University Park is famously the home of Muppets creator Jim Henson, but another notable puppeteer has called it home for decades as well.

A graduate of Gonzaga High School, Michael Cotter joined the Peace Corps and worked odd jobs before a chance encounter in San Francisco with a street theater performance by a puppet troupe aimed at adults.

Cotter, who at 26 had never seen a puppet show before, was enchanted with the medium and gathered a few artsy friends to start Blue Sky Puppet Theatre in 1974.

At first, they too performed for adults, with their first show being a jazz-scored piece called “The Blue Suede Zoo,” which premiered in the back room of a bar called Mr. Je’s Café on Gallatin Street in Hyattsville on May 24, 1974.

Cotter eventually switched from nightclubs to school cafeterias when he realized it was a more steady — and appreciative — audience.

Over the years, Cotter has written more than 75 scripts for the approximately 250 puppets the troupe has made, often with themes like peer mediation, bullying and perseverance that are tailor-made for younger schoolkids.

On a typical day, the troupe’s two companies will do four puppet shows apiece, totaling as many as 1,000 shows a year.

You can catch a performance by Blue Sky Puppet Theatre at the ribbon-cutting of the new nature-themed playground behind University Park Elementary School on Saturday, May 19 at 9:45 a.m.  and at BowieFest at Allen Pond Park on Saturday, June 2 at 12:30 p.m. where they will be performing “Three Not So Little Pigs”. You can also catch several free performances throughout the month of July through the Fairfax County Park Authority. More details can be found here.

[Update: The puppet show performance in University Park on May 19 has been canceled due to inclement weather, however the ribbon-cutting event is still on as schedule.]