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Panelists:
Pam Arciero is a performer and director for theater, television, and film as well as a producer. She has been a puppeteer on Sesame Street for over 40 years. She taught puppetry all over the world, from New York to Hong Kong, and Hawaii to South Africa. Pam has been Artistic Director of the National Puppetry Conference at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center for 23 years.
Shoshana Bass is the second generation Artistic Director of Sandglass Theater located in Putney, Vermont. She has been a core teacher in the Sandglass summer intensive training program since 2015. She grew up touring internationally with the theater founded by her parents and now performs their legacy work as well as her own original work. Her training consists of a range of physical performance disciplines spanning across theater, dance, puppetry and circus. She works as a performer, teacher, producer, director and choreographer around the world. Her solo puppet theater piece, When I Put on Your Glove has and continues to tour in North America, Asia, and Europe. She has been a primary force in Sandglass’ work on Babylon: journeys of refugees, a production about that has garnered support from the National Theater Project and the Doris Duke Islamic Art Foundation’s Building Bridges Program. She is working on a new project titled Feral, which received support from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Henson Foundation and numerous commissioners from around the country. www.sandglasstheater.org
David Lane is an award winning painter and theatre artist based in North Adams, Massachusetts. He fell into puppetry when he and a friend accidentally became part of a circus troupe and built a Punch and Judy show in an effort to avoid being jettisoned from the company. He is a co-creator and lead designer of Iniskim: Return of the Buffalo, an intercultural theatre event under the artistic direction of Amethyst First Rider and produced by the Canadian Academy of Mask and Puppetry. David runs a yearly puppet design laboratory at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MASS MoCA) and along with Peter and Nan Balkwill, he co-facilitates the New England Puppet Intensive which will be on the road this summer in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. www.newenglandpuppet.org
Chamindika Wanduragala is a Sri Lankan American puppet artist based in Minneapolis. She is also the founder and Executive + Artistic Director of Monkeybear’s Harmolodic Workshop, a nonprofit that nurtures Native, Black, IPOC in developing creative and technical skills in contemporary puppetry. You can see her work at www.chamindika.com and read more about Monkeybear at www.monkeybear.org
Archived Zoomie events:
February 19, 2025
A Conversation Between Puppeteers & Friends Alison Duddle and Sandy Spieler
TransAtlantic Puppet Masters, Alison Duddle and Sandy Spieler: A Conversation Between Friends
Puppetry and mask artists Sandy Spieler (Founder of In the Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theatre, USA) and Alison Duddle (A Bird in the Hand Theatre and Quiddlestick, UK), have nurtured a trans-Atlantic bond for the past 30 years, after working together on In the Heart of the Beast’s May Day Parade in 1995. Spieler became a mentor for Duddle, as she has been for many in the puppetry community. Out of this connection, came a deep and enduring friendship–– even as the two have worked thousands of miles apart. Join us for a conversation between these two influential and innovative puppet and mask artists, who exemplify the transformative power of puppetry at the community and international level. They discuss their friendship and their artistic practices, and how, in the words of Sandy, "Art wakens us to the wonder of our everyday lives.”
Sandy Spieler is a Minneapolis-based puppetry artist. Known for her teaching and community engagement, she is one of the founders of In the Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theatre and served as its Artistic Director for 45 years. She is a two-time recipient of the UNIMA-USA Citations of Excellence in the Art of Puppetry Award. Read full bio HERE.
Alison Duddle is a freelance visual artist, maker/designer, and director based in West Yorkshire, UK. She has worked extensively across the globe and is the director of both A Bird in the Hand Theatre and Quiddlesticks, where she creates imaginative outdoor work for family audiences with a passion for the natural world at its heart. Read full bio HERE.
Moderator: Felice Amato
Digital Director: Sara Burmenko
Thank you to the Center for Puppetry Arts Digital Learning program for hosting this zoom webinar!
Presented in partnership with Women & Mask: An Arts-Research Project
August 25, 2024
Contemporary USA puppeteers stand on the shoulders of giants who via performance, exhibition, or educational work helped American puppetry grow. They have carried word of American puppetry around the globe, used puppetry to advance curriculum, and one of these artists even coined our name - “puppeteer." These artists' stories have been researched for recent Puppetry International, Puppetry International Research or World Encyclopedia of Puppetry Arts (WEPA) materials. We hope this Zoom will inspire listeners to think who still needs to be “written up” and join with us in creating more puppeteer biographies for WEPA and other venues!
Moderator: Kathy Foley
Digital Director: Sara Burmenko
April 28, 2024
Have you ever read a book or story and thought “That would make a great puppet show!” How do you go about getting permission to use copyrighted material? Three award winning puppeteers and producers guide us through the process of doing just that.
