Puppets Chloe and Meraki, created by Honeyball Puppetry, image provided by the company

Presented by Honeyball Puppetry

A group of otters water dance together in a whimsical sea, but suddenly one of them is left alone. To make room for a new house, a tree is uprooted and discarded. Then another. It isn’t long before all of the trees have been replaced by city buildings. The clear blue sky is obscured by brownish smog. And people crowd onto the scene with their coffees and cell phones and disposable stuff they throw into the water.

I’ve seen several children’s shows with an environmental theme. Some have even been sophisticated enough to suggest the complex circumstances that have lead to our current situation and the obstacles faced when attempting to slow, much less reverse, our trajectory. Chloe and Meraki, a puppet show written and performed by Robin Polfuss, Lindsay Lee, Maiko Taku, is more generalized in its messaging: that we’re messing the world up and it would be better if we stopped. Continue Reading