UNIMA-USA (Support)

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In 2008, I was the recipient of funding from UNIMA-USA for the run of Growing Up Linda at the Edinburgh Fringe. 

There was a good deal of blood, sweat and tears which extended months before the residency-workshop – writing, building and rehearsing LINDA with an initial workshop run at CalArts in early May. I spent the summer editing down the show with guidance from my mentor, Janie Geiser and helpful feedback from the CalArts community and attendees of the National Puppetry Conference at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center. I trimmed the run time from 80 minutes to just under an hour keeping what was most essential to the story.

I worked closely with a production manager (who became my left hand) to see exactly what could fit into a crate (shipped weeks in advance) and suitcases, all within weight and international fire code. We made tough choices, cutting scenes and puppets, and deciding whether or not to remake some.  A couple of the set pieces were even recreated on the fly after we arrived.  I learned a great deal about thinking on my feet, looking at the big picture, managing an entire team, with hands on experience with timelines, budgeting, marketing, fundraising, making compromises and how to best capitalize on peoplesʼ strengths and work within their limitations (including my own).

I networked with students from the RWAMD and theatre artists from around the world (including U.S. puppeteers like Lake Simons who just happened to be doing laundry in the hostel where I was staying at the exact same time). I  saw some eye-opening shows – my favorite was a hilariously inspiring anti-Disney themed puppet musical from Australia. I got real life practice in what it takes to make a long form puppet piece transportable for touring, including the development of the necessary self- producing, marketing and fund-raising skills.

I learned the importance of good P.R. and what that looks like at a Fringe Festival . The actors would reenact excerpts on the Royal Mile daily, while the designers barked at passers-by, and plastered the city with posters.  I have taken the valuable insights I have learned during this program into the planning stages of my next production, Bride of Wildenstein – The Musical, which will be a one-person touring production with an eye on planning and budgeting for a multi- year, multi-city tour.

Having the opportunity to create and tour my first full-length puppet-actor hybrid show to Edinburgh Fringe Festival went beyond my wildest dreams and what I could have learned in the classroom. I am eternally grateful to UNIMA for its Foreign Assistance Scholarship, which helped enormously with the expenses of attending the Edinburgh Fringe.

Founded in 1929, Union Internationale de la Marionnette is an organization in which all those people in the world concerned with the Art of the Puppet Theatre associate voluntarily in order to serve through their art the idea of peace and of mutual understanding without distinction as to race, political ideas or religion.

AWARDEES

Since 1982, UNIMA-USA has issued funding to over 40 individuals to pursue puppetry enrichment opportunities abroad, including: