LIVERMORE — For the second year, the Frogtown Mountain Puppeteers came to Livermore Elementary School to perform for the students. The show is the final part of the Positive Behavioral & Interventions System (PBIS) used at the school to encourage model behavior.

Frogtown Mountain Puppeteers is a puppetry troupe based in Bar Harbor. The troupe started after Erik Torbeck studied puppetry as an elective course while attending college. That course planted the seed.

A summer job exposed him to a renaissance fair and he made the decision to get into puppetry. He, his brother and sister moved to Bar Harbor about 15 years ago where they worked together to put on larger shows.

In the audience at some of those first shows were teachers who asked the troupe to perform for their students. The troupe has been performing at schools since then but also performs at other events such as the Atlanta, Georgia Puppet Show. That show features two weeks straight of different puppet groups performing throughout each day of the show. Frogtown Mountain Puppeteers has also performed in Canada.

Erik Torbeck, his sister Robin Erlandsen and his brother, Brian, make their puppets. Most are sewn on a sewing machine and are mouth and rod style puppets. “We’ve learned over the years,” Erik said.

Students in Pre-K through grade 2 first enjoyed watching “The Legend of the Banana Kid”. Later, students in grades 3-5 saw the performance about a young boy who wants to be a cowboy.

The script, written by the puppeteer siblings, also featured animals, a realistic looking campfire, and both good and bad characters. Audience participation and funny scenes helped keep the students focused on the action taking place, first in a television screen and later in a saloon and desert.

Following the show, the puppeteers talked with the students about how the puppets, many of which use golf balls for eyes, are made. 13 different fake bananas were used in the story. They were attached to wooden blocks with wires and some even used battery operated screwdrivers to make the bananas rotate.

Coming up with a script requires a lot of brainstorming and writing down of ideas. About 20 puppets, including several smaller ones, were used in this show.

As she was heading back to class afterwards one student said, “I loved those puppets.”

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