 UNIMA-USA–
HANDS ACROSS THE SEA REPORT
by Kuang-Yu Fong
Since June of 2003, I have been spreading the word about
UNIMA-USA, wherever I travel and work, introducing our
organization to other artists and puppeteers abroad, as
well as assisting travelling companies in New Yorks City.
I have tried to be a good ambassador, bridging between
cultural differences and helping visitors understand what
is happening in American puppetry (and culture) today.
I have made a number of face-to-face contacts with foreign
puppeteers and companies this year during our travels
abroad with Chinese Theatre Works (CTW). These have included:
KOREA
In July, '03,CTW was invited to take part in the DALA
theater Festival in Seoul. As part of this Festival we
performed (in Korean!) and presented workshops on Overhead
Projector puppetry to about 2 dozen participants, who
were mostly theater members and teachers. DALA director,
Julian Parks expressed his desire to create an international
coalition of theater companies interested in developing
high quality puppetry and children's theater performances.
We laid out plans to pursue this matter.
TAIWAN
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Kuang-Yu
Fong, Stephen Kaplan, Chuang-Tsain Li, son of
the late Li Tien Lu (the most famous hand-puppeteer
in Taiwan) and an unidentified friend at the I
Wan Ran Hand Puppet Troupe's private museum in
Taipei, Taiwan. |
On
the same trip, we stopped off in Taiwan, my native country,
where we visited with several puppet theaters. We visited
with members of the prestigious I Wan Jan hand
puppet Company. We were given a private tour
by Mr. Chuang-Tsain Li (son of the famous hand-puppet
master, Tien-Lu Li) of their museum in the small town
of Shan-Zhi, They have preserved many artifacts from the
history of traditional puppetry in mainland China and
on Taiwan.
In Taipei, we visited another puppet theater museum,the
TTT Puppet Center, operated by a Dutch
expatriate, Dr. Robin Ruizendaal. This small (storefront)
institution was extremely interesting in that they focused
on contemporary as well as traditional forms. We also
met with several leading puppet companies in Taipei, including
the Shiny Shoes Children's Theatre and
The Puppet and its Double Theater, a
company that was founded by Chia-yin Cheng, who is a graduate
of the UCONN puppetry program.
In New York City, I met with a number of international
performers. We had as guests in our home in Queens:
– Gaffar Porizar,a remarkable westerner
living in Beijing as a master of Peking Opera martial
arts roles. During his stay with us, he participated in
the NYC Village Halloween Parade, accompanying
Great Small Work's giant puppets dressed
as the Monkey King. He is willing to help us make further
contacts with the puppetry and theatrical world in Beijing
and collaborate with American puppet companies.
– Anna Fritz, a young performance
artist from Montreal Canada, who came here to learn about
American puppetry. She stayed with us, talked at length
to my husband Stephen and participated in a Great Small
Work's Spaghetti Dinner.
– The Bulgarian Puppet Company,
"Theatre Tsvete", who were
in town doing a remarkable contemporary version of "Romeo
and Juliette" with the Bond Street Theatre.They
had originally created this production to tour in refugee
camps in Bosnia and Kosovo. I hosted a party for them
in my home and invited a number of American puppeteers
for them to meet.
In January, a troupe of Chinese hand puppet performers
from the Xiao Xi Yueng Company of Taipei
were in town performing at the Maison Francaise.
I sent out word to the NY puppetry community and arranged
for them to get free tickets to sold out performance.I
also helped translate and acted as go-between for the
company members and inquisitive American puppeteers
after the show. The director of the Taipei Cultural
Center told me he was interested in meeting
with me discuss collaborative projects between UNIMA
and Taiwanese puppet companies.
This coming year, I hope to be able to do much more.
We hope to travel again to Asia. And in New York City,
our guestroom is cleaned and ready to receive travelers
from the far ends of the Earth. Puppeteers are welcome.
Call ahead for reservations!
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