O'Neill Center Seeking Applicants for 27th Annual National Puppetry Conference

The Eugene O'Neill Theater Center is currently seeking applications for the 27th annual National Puppetry Conference.

Under the artistic direction of Pam Arciero, the O'Neill's National Puppetry Conference is renowned for its encouragement and furthering of the extraordinary range and power of the puppet. This past September, the O'Neill was awarded the National Medal of Arts by President Obama.

Applications for the 2017 Conference will be accepted through March 3, 2017.

The 2017 Conference begins June 10 and culminates with public performances June 16 & 17. Pre-Conference intensive workshops run June 7 - 9. This year's guest artists include Tim Lagasse, Lisa Lichtenfels, and Phillip Huber along with international guest artists Mervyn Millar (United Kingdom), Ronnie Burkett (Canada), and Alice Gottschalk (Germany).

During both the pre-conference and the main conference, participants collaborate with nationally and internationally renowned puppet artists to produce innovative plays and productions that push the boundaries of puppetry's definitions and dare participants to challenge themselves and their audience. The conference is open to puppeteers, musicians, artists, actors, playwrights, and students as an ideal venue to experiment and develop new work.

The Conference will feature guest artist Mervyn Millar's (Significant Object, War Horse) workshop Signs of Life, exploring psychological and neurological phenomena through objects and puppets, and returning guest artist Ronnie Burkett leading a workshop in Text Creation and Interpretation. Also returning are marionette masters Phillip Huber and Jim Rose, who will lead the marionette manipulation and building strands of the conference. Additional opportunities for participants include Writing: Shape and Story with Martin Kettling, Music for Puppet Theater, and, for returning puppeteers, Emerging Artist and Resident Company strands.

Pre-Conference intensive workshops will feature Ronnie Burkett: Writing¸ Alice Gottschalk: The Language of Material and Objects: Movement and Experimental Puppetry, Jim Kroupa: Everything You Want to Know about Mechs and Then Some!, Tim Lagasse, with Martin P. Robinson: Video Anarchy and Lisa Lichtenfels: Using Soft Sculpted Puppets to Develop Characters.

Applications will be accepted until March 3, 2017 at 11:59pm PT. There is a $35 application fee. For information on artists and workshops, financial assistance and scholarships, and to apply online, visit www.theoneill.org.

Founded in 1964 in honor of Eugene O'Neill, four-time Pulitzer Prize-winner and America's only playwright to win the Nobel Prize in Literature, the O'Neill is the country's preeminent organization dedicated to the development of new works and new voices for the American theater. The O'Neill has been home to more than 1,000 new works for the stage and thousands more emerging artists. Scores of projects developed at the O'Neill have gone on to full production at other theaters around the world, including Broadway, off-Broadway, and major regional theaters.

O'Neill programs include the National Playwrights Conference, National Music Theater Conference, National Critics Institute, National Puppetry Conference, Cabaret & Performance Conference, and National Theater Institute - which offers six credit-earning undergraduate training programs. In addition, the O'Neill owns and operates Monte Cristo Cottage as a museum open to the public. The O'Neill is the recipient of two Tony Awards and National Medal of Arts.

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