AUBURN - Auburn-born puppeteer Marc Petrosino visited the YMCA in Auburn Thursday morning to give children an inside peek at how puppets work.

Petrosino, who is working this summer at the Merry-Go-Round Playhouse bringing to life Audrey II in the theater's production of “Little Shop of Horrors,” has performed in a variety of roles in his career, including Audrey II in the Broadway and touring shows of “Little Shop of Horrors.” He has also designed puppets for shows such as “Dora The Explorer Live” and “Seussical The Musical” through his company, Monkey Boys Productions.

Though he managed to make puppetry a career, Petrosino admitted to his young audience that he didn't initially plan to pursue it as a job.

“When I went to school,” Petrosino said, “I went to school to study science. I was studying biology with dolphins and things like that, but then I switched schools and started learning about puppets.”

Petrosino had with him two stages of the Audrey II puppet used in the Merry-Go-Round show, the small version and the medium-sized version.

These convincing puppets were enough to fool some of the children in the audience.

“It was pretty cool,” Makayla Liebel, 9, said. “I thought the little plant was real until he put his hand in it and made it move, that was really cool.”

During his talk, Petrosino gave the children some insight into the history of puppets and the diverse range of forms these creations can take.

“A puppet is anything that is normally not alive,” Petrosino said. “But then someone can make it move and talk and they can use it to entertain people and make them laugh.”

Petrosino said that this can range from creations like the Audrey II to simple sock puppets and shadow puppets or something as simple as a piece of paper.

“In Vietnam there are things called water puppets,” Petrosino said. “They are really cool and they even take pieces of paper and use rids to make it move and that is a puppet.”

Petrosino gave the audience an up close look at the Audrey II puppet, which he said is made out of numerous materials.

On a fiberglass frame that makes the basic plant shape, materials like Spandex and latex have been stretched and painted, giving the plant its distinctive look.

Petrosino said that these smaller versions were relatively easy to bring to life, as opposed to the large scale Audrey II for the final act of the stage play.

“The really big one has metal bars and things inside so I can make the mouth move,” Petrosino said. “And that weighs more than 100 pounds and I have to carry it around on stage.”

For many in the audience this was an intriguing look at how puppets work.

Brothers Austin, 10, and Hunter, 8, Dugger, were certainly impressed.

“It was good,” Austin said. “I've never seen a puppet like that up close, it was really neat.”