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Grcrd works to upgrade
youthful entertainment
by Bart Becker
Lanny Moles has a plan and
he's no dummy. But when the
spring rolls around he'll be
working with plenty of
dummies. They're an integral
part of his immediate future.
Moles is a 22-year-old, 1971
graduate of the University of
Nebraska-Lincoln. After he was
'graduated he spent the summer
traveling across Canda and
along the west coast of the
United States. In San Diego he
saw a pupet show being
performed for a group of
children.
"It was Little Red Riding
Hood, and the wolf was a
computer," Moles said with a
mischievous grin, turning from
the workbench in his shop. "I
thought kids deserved
something better than that."
So he's back in Nebraska,
working nights as a janitor, and
planning a puppet show which
he'll take on the road in the
spring if all goes according to
schedule.
The novice puppeteer
envisions a different sort of
format for his shows, a
"Firesign Theatre for
children."
"I'd like to think that such
things as the National
Lampoon (a satirical
publication) have just about
done their job of showing us
how really messed up
everything is and that we can
now start to build," he said.
"Food for young souls is what
I intend; souls starved on a
Wonder Bread diet of
television."
lie hasn't given much
thought to the scripts yet,
however. He's been
experimenting with making the
marionettes. He has just started
molding the heads, and feels he
has found a method for
molding that will prove
adequate.
Moles' shop i a coal bin
which he's converted into a
working area. At the head of
the stairs leading lo the shop is
a sign, "III Hollow
Workshop One Flight Down".
M give I lie visitor a hint of
what to expect.
The shop is small, a
characteristic common among
coalbins. The ceiling is al
noggin-bumping height and the
shop is filled wilh look, paints
and puppets in various stages
of development. It is here that
the puppets are horn.
"My idol is Dan Hicks, of
Hoi Licks fame." Moles
laughed. "Dan is Ihe faliier of
Unite!
Jimmy, the Talking Dummy,
you know."
The creation process
involves several steps of making
molds and filling them with
material which will harden
smoothly into the features
Moles wants. He sanded the
head of a puppet as he talked
about his actors.
"I found out almost all I
know about building puppets,
and about the other aspects of
puppeteering in books," he
said. "These first ones will be
pretty rough, but it's a good
feeling to know that I can get
puppets through a relatively
simple process."
Rather than build the
puppets to fit particular
character ideas. The English
major will let the puppets
decide what role they will play.
"Take this fellow for
instance," he said, indicating
the head he was sanding,
"some folks say he looks like
LB J and some folks say he
looks like DeGaulle. I think
he'll be an elf in my show."
Moles realizes that it will
take him a long time to achieve
any level of proficiency. But he
feels he can gain that
proficiency most effectively by
getting his show together as
quickly as possible.
"I really don't give much of
a hang about telling everybody
this, because it sounds, and is,
pretentious from somebody
who scarcely knows a thing
about puppets," he said. "What
is important to me is that I do
it.
"You see. it's a magic
theater and most of the magic
hasn't invented itself yet. More
accurately, there's always been
this puppet show and inasmuch
as what we call time has
anything to do with it. ils time
that this look on what we call
realily."
Moles has purchased a
"hread-l ruck size" van for the
show, li s being outlined to
serve as his home,
transportation and -theater
when he is finally ready to go
on Ihe road.
He'll work 'mostly in eastern
Nebraska and maybe slip over
inlo bordering areas of
neighboring stales.
The truck will have "Magic
Theatre" painted on Ihe side,
so "I guess that's the name of
Ihe show."
"lie's a cray man." laughed
one of MokV housemates who
lias been helping lo make Ihe
puppets and fix up the truck.
"Puppets of the New World.
say a small
hand-lettered poster tacked to a
doorway of Moles' house. It's
an indication of the things the
Magic Theatre shows might
contain.
Lanny Moles won't be
walking the streets looking for
a job come springtime; he'll be
on them performing, with the
help of the Magic Theatre
company.
NHRRC programs
serve migrant youth
by Duane Leibhart
Four hundred UNL students are involved in 10 separate
projects to help young people. They work out of the Nebraska
Human Resources Research Center in the basement of the 501
building.
Bruce Skinner, co-chairman of the center's family project, said
students who want to work there are closely screened before they
are accepted to work in any of the projects. "Some students are
just gunners for activities," he said. "We want students who
have a sincere desire to help people and who are willing to devote
a certain amount of time a week."
IN THE BUILDING are classrooms for children of migrant
workers who have had to change schools frequently. A sign on
the wall of one of the classrooms reads-"Love is like the measles:
The closer you get to people the faster it spreads!"
The sign reflects the one-to-one relationship the volunteer
worker tries to build with the person he is helping.
Skinner said most volunteers are sociology or psychology
majors but volunteers in all fields have a chance of working here.
We try to match up the counselor and counselee with common
interests, for obvious reasons."
Bob Starkj director of the potentiality development project,
"works with high school students who are from families in which
none of the members have graduated from college. The high
school student is shown around the campus and made aware of
work study programs and other means of financing a college
education.
Model Project is a program in which one volunteer is assigned
to one boy or girl who has been refered to Director Sam Hale by
Lancaster County Juvenile Court.
Skinner said, "A boy can model himself after the businessman
or graduate student that works with him. This is a lot better than
putting all the juveniles in the keeping of a busy county sheriff.
All a sheriff can do is phone them once in a while and ask them if
they are keeping out of trouble."
He said the project is operational in Seward, Saunders and
Lancaster County, and may go state-wide if it can get the federal
funding.
Right now, the center is selling a variety of "Go Big Red"
items, such as sweatshirts, blankets and mugs. Profits will be used
to develop lake property southeast of Lincoln being leased by the
center.
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MONDAY. SEPTEMBER 20, 1971
THE DAILY NEBRASKAN
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