Have you ever wondered — how does a particular puppet sleep, or wake-up? For that matter, how do puppets become aware of their limitations, react to stimuli, project emotions, breathe, wait, or die? Can a puppet escape its puppeteers? Puppeteer Andrew Periale has spent a great deal of time focusing on just these types of questions. In his hands-on workshop at June’s Puppet Power Conference, Acting by Proxy: an Intro to Persuasive Manipulation, Periale will examine the effect on an audience when a puppet follows the laws of physics by which we are bound and the effect when they violate those laws. This promises to be a fascinating workshop for anyone interested in puppet theatre and the relationship between puppet and puppeteer. Also, a must for anyone wanting to improve their puppet manipulation skills.
Andrew Periale’s career cannot meaningfully be examined apart from that of his wife, Bonnie. The Periales began working together in 1982 and founded Perry Alley Theatre in 1986. Together, they’ve produced a dozen major shows and many shorter pieces for touring. They took over the production of A Propos magazine for UNIMA-USA in 1985, and together created the concept of Puppetry International magazine, which first appeared in the mid-1990s and which they’ve been producing ever since.
Andrew will also be sharing his stories of working on Puppetry International for the last 33 years, in his keynote talk, Walking through Walls: The Further Adventures of the Green-editor and Pajama-girl. Learn about how in supporting UNIMA-USA’s core mission, namely, to promote international peace and understanding through the art of puppetry, how Puppetry International has become an instrument of social change. In a world where speech, actions and even beliefs are often constrained, Puppetry International has also become, in some measure, subversive.
Puppet Power 2018: Story is a Conference on Applied Puppetry, June 1-3, 2018, in Calgary, AB, Canada. Explore the transformative power that puppetry has to tell stories, inspire dialogue and make meaning of our world today. Learn, play, and galvanize with hands-on workshops, talks, panels, and more!
Find out more about the conference or register at the early bird rate until March 31st!