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Livestreamed on this page on Saturday 22 January and Saturday 29 January 2022.

Chicago, Illinois
Saturday 22 and Saturday 29 January 2022

The Ellen Van Volkenburg Puppetry Symposium

Bringing together practicing Festival artists with scholars to consider the intersection of puppetry with other disciplines and ideas

Saturday 22 and Saturday 29 January 2022

The 2022 Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival and The School of the Art Institute Chicago presented The Ellen Van Volkenburg Puppetry Symposium livestreaming on the global, commons-based peer produced HowlRound TV network on Saturday 22 January and Saturday 29 January 2022.

The Ellen Van Volkenburg Puppetry Symposium brings together practicing Festival artists with scholars to consider the intersection of puppetry with other disciplines and ideas. Before 1912, the year the Little Theater of Chicago was founded in the historic Fine Arts Building, the term “puppeteer” did not even exist. Little Theater director Ellen Van Volkenburg needed a program credit for the actors she had trained to manipulate marionettes while speaking the text of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and she coined the word “puppeteer.” That marked the dawn of the movement that has brought us to the rich art form now practiced around the world. In Van Volkenburg’s honor, the Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival presents four discussions featuring festival artists and key topics from the works presented in the Festival.

2022 Symposium Details
The Volkenburg Puppetry Symposium is co-curated by Dr. Paulette Richards and Chicago Puppet Festival Artistic Director Blair Thomas. Discussions are open to the public. No reservations required.

Saturday 22 January

 

Staging the Non-Human Character; Animal, Alien, or Architecture
8 a.m. PST (San Francisco, UTC -8) / 10 a.m. CST (Chicago, UTC -6) / 11 a.m. EST (New York, UTC -5)

Moderator:
Dr. Paulette Richards, puppet artist and independent researcher

Panelists:
Maria Camia, creator, New Mony!
Nick Lehane, creator, Chimpanzee
Marsian De Lellis, creator, Object of Her Affection
Basil Twist, creator, Dogugaeshi

 


What We Leave Behind: The Plastic Object Geological Layer
11 a.m. PST (San Francisco, UTC -8) / 1 p.m. CST (Chicago, UTC -6) / 2 p.m. PST (New York, UTC -5)

Moderator:
Julie Moller, Chicago Puppet Fest board member, environmental advocate, volunteer, and philanthropist

Panelists:
Dr. Sasha Atkins, PhD, MPH lecturer at School of Environmental Sustainability, Loyola University Chicago
Robin Frohardt, creator, Plastic Bag Store
Dr. Sarah Newman, PhD, assistant professor of anthropology and social sciences, University of Chicago

 

Saturday 29 January

 


Race & Representation in Puppetry
8 a.m. PST (San Francisco, UTC -8) / 10 a.m. CST (Chicago, UTC -6) / 11 a.m. EST (New York, UTC -5)

Moderator:
Dr. Paulette Richards, puppet artist and independent researcher

Panelists:
Torry Bend, associate professor of Theater Studies, Duke University; creator, Dreaming
Ty Defoe, creator, Skeleton Canoe
Margaret Laurena Kemp, professor of Theater and Dance University of California, Davis; creator, The Bluest Eye
JaMeeka Holloway, adaptation and associate director, The Bluest Eye

 


How Objects Make Meaning on Stage: New Perspectives
10 a.m. PST (San Francisco, UTC -8) / 12 p.m. CST (Chicago, UTC -6) / 1 p.m. EST (New York, UTC -5)

Moderator:
Dr. Dassia N. Posner, associate professor of theatre, Slavic Languages and Literatures, Northwestern University

Panelists:
Ana Diaz Barriga, puppetry practitioner and scholar, doctoral candidate in the Interdisciplinary Ph.D. in Theatre and Drama at Northwestern University
Jess Bass, art director/ creative director/ designer, MFA candidate in the Sculpture Department at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago
Marissa Fenley, Ph.D. student in English and Theater and Performance Studies at the University of Chicago
Skye Strauss, Interdisciplinary PhD in Theatre and Drama, Northwestern University
Kezia Waters, interdisciplinary/ performing artist, MFA Candidate in Studio Art / Performance at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago

About HowlRound TV

HowlRound TV is a global, commons-based, peer-produced, open-access livestreaming and video archive project stewarded by the nonprofit HowlRound. HowlRound TV is a free and shared resource for live conversations and performances relevant to the world’s performing-arts and cultural fields. Its mission is to break geographic isolation, promote resource sharing, and develop our knowledge commons collectively. Anyone can participate in a community of peer organizations revolutionizing the flow of information, knowledge, and access in our field by becoming a producer and co-producing with us. Learn more by going to our participate page. For any other queries, email tv@howlround.com or call Vijay Mathew at +1 917.686.3185 Signal. View the video archive of past events.

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