Loose ends tied up for puppet show

The actors were left hanging, literally, when the Santa Monica Puppetry Center didn’t reopen as planned on Sept. 15 at its new location on Broadway in Santa Monica, due to questions by the city planning department about how the space would be used.

The multipurpose center -- part workshop, part museum, part performance space -- was forced to leave its digs near the Third Street Promenade because of a steep rent increase. Moving several blocks away into a different commercial district, however, meant that zoning issues had to be revisited.

Those issues have been resolved, center founder Steve Meltzer said, and the center will open Sunday with his show, “Puppetolio.” “There may not be carpet on part of the floor,” he said, “but everything else is here, and we’re ready to go.”

-- Lynne Heffley