Eugene O’Neill Theater Center Announces 22nd Annual National Puppetry Conference

The Eugene O'Neill Theater Center today announced the 22nd Annual National Puppetry Conference. The Conference begins June 9, 2012 and culminates with public performances June 16 & 17. Pre-Conference intensive workshops run June 6-8. The Conference is open to puppeteers, theatre designers, actors, musicians, directors, artists, producers, playwrights and students as an ideal venue to experiment and develop new work. 

This year's guest artists are Ronnie Burkett and Wakka Wakka Productions. 

Ronnie Burkett is the recipient of numerous awards for his work with Theatre of Marionettes, including the 2009 Siminovitch Prize in Theatre, Village Voice OBIE Award in New York for Off-Broadway Theatre, and four Citations of Excellence in the Art of Puppetry from the American Center of the Union Internationale de la Marionette.  The Ronnie Burkett Theatre of Marionettes continues to perform to great critical and public acclaim on Canada's major stages and as a guest company on numerous international tours abroad.

Wakka Wakka Productions, led by Gabrielle Brechner, Kirjan Waage and Gwendolyn Warnock, has produced six original works since its inception in 2001.  All of Wakka Wakka's productions have been highly physical, overlapping in a wide range of styles, including grotesque, absurd and clown, incorporating elements such as object manipulation, puppetry, masks and original music.

Wakka Wakka Productions was awarded a UNIMA Citation of Excellence for Fabrik: The Legend of M. Rabinowitz, and was nominated for a Drama Desk Award in the category of Unique Theatrical Experience. 

The Conference will also feature returning marionette masters Phillip Huber and Jim Rose, who will lead the marionette building and performing strand of the conference.  Martin P. Robinson will direct a new strand entitled "Puppet Exploration" which will guide participants through intensive challenges and questions that arise between the performer and the puppet. 

Pre-Conference intensive workshops will feature Alice Böhm: The Language of Material and Objects: Movement and Experimental Puppetry, Jim Kroupa: Everything You Want to Know about Mechs and Then Some!, Robert Smythe:Pre-conference Writing Intensive: Writing the Puppet Narrative, Hua Hua Zhang: Bridge Between Body and Puppet,Advanced Rod Puppet Movement. 

Applications will be accepted until March 15th at 11:59 PST, and some fees apply. To apply online and for information on financial assistance and scholarships, please visit www.theoneill.org.

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