Yesterday I woke up to news that my high school art teacher had died. He was loving, kind, generous, and sassy. He introduced me to artists and movements. He helped me get through a transitional period and into art school. He helped a lot of people survive and become who they are today. He made life more worth living.
Continue reading “When Teachers Are Heroes”Saturday, January 22, 2022, I discussed the creation and development of Object of Her Affection at a symposium, Staging the Non-Human Character; Animal, Alien, or Architecture with Maria Camia, Nick Lehane, Basil Twist, and moderator, Dr. Paulette Richards. The symposium, part of the Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival streamed at on HowlRound.
Continue reading “Staging the Non-Human Character: Animal, Alien, or Architecture (Symposium / Streaming)”On March 6th, 2014, I was a visiting artist at the Los Angeles LGBT Center to teach a workshop on puppetry and performing objects at sparQ!, an activist theatre mentoring program produced by LifeWorks. There were 8 young people in the sparQ! program who ranged in age from 18-23. Continue reading “Visiting Artist, Los Angeles LGBT Center (Los Angeles)”
On June 2012, I hosted The New American Vaudeville, at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center in Waterford, CT as part of the National Puppetry Conference. In The New American Vaudeville, I contextualized evenings of short-form puppet and object theater for adult audiences in intimate settings. The New American Vaudeville was informed by my position as co-founder and coordinator of the Puppet Slam Network from 2005 to 2016. Continue reading “The New American Vaudeville, Waterford, CT (presentation)”
In June 2010, I was the recipient of the Connecticut Guild of Puppetry Scholarship to participate in the the National Puppetry Conference at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center in Waterford, CT. While at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center I worked on Dawn of the Apocalypse in which I portrayed an anthropomorphized oil spill, I performed puppets in Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft, (a puppet film directed by Tim Lagasse and Martin Robinson), Fudgie’s Death at Blue Gene’s Pub, and Paul McGuiness’ table-top puppetry piece on split focus. While there I also hosted a puppet slam summit with Puppet Slam Network curators from around the country.
In January 2008, I co-taught Pop Goes The World, a class on pop-ups and paper engineering with scenic artist, Caitlin Lainoff at California Institute of the Arts (CalArts). The class was part of the Theater School’s three week interim session between semesters. For this session I was particularly interested in exploring pop-ups and three dimensional paper engineering for theatrical experiences.
Continue reading “Pop Goes the World, Valencia, CA, (guest teacher)”
On July 20th, 2007 I presented Puppet Slam Nation, a version of The New American Vaudeville, as a workshop with Heather Henson at Condordia University as part of the National Puppetry Festival. I contextualized evenings of short-form puppet and object theater for adult audiences in intimate settings. Puppet Slam Nation was also an opportunity for puppet slam curators and artists from around the country to exchange information and ideas. Continue reading “Puppet Slam Nation, St. Paul, MN (panel)”
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 May 2005, I was a guest teaching artist-in-residence at Oakland Beach Elementary School in Rhode Island working with grades 1, 3, and 6. Lead artist-in-residence, Amy Lynn Budd, had students create a performance response to the film, Yellow Submarine. I came into the class room a handful of times to assist with mask work and puppetry and aspects of the project (both construction and performance).
Continue reading “Teaching artist-in-residence, Warwick, RI”
In February 2005, I was a teaching artist-in-residence with Maureen Maher’s 7th and 8th graders at Dr. Earl Calcutt Middle School in Central Falls, Rhode Island as part of the Arts Talk at Channel One program. Students were tasked to create puppet shows based on story tellers from variety of cultures using recycled materials and perform them for first grade reading buddies
Continue reading “Artist-in-Residence, Calcutt Middle School, Central Falls, RI”