This year's production at UNC's Forest Theatre is a fluttering procession of arthropods amid towering grasses and flowers; dung beetles, millipedes and grasshoppers on bikes; caterpillars, butterflies and ants. Myriad forms unfold over vast ages of time as we arrive in the 19th century backyard of famed entomologist Jean-Henri Fabre.

For the past nine years, co-founders Donovan Zimmerman and Jan Burger have produced visually breathtaking, fun, thought-provoking theater. The shows use puppet-making, music and dance, employing giant puppets, masks, stilts, painted cardboard and shadows to tell stories, illuminate thoughts and themes and inspire people of all ages. All shows are set to live, original music.

Zimmerman and Burger founded Paperhand Puppet Intervention in 1998. In addition to the summer shows at the Forest Theatre -- their biggest annual undertaking -- the group performs and creates puppets for parades, pageants, schools, and more throughout the Triangle year-round.

Earlier this year, the group was commissioned to create a giant dragon for use in the Carolina Ballet production of "Sleeping Beauty." Zimmerman and Burger also taught members of the dance company how to maneuver the puppet for the show.