Puppets and Puppeteers – RfG Core Enactment
for fostering cooperation through humor

Jami Osborne LMHC, RfG-CT

January 2026

 

Puppets can be a challenging enactment to set up and is not really suitable for virtual or remote sessions due to the need for physical interaction between players.  The following instructions are taken from the Rehearsals for Growth Reference Guide [page 134].

Puppets

Usage Notes: One player (the puppeteer) moves the body of another player (the puppet) who is giving a lecture on a supposed field of expertise and who is incorporating these body offers into the talk.  There needs to be an audience to whom the puppet is lecturing.  The puppet is not limo but holds her or his body where it is put until the puppeteer changes the position of the puppet’s body parts.

Any repetitive motion begun by the puppeteer is continued by the puppet until halted by the puppeteer.  Both players influence each other and accept offers, thereby taking the burden off one another and freeing themselves from prepared ideas in order to respond to what is happening in the present moment.

Scenes involving two puppets may also be played.  The players must be in person together.  Only the director can be online.

Puppets example #1:

The director or the group members set the scene by offering a topic, an audience and a setting. For example:

Player 1 (puppet) is an expert on the Terracotta Soldiers and is standing on a stage giving a talk to high school students.

Player 2 (puppeteer) silently moves the puppet’s arms to the top of the puppet’s head.

Puppet keeps talking about the soldiers while inserting an explanation of why they moved their hands to their head.

Puppeteer then moves the puppet to a chair and seats Player 1.

Puppet keeps talking while adding information about how some of the soldiers are seated “like this.”

Puppeteer moves Player 1 to standing, and has them scratch their nose with one hand while waving to the audience with the other.

Puppet must continue the lecture topic while providing justification for the movements.

The live audience can be encouraged to ask questions of the expert; however, the puppets actions might not match their words.

The scene continues until a clear conclusion or time limit is reached.

Puppets example #2: two puppets, one or two puppeteers

The director or the group members set the scene by offering a topic or a task, an audience and a setting. To make the scene more dynamic, the experts might disagree on aspects of the lecture. Or they might be trying to build or create something requiring cooperation but disagree on how to go about it. For example:

Puppet 1 (P1) is a master baker. Puppet 2 (P2) is the assistant baker.  They are creating a special very large cake for a major public celebration.  They are doing so on television in front of a live audience.

Puppeteer 1 (p1) moves P1 while Puppeteer 2 (p2) moves P2.

From here the players have the freedom to enact whatever chaos comes to mind, perhaps tossing ingredients at one another, or putting the wrong items into the mix at the wrong time.  The Puppets must maintain a dialogue that fits the actions of both the baking process and whatever the puppeteers have them doing with their bodies.

What’s the point? Why play with Puppets?

This enactment, in addition to requiring the players to find ways to accept offers regardless of how absurd, is an exercise in surrendering control, exploring status in relationships [especially if the puppet and puppeteer are family members!] and discovering that really messing up and laughing about it can be life changing. Think of the person who is neat and organized, having to try to bake a cake while the ingredients are spilled all around them – they have to keep the scene going in spite of their inner distress.  This is then explored in more depth during the PEP.

Additionally, if the director can assign the role of puppeteer to the most dis-empowered member for the group/family, it allows that individual to experience a sense of control they might not be able to have in any other aspect of their life.  It gives this person the opportunity to rehearse taking charge through a non-threatening and very silly enactment.