Living in a

world inundated with pop culture, we have seen many works

recently that show us the secret lives of things many of

us take for granted.

For

instance, the films "A Bug's Life" and

"Antz" showed us the secret world of insects,

and "Toy Story" and its sequel dealt with the

secret lives of toys. Starting Thursday, the Center for

Puppetry Arts will give audiences insight into the secret

world of plants with its new show, "The Plant

Doctors."

Dr. Green

Onion and Dr. Spud, practitioners at General Botanical

Hospital, lead singing and dancing vegetation to uproot

themselves in order to stop Dr. Deadly Nightshade from

closing the hospital. The performance also gives

audiences an opportunity to learn about ecology, anatomy

and history, as well as some unusual aspects of an

ordinary plant's life.

The show is

written and directed by Jon Ludwig, the associate

artistic director at the center. "The Plant

Doctors" features a wide variety of puppets,

including hand and rod puppets, body puppets, rod puppets

and shadow puppets. All of the puppets and the sets were

designed by Elaine Williams. The show also features 10

original songs and an original score composed by John

Cerreta.

The Center

for Puppetry Arts runs workshops that run in conjunction

with the current show, and operates a full museum that

features classic forms of puppets as well as new exhibits

from time to time. The current workshop allows patrons to

create a Wise Old Tree hand and rod puppet.

"The

Plant Doctors" will run from Jan. 6 to March 18.

Shows will be presented at 10 and 11:30 a.m.

Monday-Friday and at 10 a.m., noon and 2 p.m. Saturdays.

Admission is $8 for adults and $7 for students, senior

citizens and children 2-13. The Create a Puppet workshop

is $3.

For

information, phone 404-873-3391.

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