I am very happy to share that our friend Jim Morrow who is the artist director at The Mermaid Theatre of Nova Scotia, the company that produces beautiful black light puppetry productions based on my books, recently received the Mickey Miner Award for outstanding achievement in the field of theatre for young audiences. The award was presented by the US-based International Performing Arts for Youth organization.

I am a great fan of The Mermaid Theatre and have been impressed by their work each time I’ve been able to see their productions. Here I am talking to Jim on one of his visits to my studio in Massachusetts. I have been captivated by the beauty and magic of Mermaid’s black light productions and how they create a delightful performance of the stories while honoring the simplicity and integrity of my books.

I was not familiar with Mermaid’s work before they contacted me in the late 1990’s to request permission to create black light theatre productions based on my books. But I liked the sensitive way in which they approached and handled the material and in 1998 agreed to their request to create productions based on The Very Hungry Caterpillar and The Very Quiet Cricket.

Since then, they have produced shows based on numerous other titles and have performed all around the world. These are some recent photos taken of puppets in Mermaid’s studio in Nova Scotia.

Here’s the link to the schedule for Mermaid’s show dates for “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” in Quebec and the West Coast this Spring and the link to the schedule for “Treasured Stories by Eric Carle” show dates coming up in Madison, WI; Springfield, MO; and Memphis, TN. The Mermaid Theatre will also be performing a benefit show for the students of Joplin, MO on March 13, 2012. I hope you will be able to attend one of their productions!