November 19 2022, 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm MST
Free
Puppet Perspectives – online conversation
Is it time for the nonhuman voice to be heard?
Sentience is in question. Personhood is at issue. Anthropocentrism is challenged.
WP Puppet Theatre’s Festival of Ideas explores the power of puppetry, as applied in areas of social justice, community issues and cultural anthropology. Sometimes it is crystal clear that puppetry can be a tool for teaching literacy, grab attention in a parade for social action or build community through sharing cultural traditions.
In this case of non-human perspectives or different points of view are puppets are relevant? And if so how? Are puppets really inanimate? Are they really insentient?
Inspired by our evening performance of Caws and Effect, an award-winning production by Vancouver’s Mind of A Snail, they describe it as “large-scale shadow theatre from a bird’s eye view. Crows are re-dreaming the world. Is the future all it’s cracked up to be?”
What can we learn from the puppet crows?
WP Puppet Theatre’s Festival of Ideas explores the power of puppetry, as applied in areas of social justice, community issues and cultural anthropology. Sometimes it is crystal clear that puppetry can be a tool for teaching literacy, grab attention in a parade for social action or build community through sharing cultural traditions.
Festival of Ideas Nov 19th, 2022 Program of Events (times listed in Mountain Time)
11:00 – 12:30 pm – Overhead Projector Shadow Puppetry Workshop – Mind of a Snail – In-Person at Cspace OR Livestream
2:00 – 3:00 pm – Puppet Perspectives – Online conversation via Zoom (FREE but Registration required. Included with performance / workshop ticket purchase.)
7:00 – 8:15 pm – Performance – Caws & Effect -Mind of a Snail – In-Person at Cspace OR Livestream
Correct, I work with adult mentally handicapped people of different typologies, and we use the puppets as workshop work, drawing, research, telling stories, rehearsing, working on motor skills, memory, understanding, accepting, trying again, overcoming fears and third-party criticism, publicize it, make posters, recycle materials and concepts and, in the end, share this experience with the public.
People who do not speak and who stuck their pens in their noses instead of drawing became motivated and performed certain tasks with the aim of participating in this construction, developing and demonstrating their abilities in this process.
We made plays with glove puppets, string puppets, animated objects, shadow theater, paper theater and masks.
The final result has surprised everyone and we just needed some support in order to be able to function correctly with material suitable for this population and in adapted spaces and means of transport. However, because our project starts from the principle that everything can be turned into something interesting and the puppets have that power by themselves, I want to leave this testimony here, and applaud your initiative.
Isabel Bernardes Silva
Monitor at Cedema IPSS, Lisbon, Portugal