Saturday afternoon at the Festival: Puppets, Poe, and the Peterson brothers blues band

Hand to Mouth Puppet Theater

2:15 PM Saturday

For the past 12 years, Hand To Mouth Puppet Theatre has been amazing thousands with the art of puppetry, performing at festivals, museums, clubs, schools, libraries, and in the middle of windy fields.

Robbie Lueth discovered puppetry in 1978 and began pursuing it with a passion.

Her studies of literature, drama and voice, as well as her sense of humor, have served her well in making the magic of puppetry come to life each time the lights go on. Puppeteer, painter, graphic artist, costume designer, and book illustrator Ellen Turner Scott has been an artist all her life. The variety of her experience makes Ellen a performer who amazes and delights audiences wherever she goes.

TexARTS Presents:

Selected works from Edgar Allen Poe

3:00 PM Saturday

In honor of the bicentennial of Edgar Allan Poe’s birth, the 2009 Texas Book Festival, in collaboration with the Harry Ransom Center, features a number of activities and performances that pay tribute to the great American poet, critic and author.

The children’s entertainment tent will feature dramatic readings from Edgar Allan Poe, including The Raven, The Black Cat, Spirits of the Dead, and excerpts from The Pit and the Pendulum and The Fall of the House of Usher. Don’t miss this exciting performance by TexARTS Association for Visual & Performing Arts’ Executive Director/Producer Todd Dellinger and members of TexARTS' Great Shakes Classical Repertory Theater - Spencer Carter, Patrick Mullarkey, and Katie Patterson.

The Peterson Brothers Band and Sean Kindred

4:00 PM Saturday

Trust me -- you’ll be surprised by the performance that this young band delivers. I watched a video of the band playing a Hendrix song at Rutamaya and couldn't believe my eyes and ears. The Peterson brothers (age 13 and younger) and two friends will play instrumental Blues, Jazz, Rock, Christian, Bluegrass and more during their performance - a fitting last act to send blues loving festival-goers off for Halloween festivities downtown.

The Peterson brothers are from Bastrop, Texas, and will perform Saturday as “The Peterson Brothers Band and Sean Kindred.” Their sound is a combination of down home Blues and a little bit of everything else that pleases the crowds.