By Yisu Kim, News Correspondent

In Japan, some puppeteers spend 20 years trying to perfect the motion of the left leg before mastering the rest of the puppet. Northeastern’s theatre department tried this same style of puppetry for its current production – though instead of two decades of preparation, they had two months.
Weaving modern acting techniques with a modified form of Bunraku puppetry, the department is currently putting on a production of “The Long Christmas Ride Home” in the Studio Theatre. Written by Pulitzer Prize winner Paula Vogel, the play describes the journey of a family on Christmas Eve in the first act. The remainder of the play follows the development of the three children as events spiral out of control and “go horribly wrong,” said director and Associate Professor of Theatre Nancy Kindelan, who said this play is geared more toward mature audiences.
In this production, elements of oriental Japanese culture collide with modern theatre through the use of Bunraku puppets. An ancient style of Japanese puppetry, Bunraku is renowned for its extreme precision and dedication to realism. The theatre department uses a Westernized version of Bunraku to create the characters of the three children in “The Long Christmas Ride Home.”
“Puppetry in Asia is a very old tradition,” Kindelan said. “I’ve seen them in Japan, and these actors manipulating the puppets study over a decade to learn how to move the right arm before they’re allowed to perform. The puppets take on extraordinary precision. And when you watch them, you swear they’re alive.”
Puppeteers in the cast have worked together in groups of two and three to achieve the fluidity and practiced ease of motion that is characteristic of Bunraku puppets. Sophomore theatre major Jacqueline Lasry, who makes up one half of the duo playing the puppet character of Rebecca, worked for two months to coordinate each set of movements with her partner.
“I would imagine first how I would do it in my head, and then I would put it into the puppet’s movements,” Lasry said. “I have to breathe a lot with my master puppeteer. She’s the one who holds the puppet, and I have to really breathe her in and try to focus all my energy on how she’s feeling to be able to adapt well, to become almost a part of her.”
Aside from Bunraku puppetry, this production of “The Long Christmas Ride Home” will use a medley of different dramatic forms to uncover the stories of the three children, Kindelan said. By incorporating an unusual mixture of dance, song and dialogue, the cast hopes to present the tale through several different lenses.
“This play is a different way of telling a story,” Kindelan said. “Sometimes the actors are talking to each other, sometimes they break out of that and talk directly to the audience. It presents a new way of performing and we find that extraordinarily important for our students, as it helps them understand different ways to create theatre.”
One of the more unusual tenets of the production will be the lack of an ornate set, with little decorating the stage. Senior theatre major Kelley Feetham said that the blank stage allows the cast to cater more to imagination and craft a universe themselves rather than rely on props.
“It’s different from any other show I’ve ever done because there are so many demands,” Feetham said. “If I was in a musical and had all my lines and motivations written out for me, black and white, had a huge set, I wouldn’t have to make much up. But here, there’s so much more constructing of the character and places and situations. It’s really intense, but I love it. I want to share this story with people.”
Overall, the universal nature of the play’s premise will allow the production to resonate deeply within the audience, senior theatre major Jenna Stelmok said.
“I’m most excited about doing this play because I think that anyone who sees it is going to take something huge away from it,” Stelmok said. “There’s so much to be found in the family dynamic and the relationship story and the Christmas story. Anyone who sees this will see something on the stage and be like, yes, that’s my family. And it’ll be something that they’re not expecting.”
The show will run at 8 p.m. today, Friday and Saturday, and at 2 p.m. on Sunday. Tickets are on sale through myNEU and the Blackman Auditorium box office.