The Chicago Traveler

While walking along Michigan Avenue, you can expect to see a variety of things: tourists with cameras in hand looking up at the skyscrapers, trendsetters with shopping bags from high-end stores, business men and women hurrying along with cell phones attached to their ear, penguins dancing with tigers to blues music… wait, huh?

The Puppet Bike is a theatre on wheels and pops up on downtown street corners, usually along the Magnificent Mile. Artist and inventor Jason Trusty built this mobile playhouse on a cargo tricycle four years ago. The contraption may not look very big, but there are people back there making the magic happen. The six-foot box is rigged with lights, hidden doors for the puppets, and heating and cooling fans. Eight puppeteers—mostly comprised of Trusty’s friends and neighbors—work with Jason, each performing for two to four hours at a time, solely for tips. However, the puppeteers have also been the recipients of truffles and hot chocolate from businesses along the route.

The puppet cast is comprised of 27 characters, including Clover the hat modeling rabbit, Lefty the classically trained Shakespearean tiger, and Monkee the Buddhist primate. They love putting on a show for anyone at random locations and times, and they’re always greeted with a few strange looks, curious stares, and lots of smiles.

Photo credit: liz_noise

http://puppetbike.com/

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