his passion for puppeteering as a student at the University of Connecticut. Originally a theater major, he took a shadow puppet class in his sophomore year and it changed his life.
“I found it very liberating. Anything I could think of, I could try, as opposed to acting which was very formulaic and I found constraining because you’re bound by your body, or age, or looks,” says Napolitano. “Puppetry was limitless in materials or topics or presentation.”
After college, Napolitano went on to work at various puppeteering jobs, including at Foxwoods Casino, PBS and Nickelodeon. In 1991 he founded his own shadow puppet company, Nappy’s Puppets and has been entertaining audiences with his short vignettes and songs.
On Aug. 20, Napolitano will perform various sing-alongs including “Five Little Monkeys Jumpin’ On The Bed” and “The Old Lady Who Swallowed A Fly.” The interactive shadow puppet show begins at the library at 7 p.m.
