Kurt Hunter's - "Puppets, Kids and Christian Education"
Stella,
There is a book by Kurt Hunter titled, "Puppets, Kids and Christian Education." The publisher is Augsburg Fortress. (Out of Print - try amazon.)
This guy is amazing! I saw him at the national Workshop Rotation Conference in Chicago - the things he can do with various forms of puppetry! Check out his website at http://www.huntermarionettes.com/rotation-model/
Anyway, he could probably help you with the puppet stage design, too. Email him at info@huntermarionettes.com
Good Luck!
P.S. Be sure to look into the handle-bag puppets he mentions at his site - they are too cool. More info on these posted further down.
Annamarie