That's because the owners of Maritime Marionettes designed and created the dragon for ‘Shrek.'
"Oh yes, we will definitely be here," said Darryll, just after seeing six students move with their creation on the stage. "It's just incredible to see it up there and see what they've done with it. We don't usually get to see our own work on the stage."
While they have been busy touring with their business, the couple found the time to construct the dragon, which includes glowing eyes and the capability to blink.
"We want to see the dragon in the context of the whole play and see how the audience likes her," said Heather. "And we really like that the students like working with her."
The school contacted the puppeteers before Christmas last year about having a dragon created.
"I had an intuition," said Heather. "I wanted a big effect on the stage, so thought about a three-dimensional head and two-dimensional body that they could move around."
Along with designing the dragon, the couple has been busy working on new workshop and show ideas, and new techniques for building puppets. They also currently have a Queens University student - Chandel Gambles - working with them.
Last year, the business performed about 100 shows in various provinces, including Ontario, Manitoba and Saskatchewan.
"While we were in Ontario, we spent some time in two different communities working with school workshops and performances," said Heather.
"We stayed in each community for about a week. That's a new thing for us and we're looking forward to more of that in the future," added Darryll.
This year, the Maritime Marionettes will be featured at Festival Antigonish, the Stan Rogers Folk Festival and continue their collaboration with Alderney Landing. They're also in negotiations to have their performances on television.
"That's a good prospect we have, but it's not finalized yet," said Heather. "There are always lots of possibilities of things for us."
Before March break, the company was busy performing in schools throughout the province and will host a show at Cape Breton University in May and Strathspey Place in June.
"We're currently rehearsing five different shows," said Darryll. "We're doing a re-release of Molly and the Oak Island Treasure because it's our 20th touring anniversary. A lot of people remember it and like it. There are a lot of parents that had seen it as kids that are wanting to take their own kids to."
For the past 25 years, Rumpelstiltskin has been the longest-running performance, and the Maritime Marionettes hope to get a new show up and running this fall.
For more information on the Maritime Marionettes, visit http://www.maritime-marionettes.com.
Twitter: @TDNRaissa
