O'Neill Puppetry Conference '08

The Ensemble Productions enable participants as a group, guided by the guest artist, to immerse themselves in the creative process through which the work is refined. The work may be one of the artist's choosing or individual works by the participants.

The opportunity for such a close collaboration is rare and the O'Neill Puppetry Conference provides the ideal atmosphere in which a puppeteer can explore a number of possibilities without risk.

The O'Neill Puppetry Conference can boast of hosting some of the great names in world puppetry as guest artists.
This year is no exception.

We are pleased to welcome Luman Coad, of Coad Canada Puppets (Vancouver, B. C.) and Paul Mesner of Paul Mesner's Puppets (Kansas City, Missouri) as our guest artists.

Individual Production Development - Luman Coad

This workshop, based on the premise ‘Theatre is communication,’ will rehearse and hone scenes from participants’ own new productions. Through exercises, discussions, plus group and individual interaction, these scenes will be rehearsed and refined with the purpose of communicating through movement, the core of the puppets’ characters. A copy of the script should be submitted by May 1st so Mr. Coad is fully prepared to help you discover hidden facets of your concept.

www.coadcanadapuppets.com

Luman Coad - Luman Coad and his late wife Arlyn, founded Coad Canada Puppets in 1966. Their first major production was "Master Peter's Puppet Show" with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra. The company has toured in nearly twenty countries around the world and received numerous awards including both the President's and the Trustees' Awards from the Puppeteers of America plus seven Citations of Excellence in the Art of Puppetry from UNIMA-U.S.A. In 2006 Coad Canada Puppets were inducted as Pioneer Members in the British Columbia Entertainment Hall of Fame.

Spare the Rod, Spoil the Puppet! - Paul Mesner Participants in my workshop will build a rehearsal rod puppet. Techniques of using rods will be touched on, including how rods connect to the figure/puppet. Participants will also rehearse and perform an ensemble piece Performers will stand while performing. The work is physical and requires the manipulators to act the roles using their owns voices. I work in several ways, sometimes with a fully developed script, that I play with and elaborate or edit while in rehearsal. Other times I will choose a theme, topic, write an outline and develop characters and start a rehearsal process that plays with action, ideas, improvisation and then begin to formulate a script. I allow chaos and some deviation from the subject matter, which sometimes leads to jewels that become the heart of the piece.

Paul Mesner - Paul Mesner, puppeteer, author and performer became interested in puppetry at an early age. As a teenager he studied with Lee Ridge in Lincoln, Nebraska before starting his own puppet theater in Omaha. He toured his shows throughout Minnesota before studying at the prestigious International Institute of Puppetry in Charleville-Mezier, France. He moved to Kansas City where in 1997 he founded the Paul Mesner Puppets. His lively performances present classic stories recast in contemporary terms. Audiences across the United States have delighted in the precise craftsmanship, dynamic presentation and joyful blending of humor and education in all his productions. Paul Mesner believes wholeheartedly in entertaining his audiences and doesn’t mind including deeper meanings and life-lessons when no one is looking.

Paul Mesner regularly collaborates with local and national artists, musicians, fashion designers and crafts people to create puppetry that showcases his unique brand of humor. He presents performances using many different types of puppets, from simple finger puppets to rod and stick puppets, marionettes, shadow puppets, and even bigger than life-sized puppets worn by performers. His company, Paul Mesner Puppets, Inc. is a not for profit company located in a rehabilitated inner-city warehouse providing 7,000 square feet of production, administrative, workshop and rehearsal space.

Paul Mesner presents a full season in Kansas City and travels nationally to residencies, festivals and workshops, reaching more than 100,000 children and adults annually. Paul Mesner has appeared at numerous festivals all over the United States, including the Henson International Festival of Puppetry in New York, Puppeteers of America National and Regional Festivals, Cultural Arts Festival at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Park City, Utah, the Orlando Puppet Festival and in Europe at the World Exposition in Seville, Spain in 1991. He has performed at the Great Arizona Puppet Theater in Phoenix, Northwest Puppet Theater in Seattle, Tears of Joy Puppet Theater in Portland, Center for Puppetry Arts in Atlanta as well as Tillis Center for the Performing Arts, Long Island, Detroit Institute of Arts, Children’s Fine Arts Series in San Antonio, Montalvo Arts Center in Sarasota, CA and other theaters and museums.

Paul Mesner has received grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Missouri Arts Council, ArtsKC Fund as well as other foundations in the Kansas City area. He has received awards for educational and artistic achievement. These include two UNIMA-USA Citations for Excellence in Puppetry for Sleeping Beauty and Wiley & the Hairy Man and the Distinguished Service to Education Award from the University of Missouri-Kansas City. His company has collaborated with The Coterie Theater, The Kansas City Symphony Orchestra, The Kansas City Chorale, the Kansas City Camerata, the Civic Opera Theater, the Kansas City Chamber Orchestra, the Omaha Symphony, The Cheyenne Festival Singers and annually with the Heart of America Shakespeare Festival with performances of a children’s version of their main stage production. Paul Mesner Puppets is one of fifteen arts organizations in the Kansas City Area that make up Arts Partners, an innovative, sequential, arts-in-education program for grades Pre K-12 that integrates the education programs into the curriculum of nine school districts and two individual site–based schools. Arts Partners works to make the arts integral to basic education and accessible to every child.

The Eugene O'Neill Theater Center
(860) 443-5378
oneillpupconf@aol.com