As a child, Rachel Perry watched "Sesame Street" on TV. She loved Oscar the Grouch and Snuffleupagus. She wanted to be on that show. "I was destined for 'Sesame Street,' " she says.

Today, at 24 years old, Perry is on "Sesame Street" - sort of.

Perry does double duty, playing Oscar the Grouch and the human character, Kay, in the touring production, "Sesame Street Live: Super Grover! Ready for Action." The show is at the Cumberland County Civic Center in Portland tonight through Sunday.

As Oscar the Grouch, Perry really acts more as a puppeteer than actor. Unlike the other actors who dress up in costume to portray characters such as Grover or Big Bird, Perry steps into a stationary Oscar the Grouch prop and manipulates his mouth and arms. (All the characters' voices are on a recorded track.)

"My challenge (as Oscar) is to get new ways to get Oscar to move," she explains. Finding new ways to move Oscar is difficult because one of her hands is always manipulating Oscar's mouth. She has to do all of Oscar's other gestures with her free hand.

Partly because of the limits of the Oscar prop, Perry prefers playing the human character Kay. As Kay, she gets more time on stage and the action is fast-paced.

As a human character, though, Perry doesn't rate too highly in the hearts of the thousands of children she and the "Sesame Street" cast see on tour. "No one ever wants to meet Kay," she says. "They're (the kids) just infatuated - in awe of those guys ("Sesame Street" characters) up there."

In "Super Grover! Ready for Action," those characters that so awe the kids include Grover, Big Bird, Elmo, Cookie Monster, Bert, Ernie, Count Von Count, Zoe and Rosita.

While these characters dole out huge doses of love, they also serve the purpose of teaching children valuable lessons. "Super Grover! Ready for Action" teaches kids about healthy habits.

When Grover loses his abilities to be a superhero, his pals help him regain his super-ness by pointing out the importance of good nutrition and getting enough sleep and when Oscar the Grouch takes over Elmo's place, everyone gets a lesson in the importance of hygiene.

Perry points out that even though she's an adult and one of the performers teaching kids, she, too, learns things from the show. The show has re-taught her about the importance of basic pleasantries, like being courteous, looking people in the eye and being friendly toward other people.

"It's stuff you learned as a child that sometimes as adults we forget," she said.

News assistant Stephanie Bouchard can be contacted at 791-6455 or at:

sbouchard@pressherald.com