In July 2007, I was awarded the Emma Louise Warfield Memorial Scholarship to attend the National Puppetry Festival in St. Paul, MN. While at the festival I hosted Puppet Slam Nation at Concordia University, a version of my New American Vaudeville presentation for the Puppet Slam Network.
In The New American Vaudeville, I contextualized underground world of contemporary short-form puppet and object theater for adult audiences in intimate settings through my position as co-founder and coordinator of the Puppet Slam Network which ran from 2005 to 2016.
The Emma Louise Warfield Memorial Scholarship was established to enable individuals to attend a National Festival who show outstanding work in the field of puppetry. Emma Louise Warfield helped found the Wallingford (PA.) Community Arts Center and taught puppetry classes for thirty years to both children and adults. In addition, she also taught at the Philadelphia Junto and the Philadelphia School of Occupational Therapy. She was a charter member of the Puppeteers of America, UNIMA-USA, and founder of the Quaker Village Puppeteers (the Philadelphia Area Puppetry Guild). She served as the Therapy Consultant for the Puppeteers of America for over 20 years. Emma attended every National Festival from 1937 to 1987, all of her region’s Festivals, and many UNIMA Festivals. This Scholarship is to honor Emma Louise Warfield and all of her contributions to puppetry.
The Puppeteers of America is a national non-profit organization founded in 1937 to provide information, encourage performances, and build a community of people who celebrate puppet theatre. Puppeteers of America has produced over 160 national and regional festivals to celebrate and share the art of puppetry. The organization publishes the quarterly magazine, The Puppetry Journal. Founded in 1949, The Puppetry Journal provides a continuing chronicle of contemporary puppetry.