“Haunted Nite at the Puppet Asylum” showcased their poetry slams, ventriloquism, and puppet videos at the Muckenthaler Theater last Thursday night.

The show is about a mansion that got turned into an asylum and the puppets are trying different experiments.

“I didn’t know what to expect because I have never been to a puppet slam, and especially a Halloween one,” said Patti La Marr, audience member.

“Our next assignment is to get the audience to perform,” said Joyce Hutter, director of the show. “We will try to have some more MC work but I think our format is pretty good. The mixing of the videos and the live performances in between and the audience participation seems to work.”

Hutter mentioned that they have plans to expand to bigger venues in the future and visit more local colleges.

Throughout the show, there were various acts all centered on a Halloween theme. One of the acts was a silhouette piece by Alan Cook, that told the tale of three goats that tried to cross the Fullerton river but were being harassed by a giant river troll.

“I started doing ventriloquism like most kids when I was very young,” said David Markham, ventriloquist. “I was about eight years old. There used to be a lot of guys on TV that hosted cartoon shows where some did magic and some did ventriloquism and I wanted to do both.”

Thought the theater was not filled up, the handful of audience members that were there enjoyed the different skits and acts in the puppet show.

“I liked the gentleman that did the silhouette piece, Alan Cook. I thought it was really neat,” said Denise Howard, who was in the Muckenthaler audience.

“I enjoyed the sword swallower but I really liked the one that did the lesbian skit, ‘Object of Her Affection’,” added David Howard.

There are two dates a year, and two more are already being planned for next year. Audiences are encouraged to come in costume and bring a puppet of their own to show off.