ROCKLAND – The Strand Theater, 345 Main St., will present The Adventures of Miss Susan, as part of its Family Series at 6:30 p.m., Thursday, March 28. The Strand Family Series is a series of pay-what-you-can based admission donations to make it affordable for the whole family to attend. The series presents performances of theater, music, and puppetry.

The Adventures of Miss Susan is performed by Brittany Parker, who is the education program director at the Strand.

On Wednesday morning, March 27, the entourage visited the Rockland Public Library to give the children there a sneak peek of what the show would be. 

“The story is based on the average, everyday, real-life hero, who in this case happens to be a real person,” said Parker. “The multimedia show is based on Susan Plimpton, who is the children’s librarian at the Southwest Harbor Public Library.”

Parker said the show takes a twist early on.

“In my show, the librarian is retiring and someone gifts her a drink that shrinks her down to the size of the characters in her books,” she said. “That’s when the fun begins as she begins interacting with the characters from the books.”

Parker said she worked with Plimpton for two years and that’s when she got the idea for her to be able to battle tigers, swim under the sea and go into space and get sucked into the stories on her shelves.

Parker said most of the puppets in the show are paper, but one is made of cloth and that one is Miss Susan.

“The puppet is representative of the real-life Miss Susan,” she said. “At the beginning of the show, I wear a wig and dress like her before she is shrunk down to miniature size.”

Parker said that after she is shrunk, that’s where the multimedia aspect comes in.

“For the longest time I’ve wanted to make like the worlds tiniest puppet show,” she said. “And then broadcast it on a live feed. We use a Rebel DLSR camera to film all her interactions with the characters from the books. I use different camera techniques to zoom in over here and zoom out over there.”

Parker said it’s like watching a little puppet movie being made before your eyes.

“You can watch us making it, or you can watch it on the big projected screen,” she said. “The show runs about 45 minutes and its very kid friendly and family friendly. One thing I hope people walk away with from the show is that they realize, hey I can do that at home.”

Parker said she had three other collaborators on the show, Me’lissa, visiting artist to the Strand, Katie Melby and it features an original musical score by Andrew Lynch.

Coming up in the Strand Family Series is The Magicians Assistant, on Saturday, April 6, at 11:30 a.m. On Friday, May 3 at 6:30 p.m. it’s a special performance of Bee Parks and the Hornets.

You can find out all the information on upcoming events at the Strand Theater.