15th annual Puppetry Conference

(Waterford, CT) The Eugene O’Neill Theater Center announced today the schedule for its 15th annual Puppetry Conference. For eight days each summer, puppet artists from around the world explore various performance styles through rehearsals and workshops on writing, music, “puppet anarchy” and marionettes. Participants collaborate with renowned guest directors, puppet artists and playwrights to develop innovative, ground-breaking productions.

Artists will create pieces for public performance while in residence at the O’Neill. Guest artists will include Phillip Huber, known for his work in BEING JOHN MALKOVICH; Martin P. Robinson, designer and puppet artist for Broadway’s LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS and well known for his work as SESAME STREET’S Mr. Snuffelupagus and Telly Monster; Annie Evans, O’Neill Playwrights Conference alum and award-winning writer for SESAME STREET; and Tim Lagasse, director of the Video Anarchy Wing. More information on artists and past conferences is available at: www.oneillpuppetryconference.com

Artistic Director Pam Arciero commented: “I am looking forward to our 15th annual conference with great anticipation. The participants will once again astound us all with their creative, exhilarating and distinctive performances. There is no better place to see new and innovative puppet pieces. I invite you all to join us for the excitement.”

Executive Director Amy Sullivan added that the Puppetry Conference is “one of the most daring and thought-provoking theatrical experiences to be found anywhere. “It is extraordinary,’ Ms. Sullivan said, ’that with such simple materials, these puppet masters make us laugh and cry and lead us through the full range of human emotion. What they do is truly a kind of magic”

Past conference participants have gone on to work in such puppetry venues as The Henson International Festival of Puppet Theatre (New York City), HERE Arts Center (New York City), The Puppet Showplace (Brookline, Massachusetts), The Sandglass Theatre (Vermont) The Center for Puppetry Arts (Atlanta), and Zeum (San Francisco), Broadway shows, such as AVENUE Q and THE LION KING, as well as on television shows including “Sesame Street,” “Between the Lions,” and “Bear in the Big Blue House.”

Public Performances are Friday, June 24th and Saturday, June 25th at 7:30. Ticket prices are $15.00. Tickets will be on sale beginning June 7th. For reservations, please call the O’Neill Box office at 860-443-1238.

The Eugene O’Neill Theater Center, founded in 1964, has been home to more than 1000 new works for the stage and 2500 emerging artists and is itself the winner of a special Tony Award, the National Opera Award, the Jujamcyn Award of Theater Excellence and the Arts and Business Council Encore Award. Today, the O’Neill is home to the National Playwrights Conference, Music Theater Conference, Puppetry Conference, National Critics Institute, and the fully accredited National Theater Institute, a 14-week theater intensive. In addition, the O’Neill owns and operates the Monte Cristo Cottage, the childhood home of Nobel Prize-winning playwright, Eugene O’Neill. For more information regarding the Center, please visit the O’Neill website at www.TheONeill.org or call 860.443.5378 x 0.