Therese Aun (Center for Puppetry Arts), Mike Horner (What If Puppets) and Brian Hull (Wishing Chair productions, Nashville Public Library) present their journeys going from page to stage, working with authors and other artists to achieve a successful puppet production.
Host: Center for Puppetry Arts
Presenters:
Therese Aun (Center for Puppetry Arts)
Mike Horner (What If Puppets)
Brian Hull (Wishing Chair productions, Nashville Public Library)
January 14, 2024
A Zoom-based conversation about masks with 3 French-speaking theater artists: Céline Pagniez from Belgium, Léa Ros (La Femme Invisible) from France, and Emilie Racine from Canada. Ros and Racine both performed at Charleville this year, debuting “Femme Invisible” and “Habite-moi,” respectively. Pagniez is the director of "Habiter" ("Alive" in English), the new show of her company El Caracol. In addition to this show, she is leading a series of visual theater workshops for women. The three speak about their current practices and how masks allow them to explore themes essential to their work. Another form of material performance, masks are seen much less than puppets—especially in the United States. Racine, Ros, and Pagniez can shed light on ways that other countries may foster a stronger presence of mask work. This event is co-sponsored by the Women and Masks Project at Boston University and hosted by academic committee chair and assistant professor Felice Amato. Translation from the French will be provided.
Moderator: Felice Amato
Digital Director: Sara Burmenko
Presenters & Titles:
Céline Pagniez
Léa Ros
Emilie Racine
October 15, 2023
Zoom around the world with UNIMA-USA members whose research on puppetry takes them across oceans to Benin, Korea, and Indonesia. While the forms they will speak about are old, their insights regarding repatriation, modernization, and intercultural theatre are up to the minute. Catch up with the May 2023 UNIMA-USA Workshop that followed the International Council Meeting/Festival in Bali and think forward toward attending the UNIMA-International’s 2025 World Puppetry Festival/Congress in Korea.
Moderator: Kathy Foley
Digital Director: Sara Burmenko
Presenters & Titles:
Heather Jeanne Denyer: Restitution and Resurrection: The Process of Repatriation of African Masks/Objects from European Museums in the case of the Royal Dahomian Treasures
Mina Kwon: “2025 UNIMA Congress and Festival in South Korea & Traditional Korean Puppet Theatre”
Karen Smith: “Dancing with Puppets; Wayang Workshop, Denpasar, Bali, 2-7 May 2023”
June 11, 2023
The world is opening up after a long isolation. People can‘t wait to travel again, it’s the same for puppeteers. If you want to know some tips about how to make connections with international puppet festivals and work with puppeteers around the world, please join us at this special zoom event.
Moderator: Kathy Foley
Digital Director: Sara Burmenko
Presenters & Titles:
Tom Lee: Walking the Road Together: Puppetry and Collaboration in Japan
Denise Greber & Federico Restrepo: On the Road
Spica Wobbe: Curiosity, Adventure & Sharing
March 19, 2023
A Zoom event for World Puppetry Day, streamed live on Sunday, March 19th 2023. Both the Puppeteers of America and UNIMA-USA presented various American puppeteers to give awards and talk about their current work.
February 12th, 2023
Historically puppeteers have created works that celebrate the cultural or religious heritage of groups. What works are contemporary companies sharing in our diverse society?
Moderator: Kathy Foley
Digital Director: Sara Burmenko
Presenters & Titles:
Manuel Antonio Morán Martínez: Dream of Kings: Storytelling, Shadow Puppetry, and Sing-Along Production
Stephen Kaplin: Chinese Theatre Works' Annual Touring Production Celebrates the 12 Animals of the Chinese Zodiac Using Traditional ‘Budaixi’ Hand Puppets, Music, Song and Games
Matthew Isaac Cohen: Wayang Esther: Performing the Book of Esther as a Javanese-Style Shadow Puppet Play for the Holiday of Purim
January 8, 2023
Three experts give us the skinny on how to make puppets work their best to serve the needs of moving media.
Moderator: Kathy Foley
Digital Director: Sara Burmenko
Presenters & Titles:
Lee Armstrong: High and Low Tech for Puppet PSA
Camilla Henneman: Gorillas, Monsters and Demon Dolls: 20 Years of Making Creatures for Film
Colette Searls: A Galaxy of Things: The Power of Puppets and Mask in Star Wars and Beyond
August 28, 2022
Scenographers, puppet makers, and stereoscopic filmmakers explore puppetry, talking about 2D, 3D, and the frame busting filmic worlds they are creating.
Moderator: Kathy Foley
Digital Director: Sara Burmenko
Presenters & Titles:
Bradford Clark: Lies, Damned Lies, and Puppets: designing Baron Munchausen
Steven Widerman: Puppetry in 3D Video
F. Elaine Williams:Designing for the Center for Puppetry Arts