'Dino Show' debuts at University of Utah

SALT LAKE CITY — The dinosaurs that roamed southern Utah millions of years ago in the late Cretaceous period have found new stomping grounds at the Utah Museum of Natural History.

"Dino Show: Live From Laramidia" opened Friday at the museum on the University of Utah campus. The interactive performance will run at 11 a.m. Fridays and 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. Saturdays through the end of May and possibly through December.

Paulmichael Maxfield, the gallery programs coordinator at the museum, developed the approximately 30-minute performance. Maxfield teamed up with Mark Loewen, a paleontologist and research associate, to help better re-create the dinosaur, currently referred to as ceratopsian, the group in which the dinosaur is categorized.

"We knew about this recent discovery, and we thought it was really cool," Maxfield said. "We were really excited about being able to bring some of the fossils to life."

Maxfield's presentation is both educational and entertaining. While sharing facts about the ceratopsian Friday, Maxfield invited children in the audience to participate in numerous ways. Before the ceratopsian made its grand entrance, Maxfield told the audience they needed to re-create the environment it had lived in.

Assigning the roles of plants, ants, beetles, bumblebees and other dinosaurs, Maxfield and his youth volunteers re-created the ceratopsian's environment.

Upon the successful completion of the re-creation, the 10-foot ceratopsian entered the room, to the delight of the youth. Some ran forward to observe it closer, while others retreated to their parents in fear.

Ben and Deborah Norris of Salt Lake City said they were excited to learn about the show when they arrived at the museum. Their 4-year-old son, Tate, is the dinosaur fan in their family. Tate said the ceratopsian from the show is his new favorite dinosaur.

The Norris' 10-year-old son, Schon, said the re-creation of the ceratopsian's environment was his favorite part of the show.

University of Utah students studying puppeteering operated the 65-pound ceratopsian puppet, which took approximately three months to create.

Maxfield said there were many known facts about the ceratopsian but that some things, like what color it was and how it walked, had to be improvised.

"Sometimes we had to do a bit of speculation," he said. "But it was all based on scientific evidence."