Virtual Puppetry Residency (VPR) is an online program for those interested in practicing the art of puppetry. The six-week program is designed for adults of all skill levels. Similar to a traditional artist residency program, VPR aims to build a community of participants from a variety of backgrounds. Each week, participants from around the world respond to various prompts, including creating short puppet shows and then performing them on Zoom for critique and discussion. While engaging in the program, participants are encouraged to work on one or more independent projects. The program is directed by Pittsburgh artist and puppeteer Tom Sarver. For more information, please Email tomsarver @gmail.com
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VPR Celebrates Season 4
Season 4 of VPR will culminate in a online celebration for resident puppeteers, VPR alumni, and friends & family of the participants on Saturday, April 30, 2022. Recordings from the event will be published for the general public at a later date. Congratulations to all in the program! The following participants will be presenting shows at the event:
- Dave McCabe presents: Give ‘em a Hand! A Mostly Puppet, Puppet Troop, Greater Pittsburgh, PA.
- Cath Whippey, Whitby, Yorkshire, UK.
- Elyse Jacobs, San Francisco / London.
- Moshe Sherman (Moshe & Friends), Greater Pittsburgh, PA.
- Irene Papadaki (Reina), Athens, Greece.
- Padmini Rangarajan, Sphoorthi Theatre for Educational Puppetry, Art and Craft-STEPARC, South India.
- Droomtheater, The Netherlands (Frans Hakkemars, Joanne Oussoren, Arthur Sauer).
- Faith-Ann Chester-Inniss, Puppets in Protest, Guyana, South America.
- Cat Aceto, Pittsburgh, PA.
- Transit-Theater-Berlin, Germany.
- Sarina Pedroza and Ailin Ruiz of Lormiga Títeres, Mexico.
- Nadia Parisi and Alessandro Prestipino, Sicily/France.
- Fernando Gurrola from Mil Rostros Teatro, Mexico.
- Jayne and Hannah Sweet, Greater Pittsburgh, PA.
- Kelvin Chan, Hong Kong.
- Dina Kaplan, Chicago.
- Abi Stushnoff, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
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For Release: January 30, 2022
Virtual Puppetry Residency announces:
Open House: online public events celebrating World Puppetry Day
MARCH 20th and MARCH 21st, 2021
Pittsburgh, PA: Virtual Puppetry Residency (VPR), an international arts program developed by Pittsburgh-based artist Tom Sarver, will be holding a series of online events to celebrate World Puppetry Day, 2021. On March 20th and 21st, resident artists in the third season of the program will present samples of their work. Live and pre-recorded puppet shows will be presented, as well as short interviews with artists from around the world. The event will be divided into three programs (Children’s, All-Ages and Adult programs). Viewing of the Open House events is free and available through the project’s Facebook page.
This is the third season of VPR, a six-week program developed for puppeteers of all skill levels to improve their craft and performance concepts. Sarver initiated the program in May of 2020, after the COVID-19 global pandemic cancelled in-person puppetry events and education. The program, run online, features weekly critiques, guest speakers and a final showing of works created in the residency.
Experimentation was a theme for season three, and participants pushed the boundaries of what can be accomplished in showing work online. Works shown at Open House are intended to show the sense of play and discovery achieved during the workshop. They are short sketches (2 – 5 minutes) designed specifically for online viewing. Fifty current VPR residents join the program from The United States, Canada, Brazil, Guyana, Argentina, Kenya, Croatia, The Netherlands, Germany, Spain, The United Kingdom, Greece, Hong Kong, India, Iran, Ukraine, and Italy.
Previous events for VPR include International Puppet Slam on July 18th, 2020 and International Puppet Festival on December 20th, 2020. VPR is administered by Pittsburgh Center for Arts and Media with support from Pennsylvania Council on the Arts and private donations.
Virtual Puppet Residency
Contact:
Tom Sarver – tomsarver@gmail.com
Project Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/VPRpuppets
Open House Programs:
Saturday, March 20th, 10 AM EST – Children’s Show (rated G equivalent). Fun, uplifting shows for children and families.
PUPPETtree, Arborist Guy Meilleur and co-puppeteer Karen Cantor (North Carolina), will present Trevor Tree has a Black Hole, in the 10 AM Children’s Program on Saturday, March 20th. Photo courtesy of PUPPETtree.
Saturday, March 20th, 2 PM EST – Adult Show (mature audiences). A variety of shows and creative experiments in puppetry. Some works may address serious social issues.
John Harrop of Bat-i-Burrillo Teatro de Títeres, Sevilla, Spain will recreate a childhood memory during the 2pm EST Adult Program on Saturday, March 20th.
