Puppeteer and puppet maker Kay Yasugi has been busy making puppets for CDP’s new show, The 13-Storey Treehouse, based on the best-selling children’s book by Andy Griffiths and Terry Denton. The play has been adapted by award winning playwright and author Richard Tulloch and directed by Julian Louis. The show opened at the Sydney Opera House on Saturday 21st September, 2013. Kay is also performing in the show as the puppeteer. She very much enjoyed the rehearsal process – helping to devise sea monster routines, making shadow puppets and props on the side (including a sizable pile of fake snot!), and figuring out the logistics of squashing a puppet dog with a giant gorilla foot (made by Marty Jay).
Andy Griffiths trying out an epic superhero pose with SUPERFINGER (puppet made by Kay Yasugi)
A highlight of this project for Kay has been creating a giant puppet called ‘SUPERFINGER‘ (designed by Mark Thompson). It was made out of foam and latex, and bends and straightens like a regular finger. This may all sound a little bizarre, though anything is possible in a children’s theatre show set in a 13-Storey Treehouse! This place has everything, including a bowling alley, a secret underground laboratory, a lemonade fountain and a man-eating shark tank. Andy and Terry live there, make stories together, and have a series of completely nutty adventures. The show begins with both characters bringing their stories to the stage in their first play – except they forgot to write it! Despite the dilemma of not having flying cats, a mermaid and an invasion of monkeys on hand, they do have some friends to help out, a box of costumes and props, some pretty awesome technology and a truckload of imagination! 
The 13-Storey Treehouse previewed at the Chatswood Concourse and Seymour Centre. It is currently playing at The Sydney Opera House until 4th October 2013, with a return season during the January 2014 school holidays.
