Shaffer recreates a scene after the performance of “Beauty and the Beast,” showing the behind-the-scenes workings.

The DIA was jumping this weekend with the Motor City Puppet Blast, part of the 2014 Puppeteers of America Great Lakes Regional Festival, which took place all weekend, July 25-27, with a packed program for the delight of puppetheads, young and old. One highlight of the weekend was a recreation by performer and archivist Seth Shaffer of the Dick Myers’ production of “Beauty and the Beast,” which originally premiered at the DIA in 1969. The show featured all the original sets, puppets and reel-to-reel recorded narration developed by Myers 45 years ago, which—like other key pieces for the weekend—have been painstakingly refurbished by the DIA’s conservation department to ensure show-ready condition.

Myers puppets bear the cartoony hallmarks of the ’60s, including wide, blank eyes.

An aeronautics engineer, Myers ingeniously designed and fabricated each of the puppets in the “cast” of 20+ (which includes a puppet trapeze artist, xylophone player and multiple renderings of the key characters) to enable a single puppeteer to work multiple characters in a scene. Following the performance, Shaffer gave a behind-the-curtain demonstration of the workings underlying the stage show; an incredibly detailed program of gestures and set changes.

Shaffer showing the complicated apparatus controlling each puppet.

Shaffer has been developing this performance since 2012, as well as writing a thesis on Dick Meyers which he hopes to publish, chronicling and analyzing the work of one of the most accomplished master puppeteers in contemporary memory. Though sadly never captured on film, Dick Myers was wildly popular in his time, and toured internationally with “Beauty and the Beast,” becoming one of the only Americans to be invited into Russia as an honored guest during a volatile time between nations. Shaffer reconstructed the show using the detailed audio instructions recorded by Myers, which meticulously outline the show’s timing and choreography.

The CCS auditorium was packed with a rapt crowd, enjoying the performance and the extra info about the life of Dick Myers.

If you think you’ve missed your chance to experience puppet magic, think again! He DIA has more events slated for August, including a presentation of “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea,” by Tears of Joy Puppets in the DIA Lecture Hall on August 2 and 3 at 2 p.m., as well as “Cinderella,” presented by The Dick Myers Project on Sunday, August 24 at 2 p.m. There will also be a performance of “My Superhero Roberto Clemente,” a bilingual performance about the life of the legendary Latino baseball player, presented by TeatroSEA and taking place on Sunday, September 16 at 2 p.m.

Don’t miss these free opportunities to enjoy the retrograde, yet miraculous, wonder of puppetry!

The Detroit Institute of Arts: 5200 Woodward Ave., Detroit; 313-833-7900; www.dia.org