3/4/2026
Education and Outreach
A pair of slack-jawed pirates are slouched over a table backstage in Reynolds Hall. No, they’re not Fremont Street Jack Sparrows who wandered over after busking; they’re the pirates many folks meet first: Captain Hook and Mr. Smee. And these pirates aren’t people – they’re life-sized puppets.
“I wanted to go big or go home,” Derek Lux says with a grin. As the artistic director of DLUX Puppets, Lux co-founded the Las Vegas-based production company with his wife, Lauren, a longtime classroom teacher and DLUX’s education director. Together, they create multimedia children’s theater – and their 12-year-old twin sons, Dylan and Dexter, have now joined them onstage as well.
“They are taking after mom and dad,” Derek says on a break from their Neverland show during a week of student matinee performances at The Smith Center in February. “They love singing and dancing and showbiz and everything. We already see one of my sons happens to be gravitating towards puppetry, so we thought, ‘All right, our son, Dylan, he’s going to be great as Mr. Smee portrayed as a puppet.’”
Laughs Lauren, “[And Dexter] likes to rock. He likes to rock out. So, we gave him some good rock moments in our show.”
“I love that we can nurture them with what their natural talents already are.”
Derek and Lauren channel their own numerous talents and performing arts backgrounds into the ability to wear numerous hats at DLUX Puppets. In addition to directing and producing, Derek is also an award-winning puppet designer and puppet fabricator, plus an onstage puppeteer – including for the Neverland’s aforementioned life-size Captain Hook, plus the expressive Peter Pan himself.
Beyond playing a (human) Wendy in Neverland alongside the twins as Michael and John, Lauren has a master’s in education and has led professional development workshops for teachers at The Smith Center. “We taught how to incorporate puppetry into teaching using SEL skills – social-emotional learning – and also [puppetry] to enhance curriculum," Lauren says. "It was really fun, and we hope to do more.”
Interestingly, puppetry wasn’t on the plate when Derek and Lauren first met. Paired up professionally at a benefit to sing a duet, their “meet-cute” was ultimately meant to be. Lauren didn’t know Derek would be bringing along a few felted friends, however.
“We did musical theater, we did all sorts of things together – but I didn't really explain the full depth of the puppets, did I?” Derek recalls.
“The puppets came out post-marriage, but I wouldn't have it any other way,” she laughs.
“Word of advice, puppet people: Hide it until after you put the ring on.”
For the Lux family, bringing Neverland to the Reynolds Hall stage has been an extremely meaningful experience.
“We love student matinee audiences; the energy is off the charts,” Lauren says. “The kids are so excited, and being able to perform at The Smith Center has really been a dream for us – being local and living here – getting a chance to do our work here has been such a dream, and we’re so grateful for it.”
Get a behind-the-scenes look at Derek Lux’s impressive Neverland puppets via our latest YouTube video.