Video: Glow-In-the-Dark Puppet Circus Entertains Apple Valley Audience

Thirteen years ago, Twin Cities performers Chris Griffith and Shari Aronson were looking for a way to use black light in a show. When looking for objects that glowed, they happened upon ping pong balls.

From there was born the idea for the children's puppet, comedy and music show "The Amazing Gnip Gnop Circus," which took off and is one of the shows the two still perform regularly with the performance company they started, Z Puppets Rosenschnoz.

Since then, Griffith and Aronson have made changes to their puppet, physical comedy and music shows and also added more of them, but making kids laugh remains the mission, Aronson said. That's what they did when they performed the original show for several dozen children and parents Thursday at the Galaxie Library in Apple Valley.

The Gnip Gnop show involves a live musical introduction from Griffith and Aronson, which leads into a glow-in-the-dark puppet show circus which they execute with the puppets and their voices, all in the dark. The puppet characters they use are made from things like ping pong balls, toilet paper tubes and spools painted with glow-in-the-dark paint.

"It's kind of the simplest puppet you can make," Griffith said.

Griffith said parents often tell him that the shows are the first live shows their children have seen.

"To us that's a huge honor but also a responsibility" to help children's imaginations grow and also to giving them cause to support the arts throughout their lives, he said.

Griffith said it's important to create art for children because they're the future.

"Eight-year-olds are our people," Aronson said.

Aronson said in a time when families are busy and members often are doing their own separate activities, the Z Puppets Rosenschnoz shows can bring them together.

"To give families an experience they can share ... it's vital," Aronson said.

Griffith said the company has received grants from the Minnesota State Arts Board to create a new show that expands on the Gnip Gnop concept—a "Gnip Gnopera" opera show, he said—and also to tour the state.

The tour will give them the opportunity to bring the arts to places that might not have regular access to them, Aronson said.

Check out the Z Puppets Rosenschnoz website or Facebook page for more information about the company and shows.