Sunday, March 21st 2 PM EST – All Ages Show (PG Equivalent). A variety of shows for all ages. Announcements will be made before shows if content is not appropriate for children.
Nadia Parisi of Atelier La Lucciola, Palermo, Italy, will be presenting a new work, Ruggiero Libera Angelica dall’Orca Marina, in the 2 PM All-Ages Program on Sunday, March 21st. Photo by Alessandro Prestipino.
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Children’s Program, VPR International Puppet Festival, December 12, 2020.
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Announcement! January 5, 2021: SEASON 3 – PROSPECTUS
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Press Release: November 27th, 2020
Virtual Puppetry Residency announces virtual event:
International Puppet Festival, December 12, 2020
Pittsburgh, PA: Pittsburgh-based artist Tom Sarver, with support from Pittsburgh Center for Arts and Media and PA Council on the Arts, presents a virtual puppet festival of works created by participants in his Virtual Puppetry Residency (VPR) program on Saturday, December 12, 2020. The online festival will feature works by thirty-two artists from around the world and will consist of a Children’s Show, an All-Ages Show and an Adult Show. Viewing of the shows is free and available through the project’s Facebook page or via Zoom.
This is the second season of VPR, a six-week program developed for puppeteers of all levels to improve their craft and performance concepts. Sarver initiated the program in May of 2020, after the COVID-19 global pandemic cancelled in-person puppetry events and education. The program, run online, features weekly critiques, guest speakers and a final showing of works created in the residency. After the first season of the program, fifteen participants presented their work in an event titled, International Puppet Slam. This took place on July 18, 2020. With twice as many participants in the second season of VPR, the culminating event has been expanded to a festival. Sarver will host the event live, with a mix of live shows, pre-recorded shows and live interviews with performers.
Tom Sarver is an artist, educator and puppeteer. He was a core organizer of Pittsburgh’s Black Sheep Puppet Festival (1999-2008), Puppet Happening (2011-2015) and The Puppetry Guild of Pittsburgh (2016-2019).
Catherine Welsch Aceto of Pittsburgh, PA will be presenting The Tempest, Part 1 (Pandemic Edition). Image courtesy of the artist.
Professional puppeteer Fedelis Kyalo participated in the residency from his home in Kenya. He will be presenting a new work, Lockdown in the Village. Image courtesy of the artist.
Virtual Puppet Residency Contact:
Tom Sarver – tomsarver@gmail.com
Project Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/VPRpuppets
Festival Performers:
Tara Alexander – Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Jen Bain – Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Debbie Beale – United Kingdom
Robin Bongers – Netherlands
Greg Carrillo – British Columbia, Canada
Theresa Casciato – Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Kelvin Chan – Hong Kong
Peter Court – South Africa
Anji Goude – Greece
Paul Greggs – Portsmouth, Virginia
Kim Gregory – Salem, Virginia
Clara Isenmann – Germany
Tyler Jacobs – Fredricksburg, Virginia
Nanna Krøyer – Copenhagen, Denmark
Fedelis Kyalo- Kenya
Jamie Lee – Chicago, Illinois
Darlene Lowe – Lexington, Kentucky
Marriolle, The Puppet Builder – Romania
Charlotte Oliver – Brighton, United Kingdom
Lois Parker – United Kingdom
Aparna Patrao – Goa, India
Ela Portnoy – United Kingdom
Sherri Roberts – Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Tom Sarver (festival host) – Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Sue Scarborough – Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina
Brandon Shannon – North Carolina
Caitlin Strongarm – United Kingdom
Rachel Sutherland – London, Ontario, Canada
Daniela Terson de Paleville – Indiana
Elise Timm-Bottos – Montreal, Canada
Eszter Tünde Virók – Hungary
Catherine Welsh Aceto – Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
These Artist Residency Projects were administered by Pittsburgh Center for Arts and Media and supported by the Arts in Education Partnership of the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, a state agency funded by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency. PCA&M serves Allegheny, Beaver, Greene, and Washington counties as part of the AIE Partnership. Additional support has been provided by Pegasus Puppetry and Arts (UK) and a private donor.
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International Puppet Slam – July 18, 2020
The following participants of Season 1 presented work at the International Puppet Slam on July 18th, 2020:
Debbie Beale – United Kingdom
Robin Bongers – Netherlands
Roos Buskes – Netherlands
Kelvin Chan – Hong Kong
Kirsten Ervin – Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Cindy Franklin – Denison, Texas
Jade Fuda – Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Paul Greggs – Portsmouth, Virginia
Marriolle, The Puppet Maker – Romania
Sam Milford – Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Conni Mulligan – North Carolina
Charlotte Oliver – Brighton, United Kingdom
Lois Parker – United Kingdom
Tom Sarver – Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Damian Sheridan – Minneapolis, Minnesota
Kirsten Ervin’s show, Bus Stop was performed live at the slam.
