Pleasing Pupptery

Take some giant puppets, add a group of middle-schoolers, throw in some pyrotechnics and make it all free, and you have a fantastic event on your hands. Tonight at 8 p.m., non-profit arts organization Downtown Aurora Visual Arts presents an original middle-school production of a magical, marvelous puppet show called King Pakal’s Mayan Space Adventures. This example of DAVA’s job-training program for the youngsters is being produced in association with artist, novelist, pyromaniac, teacher and all-around talented guy Ryan Ballard and his Razzamataz Productions — which, according to the troupe’s wonderfully quirky and eccentric website, is “Home of the Greatest (and Certainly the MOST Bizarre), Large-Scale, Experimental, Pyro-technic Puppet Show in the Known Universe!” The Mayan astronaut king’s escapade into outer space will be enacted by twelve-foot puppets in the parking lot at 1405 Florence Street in Aurora (look for the space-dome puppet theater). Mayan expert naysayers insist that Pakal was not an interplanetary traveler, but doubts will be dispelled when the puppet masters bring out the undeniable “ancient stone spaceship.” Show your support for the students’ puppeteering aspirations; the show is free and open to the public. For more information, call DAVA at 303-367-5886 or visit www.davarts.org.
Fri., July 11, 8 p.m., 2008