Three minutes. 

That is how long sophomore Cameron Nowak had to fix the ear of his puppet before it had to be back on stage during the first performance of the Glenbrook musical, “Cinderella.”

“I quickly ran, and I started pinning, and I put in some very loose stitches, but I needed the ear,” said Nowak. “I was stressed.”

Nowak made six puppets that were featured in the musical, including four mice, a dove and one cat that were operated by rods or students’ hands.

“I originally was like, ‘I would love to use puppets for the animals,’” said musical director Tim Broeker. “Then I saw the [variety] show and was like, ‘Oh, okay, I wonder if Cameron would be interested in making puppets for this.’”

Nowak spent eight months creating four puppets for the variety show, including a replica of Kermit the Frog for his act “Rainbow Connection.” 

“There were a lot of times when I was building [Kermit] where I would redo steps with  his eyes,” said Nowak. “I wouldn’t like the size, so I would just keep making new ones until I found ones that I liked.”

Nowak’s hobby of puppet-making began after watching the musical “Avenue Q,” which is like an adult version of“Sesame Street,” Nowak said. 

The first puppet Nowak made was formed by piecing together chunks of foam with a lot of hot glue.

“It was just like a kind of giraffe looking thing,” said Nowak. “It was pink, and his name was Noodle.”

Nowak’s puppet-making process has changed over the past two years after watching YouTube videos. Now he uses patterns that are traced onto foam, pieced together using glue and contact cement. Then Nowak sews fabric pieces onto the puppet.

“[I use] a lot of toxic chemicals because there’s this thing called contact cement, but I have to wear a respirator … because it’s so toxic and bad for you,”Nowak said.

In order to finish all of his puppets before the musical began, Nowak pulled multiple all-nighters.

“Once it got to 6:00 a.m. and I realized I still needed to put stuff together,” said Nowak. “I still had a bunch of like puppet parts out.”

According to Broeker, Nowak took notes to help students perform with the puppets. 

“He’s also sort of not just creating the puppets and designing the puppets, but he’s also sort of coaching the puppeteers through the best use of them as well,” Broeker said. 

Sophomore Lucian Gutfraynd played Charles the cat in the musical. Gutfraynd maneuvered the puppet with his hands to interact with other characters. 

The puppets bring a lot more magic to the show, especially for kids, Gutfraynd said. 

Nowak would sit in the offstage wings during the first mice scene of the musical to hear people’s reactions. 

“I think it’s really cool to see an art form like puppetry, which is not done a lot,” said Nowak. “There’s not a lot of people actively doing and contributing to [puppetry] … So it does feel good when people are surprised, and it feels good to impress people.”