Como Lake Creatures: An Interview with Artist Oanh Vu
We are thrilled to have artist Oanh Vu (she/her) leading our upcoming free Art + Water Workshop: Como Lake Shadow Puppets on Saturday, September 13, including performances of her original show Como Lake Creatures. Please visit the event link to learn more about the details. We hope you can join us!
Sarah Peters, CRWD Artist-in-Residence, interviewed Oanh Vu about what to expect at the show and workshop.
Sarah: Who are the characters we’ll meet in your show, Como Lake Creatures?
Oanh: You’ll meet the following stars of the show.
- Gao Hua, a young girl who lives near Como Lake
- Kim Quy, the mythological golden turtle
- Curly, the curly leaf pondweed
Sarah: What is the show about?
Oanh: Como Lake Creatures is a humorous show set at Como Lake starring characters from lake legends and watershed reality.
Gao Hua often visits Como Lake in hopes of spotting her favorite creature, Kim Quy, a magical golden turtle. One day, Gao visits the lake to find the turtle on shore struggling to breathe. The turtle dies, saying the lake has become an inhospitable place to live, “there’s no food and the water isn’t good for me to drink”. Gao goes on a mission to figure out what happened. She finds out the water has become polluted because of salt used on sidewalks and the overabundance of nutrients from grass clippings, leaves, and dog poop.
Curly, the curly leaf pondweed, is just a regular plant guy living his life in Como Lake. Other plants can’t live in such conditions, but he can! He and his family do what all creatures do: survive to the best of their ability, and boy, do they! Unfortunately, that means the lake is less biodiverse, and there aren’t as many other plants, which means the animals that initially lived there are also unable to survive when their food is gone.
Gao works with her friends in the neighborhood to create signs and talk to fellow residents and park-goers to spread awareness of the problems. Meanwhile, the scientists at CRWD work hard to help clean the lake! The following year, the lake is better, and Gao sees a lot more creatures. Curly is still there, although he doesn’t have as many friends. Gao cries as she remembers that her favorite creature, the golden turtle, is gone. But she looks up to see baby golden turtles hatching from eggs and crawling into the lake!
Question: What is a shadow puppet? What materials are used to make them and bring them alive?
Oanh: As a puppeteer, I often cut cardstock paper to create a figure (object, animal, person) that is held between a source of light and a screen to create a shadow of that same figure. I might also incorporate other semi-transparent or transparent materials (colored cellophane, lace, patterned glass, sand, and even water) into my shadow puppets and sets to add texture, color, and movement.
About the artist:
Oanh Vu (she/her) is a puppeteer, educator, and community organizer. As a 2nd generation Vietnamese American, she uses humor and the playfulness of puppetry to tell stories of healing and social change for her communities. She is a recipient of the 2025-2028 Jerome Hill Fellow and a Jim Henson Foundation Grant recipient. She got her start in puppetry through Monkeybear’s Harmolodic Workshop and is now the Puppet Lab Co-artistic director at Open Eye Theatre. Her artwork has been shared at theatres, museums, & community spaces across the Twin Cities, including In the Heart of the Beast Theatre, Mia, MN Opera, Open Eye Theatre, Theater Mu, Twin Cities Public Television, and the Walker Art Center.
See more from Oanh Vu in the following links.
Twin Cities PBS Artist Profile with Oanh Vu on TikTok (1 minute, 17 seconds)
Minnesota Opera MNiatures: Chim Lạc (Lost Bird) on YouTube (15 minutes, 27 seconds)
Minnesota Opera MNiatures: Chim Lạc (Lost Bird)