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Published: Jan 3, 2007

Puppet Uprising Presents: The Wonders of the World: Recite and Going Nowhere

Sat.-Sun., Jan. 6-7, 7:30 p.m., suggested donation $5-$10, The Rotunda, 4014 Walnut St., 215-573-3234, www.foundationarts.org

It's OK—you can admit it. No one's going to laugh. Puppet shows are pretty damn cool.

At least if they're pushing artistic boundaries like The Wonders of the World: Recite, created by the three-person Massachusetts group Missoula Oblongata, plus opening show Going Nowhere, by Minnesotan Erik Ruin and local puppeteer Morgan F.P. Andrews.

Wonders is set at a lighthouse surrounded by piles of junk and inhabited by two pack rats: Eugene, a precocious young boy, and Cora Bell, his delusional grandmother. Interestingly all of the characters, including wandering fisherman/mailman Wolfram Frybrid, are played by live actors; everything else (old cars, a birthday cake that's eventually served to the audience, etc.) is played by puppets. Going Nowhere is similarly nontraditional, using shadow puppets to investigate our senses and tell stories by John Cage. "Twenty years ago comic books were nowhere near respectable, and now many are 'graphic novels,'" says Andrews. "We're trying to do the same thing for puppets."