ASHEVILLE, N.C. (828newsNOW) — The 24th Asheville Fringe Arts Festival commences this week, bringing dozens of artists from all kinds of disciplines to town for a celebration of the weird, wonderful and out-of-the-box. Meet a few of the artists in our show spotlights.

Next up, “Thea-ATE-a Monstrousos,” a puppet show by Nate Puppets featuring a giant puppet with a bunch of little puppets inside of it.

“Thea-ATE-a Monstrousos” was first performed at 7 p.m., Thursday, March 19 at 35below. It will be performed again at 7 p.m., Saturday, March 21 at 35below. Find tickets here.

A plethora of puppets

How to describe “Thea-ATE-a Monstrousos”? The puppet show defies easy categorization. Is it a musical? A dark comedy? An epic throne room drama? Like the giant puppet of the show itself, the production contains multitudes.

Puppeteer Nate Puppets is a versatile performer. During the hour-long show, the puppet master juggled over a half-dozen puppets, each with their own voice, personality and dialogue. The handcrafted characters ranged from individual hand puppets to a furry panel of four, all housed inside the yellow monstrousos puppet at the center of the show. Each of the smaller puppets pop out of the innards of the mother puppet, which Nate manipulated through multiple musical numbers with deft skill.

Though the friendly, furry characters of “Thea-ATE-a Monstrousos” might indicate an all-ages experience, parents be aware: Many of the puppets are foulmouthed and nefarious, cute as they may be.

“Even though it looks like a little kid’s show in some ways, it’s definitely a mature show. You know, it’s not entirely filthy, but I certainly wouldn’t want small kids in the audience,” Nate said.

That said, watching the puppeteer at work did evoke the childlike wonder of watching the Muppets or their “Sesame Street” peers. Fans of Yoda, Kermit and Elmo will love “Froosh La Roosh,” the evil wizard.

For more about “Thea-ATE-a Monstrousos” and Fringe Fest, visit tickets.ashevillefringe.org/events/thea-ate-a-monstrousos.

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