O'Neill Theater Center Announces 2010 National Puppetry Conference 6/9-20

The EuGene O'Neill Theater Center has announced details of the upcoming 20th Anniversary Season of its National Puppetry Conference, which will take place June 9 through 20, once again under the leadership of Artistic Director Pam Arciero. This year's Conference, drawing participants from around the world, will represent the largest gathering of puppet theater artists in its history.

Three ensemble productions will be developed during the Conference: 20 Year Remix: a Retrospective, directed by Richard Termine with Mariane Kubick, Tyler Bunch, Lenny Pinna, and Roger Danforth, with Bart Roccoberton as technical director; A Puppet Film, directed by Tim Lagasse with Martin P. Robinson and Leslie Carrara-Rudolph; and Marionettes, directed by Phillip Huber and Jim Rose with FrEd Thompson.

The Conference will include three-day intensive workshops on key aspects of the craft of puppetry, including mechanisms, writing, design, and table-top puppetry. The Emerging Artists strand will be led by Robert Smythe with Jean Marie Keevins and Alice Bohn, assisted by the Flock Theater of New London.

In addition, Scott Hitz will be the Artist in Residence for this year's Puppetry Conference, where he will continue work on the development of The Little Prince.

Pam Arciero, Artistic Director of the National Puppetry Conference said: " I am honored and delighted to present the 20th Anniversary Season, devoted to the art of the puppet and highlighting the talents of our gifted staff. Join us for an evening you will never forget."

Preston Whiteway, Executive Director of the EuGene O'Neill Theater Center, remarked: "Our summer season will begin memorably with the 20th Anniversary of the National Puppetry Conference, and I invite the public to join us for two very special nights of puppetry magic."

The Puppetry Conference will culminate in public performances Friday, June 18 and Sunday, June 19, at 7 pm, emphasizing the latest techniques, approaches, and ideas in the world of puppetry, and drawing on the work of guest artists as well as puppet theater pieces developed during the Conference itself.

Box office (860.443.1238) and online ticket sales (www.theoneill.org) open Wednesday, June 9; advance ticket sales are currently available to O'Neill Members.

For further information on the Puppetry Conference and public performances, email theaterlives@theoneill.org

The O'Neill National Puppetry Conference was founded in 1990 by puppeteers George Latshaw, Richard Termine, Bart Roccoberton, Bobbi Nidzgorski, Jim and Margo Rose, and Jane Henson of The Muppets fame. The mission of the conference is to encourage puppet artists to create and communicate through the visual and kinetic form of the puppet, push beyond their personal boundaries and develop new works for puppet theater. Participants collaborate with renowned guest directors, puppet artists and playwrights to develop innovative productions conceived by guest artists, as well as presentations initiated by the conference participants. Hundreds of puppetry artists have attended the O'Neill National Puppetry Conference to explore this engaging and unique art form. 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) and on television shows including Sesame Street, Between the Lions, Bear in the Big Blue House, Blue's Clues/Blue's Room, Dave Chapell Show, Lazy Town and Crank Yankers.

The O'Neill, 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, 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 2,500 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, the Cabaret & Performance Conference, and National Theater Institute, which conducts semester-long, fully accredited intensive theater training programs and Theatermakers, a six-week accredited summer program.

In addition, the O'Neill owns and operates Monte Cristo Cottage as a museum open to the public. Childhood summer home of EuGene O'Neill, the Cottage is a National Historic Landmark.

The EuGene O'Neill Theater Center has received the 2010 Tony Award for Regional Theater, a special Tony Award for Theatrical Excellence in 1979, the National Opera Award, the Jujamcyn Award for Theatre Excellence, and the Arts and Business Council Encore Award. For more information, visit www.theoneill.org or email theaterlives@theoneill.org.

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