Bunny is Back!

We're doing "Tales of Bunny Cotton-Tail" at 2 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 17 at the Bell Tower Theater in Dubuque.

We did this show several years ago during the Easter holiday. It's based on books by Laura Rountree Smith, a children's author and teacher who lived in Platteville. She wrote very Beatrix Potter-esque stories. Bunny Cotton-tail is a mischievous fellow who like to read in bed by candlelight and burns his paw. Mother wraps his paw in a cabbage leaf. Of course, he nibbles on it until it's gone and that sets off a midnight craving for cabbages.

This show is particularly good for little ones who'll find nothing scarier than Bushy-Tail, the fox, who's not really all that smart when you get down to it.

Note that tickets at the Bell Tower are $6. It's a beautiful theater, if you've never been there, in Fountain Park Plaza on Asbury Road.

We've also been invited to do this show the following Saturday during West Liberty, Iowa's outdoor Children's Festival. West Liberty is near Iowa City and is the home of Monica Leo's Owl Glass Theater and Eulenspiegel Puppets. We'll be in good puppeteer company there, with our friend Pam Corcoran, of Stevens Point, Wis., who'll also be performing. The town turned a vacant lot on main street into a small outdoor theater spot, with a low pavilion between brick walls. The festival part is on the street, with concessions and kids' workshop booths. It's a concept we'd like to work into our Day of Puppetry next year.