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Kelvin Chan worked on a folded paper piece during the residency. Story of Hong Kong Orchid Tree Flower.
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Roos Buskes performed live from Netherlands.
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Lois Parker performed live from United Kingdom.
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Robin Bongers created Making Friends for the puppet slam.
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Charlotte Oliver performed live from Brighton, UK. She created a small crankie show titled, Betty Bee’s Adventure.
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Cindy Franklin created Hound Dog’s Dream for the slam. This was her first time writing a script, building a puppet show, editing video and exploring green screen.
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A prerecorded show by Tom Sarver.
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Jade Fuda created Jangles for the slam. This was her first shadow puppet production.
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Gus and Bobby Won’t Go Back to School by Sam Milford.
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Hidden in the Flowers by Debbie Beale.
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Marriolle the Puppet Maker developed this piece during the residency. She is from Romania and the piece, A Tale of Two Hats is about her parents.
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Kindness by Paul Greggs.
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Lois Parker created this video, The Fridge, during the residency.
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Conni Mulligan presented a show in two parts. Part II was presented live during the slam.
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Belly Dancing and Zoom by Lois Parker.
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Weatherwood Studios Presents by Damian Sheridan.
A reflection on Virtual Puppetry Residency by Lois Parker.
Widening horizons- from making objects to animating worlds
I joined this programme without any clear idea of what it would entail. I had decided to learn to control a marionette I had bought on holiday about three decades ago by learning how to build one myself. An online course on building a marionette from the Stan Winston School of Character Arts meant I arrived for the first session with a completed figure, strung and on a controller. I hadn’t gone beyond getting her to walk awkwardly as if she had spent too long on a horse for the first time.
I have a series of audio interviews where people discuss their relationship to belongings that I need to do something with. I had an incomplete idea of using puppetry to provide the visuals for excerpts from these interviews, since having a full-scale sound piece with original artefacts in a gallery seemed unlikely.
I have a problem directly restating words others have said, as I have a horror of words being in my mouth that I don’t agree with. It makes singing in choirs a challenge. It’s left over from a fundamentalist evangelical missionary childhood. I also know that puppets are used therapeutically to enable children and adults to enact issues they cannot confront or tell directly. Objects can carry enormous psychological and sociological weight, for example wedding rings, religious ikons and statuary, or a child’s first lost tooth. Puppetry seemed a possible way of working with challenging material.
I recollect having left the first session with my preconceptions about puppetry completely disintegrated. I realized I had not thought with any rigor about the nature and possibilities of performance. Roos Buskes continued her story off stage, so it felt like a whole life was taking place and we were just glimpsing a portion. That made me realize I had seen ‘proper’ puppetry as being inside a box, like a Punch and Judy show or a traditional theatre presentation.
The visible presence the puppeteer, without any pretense that they were not there, was another moment of insight. The hands, the whole body, even when the hands being more visible than tiny puppets, all were unimportant in this compelling space of the animated object.
Kelvin Chan animated a leaf as part of his exquisite piece on Bauhinia and that, along with Tom Sarver’s seeming use of anything at hand, challenged my views of what constituted a puppet, and how much the puppeteer could trust the viewer to complete the experience. Allowing the space between the puppet and the viewer to come alive in unique ways for each person is a fascinating potential part of this puppetry process.
The session with Zach Dorn was illuminating in his use of direct camera feed to present work to a large audience from a tiny and largely static set. He also discussed the possibility of working with the most banal of topics. I have an interest in how minute happenings can illuminate large issues. I am also keenly interested in the crystallization of experience in a vertical rather than horizontal way, where you plunge deep into the beingness of an experience rather than attending to a linear story. There is something about this small /large, planned/ impromptu, separate but engaged method of working which has significant possibilities.
This programme was engrossing, challenging and frustrating. I can now see how much I need to develop my ideas and skills. I am very grateful to Tom for running this experience so adroitly, managing novices and highly experienced puppeteers with a programme of activities. And on a final note, for sheer joyfulness of performance, the youngest participants Delthia and Odessa are worth holding in memory.
Tom Sarver, 2020
This Artist Residency Project was supported by the Arts in Education Partnership of the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, a state agency funded by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency. The Arts in Education Partner serving Allegheny, Beaver, Greene, and Washington counties is Pittsburgh Center for Arts and Media.
Tom Sarver 