WAASUP Puppetry Ministry

This past month, the majority of the WAASUP team was in Canada (eh?) with the LAMP mission team from Trinity to teach Vacation Bible School to First Nations children in remote areas of Manitoba. A handful of of some of our more “travel-friendly” puppets came with us along with 3 custom-built Pelican Pete puppets made by one of our own puppeteers, Olivia Becker. Just as we had heard and hoped, the kids really responded well and listened to the puppets more than they’d listen to one of us alone. The Pelican Pete at each of the VBS sites did everything from helping enforce the day’s theme to teaching the kids the Lord’s Prayer. It was great to see that the puppets are received as well there as they are here. Besides, now we can finally say that WAASUP has gone global!

We have one more parade left this summer. We’ll be in Vining’s Watermelon Day parade on Saturday, August 15th. As of right now, we’re also trying to get into the Vining Community Center to do our full Stand Firm production during the day.

The very next day, we’re hoping to be at Zion Lutheran Church in Little Falls. If that date ends up working for them, we’ll have just enough time to finish the parade in Vining, head to Little Falls, set up, spend the night, and perform that next morning!

We also have a great previous host in Henning who’s trying to book the Henning Community Center for us to perform there sometime soon for a more city-wide event!

As if that wasn’t enough, Pastor Lange has mentioned something about India…

In Him,
The WAASUP Team

We’ll be performing Stand Firm at Zion Lutheran Church in Little Falls on Sunday, August 16th at 4:00 PM.

The following Wednesday, August 20th, we’ll be at the Henning Community Center in Henning, MN, with the show starting at 7:30 PM.

Keep an eye on the Tour Dates page for any updates.

P.S. Our June, July, and August monthly updates are on the way!

That’s right, parade season is here again! As you’ll see on the Tour Dates page, we’ll be in the Fergus Falls Summerfest parade on Saturday, June 13. If you’re near Fergus Falls, MN, come out and see us in the parade…you might even catch a piece of our candy!

We have a bunch of other parade performances being lined up, so we’ll keep you posted!

It’s late in being posted here, but this was our May Update:

Well, as you probably heard since the last update, the puppet festival was great and the competition went really well! The judges gave us a silver award as well as an award for Outstanding Originality. It was a great, albeit a little nerve-wracking, experience for the whole team, and we’re looking forward to performing this new “finale song” at future performances. And, one last time, a big thanks to Chris Beighley for all the help!

Speaking of future performances, we’re lined up to return to St. John’s Lutheran Church in Park Rapids, MN for the second year (last time we were there we were doing our Christmas show). We’ll head there on Saturday, May 9, set up and spend the night at the Sorknesses’ grandparents’ house, and perform the next morning, Sunday, May 10, for the Sunday School/Adult Bible Class hour.

Then, like we said in the last update, we’ll have a “home performance” at Trinity on Friendship Sunday, May 17.

As always, if you know of anyone else who would like to host us for a performance, let us know!

In Him,
-The WAASUP Team

Two new performances have been added to the Tour Dates page. On Sunday, May 10, we’ll be at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Park Rapids. On Sunday, May 17, we have a “home peformance” at Trinity Lutheran Church & School in Fergus Falls, MN.

We’d like to continue to fill up our schedule, so book us here!

Since our last update, we’ve had two more performances of Stand Firm. On Saturday, March 14, we performed for a third time at River Bluff Apartments (home of Vi Frees). The very next morning, March 15, we were at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Henning for their children and adult Sunday School hour. Both performances went extremely well!

A huge thank you needs to go out to Chris Beighley. As this is being written, Chris is working on the puppet for our “finale song” (the song we’re going to use in the competition). We are building a human-size, bunraku-style (“Japanese-style”) puppet out of foam and fiberglass, among other things. Originally, Chris was only going to lend us some advice on the airbrushing, but he was gracious enough to volunteer many hours and his incredible artistic talent, and we’re sure this puppet will be an amazing part of this song. After the competition, we plan to add this song to the end of Stand Firm so that we can perform it everywhere we go. Thank you, Chris!

Some people have been wondering when WAASUP is going to perform the new show at Trinity. It looks like the date has been set for Sunday, May 17. That Sunday is Friendship Sunday, so there will only be one worship service, and WAASUP will perform for the Sunday School/adult Bible class hour. We hope to see you all there!

We’d write more, but we’re too busy getting this song ready for the MN regional puppetry festival March 20-21!  We’re having practices every day this week to get ready and we’re burning the midnight oil to finish the puppet and all the props. We can’t wait for you all to see it!

In Him,
-The WAASUP Team

Two new performances have been added to the Tour Dates page for this Saturday and Sunday, March 14 and 15.

In our last update, we reported that our December performance at Lutheran Island Camp was canceled and that we were trying to line up another date at camp. We got an email from a pastor and his wife from Montevideo (they were members of Pastor Deterding’s at one time) who said they were trying to start a puppetry ministry at their church, had heard about WAASUP, were going to be at L.I.C. in February, and were wondering if we could perform for them to get an idea of what this ministry is all about. So, on Sunday, February 8, we had our second performance of Stand Firm and, after the show, had some of the older kids in the Montevideo group come backstage to try their hand at puppetry (pun intended).

But that’s not all! We’ve also lined up a performance at L.I.C. on Saturday, February 28 for their annual Polar Plunge, where we’ll perform Stand Firm for all those people brave crazy enough to jump into the freezing cold lake.

If you were at the Valentine Dinner at Trinity, you already know that we performed just one song from our new production. Like we said, consider it a “teaser” of things to come.

We’ve begun calling people on our “waiting list” and trying to get out and perform this new program we’ve been working on for so long now. Maybe you know of someone that would like to host us for a performance. We’ve been to churches, schools, retirement/nursing homes, apartment complexes, and other places and are willing to go almost anywhere we can. Here is some info on the new show as well as a few new requirements that come along with it.

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Group Name: WAASUP (Worshiping An Awesome Savior Using Puppetry)
Production Title: Stand Firm: A Puppetry Musical
Theme: We need to put our trust in the solid Rock of Jesus if we are to stand firm through all of life’s storms.
Runtime: About 30 minutes
Target Age: Everyone from children, to teens, adults, and the elderly
Space needed for stage: At least 19′ wide by 14′ deep with at least 10′ ceilings
Lighting: Room must be able to be made completely dark as most of the performance is lit by spotlights and we use blacklights. We can bring curtains or black plastic to cover windows (including stained glass).
Sound: We have our own equipment, but could use a microphone for speaking before and afterward if needed.
Cost: We simply ask to help cover the cost of gas to out-of-town performances. Anything beyond that is just a free-will donation (we will sometimes have a basket sitting out).
Contact Us: Call Kyle at (218)739-5838, email contact@waasup.org, or visit us online at www.waasup.org for more info.
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Also, in case you missed it, WAASUP was featured in The Daily Journal again! Our picture and article, titled “WAASUP? Puppeteers find positive message,” appeared in the Friday, February 13 issue. A short video of us performing is also supposed to appear on the Journal’s website (www.fergusfallsjournal.com) sometime soon.

By the time you get our next update, we will have attended the MN regional puppetry festival in the Twin Cities, where we are going to enter the song competition for the first time. Pray for our diligence in getting the song put together in time!

In Him,
-The WAASUP Team

We now know a time for our March 28 performance. We’ll perform Stand Firm at 7:15 at Lutheran Island Camp in Henning, MN (directions from Fergus Falls) for their Polar Plunge weekend.