An exploration of the puppetry creation process

Now accepting applications for our next training session with Clea Minaker

Dates: February 20th to 24th, 2017
Heure : 3 PM to 6 PM
Lieu : PWM
Fee: $45 (Fee is not a barrier to anyone who might be interested/eligible)

This 15-hour workshop explores the interdisciplinary nature of the puppetry creation process while initiating participants to fundamental aspects of the form. Through exercises and personal creations, participants will explore the performing object as both an interpretive tool, and an aesthetic gesture. The Puppetry arts are often described as sitting at the crossroads between the visual and performing arts. Both in traditional forms, and in contemporary experimentations, puppetry combines elements of physical and embodied research, with aesthetic and material research.

As all materials possess a distinct poetic, and expressive force, they also offer distinct dramaturgical possibilities. In the ‘theatre of materials’ we often speak of visual dramaturgy. Dramaturgies that are not subordinate to written text, but that operate freely, in parallel to it. Through the elaboration of a unique scenic and movement vocabulary, a ‘world’, complete with its own system of meaning is constructed. As the performer skilfully guides the gaze of the audience towards that which is to be seen, she is complicit with, and integral to, the dramatic action that is unfolding.

When developing puppetry and image-based performance work, the creation process inevitably reflects the interdisciplinary nature of the form, wherein design and performance, dialogue continuously. This workshop proposes to explore the dialogue.

Application guidelines: To apply for this training, please submit a cover letter describing your interest in the sessions, a biography and CV
Please send applications to emma@playwrights.ca
Subject line: Exploring Practice with Clea Minaker
Application deadline: February 10, 2017 at 5 PM

Biography

A performer, designer, director, and puppeteer, Clea Minaker brings the language of contemporary puppetry arts to collaborations across multiple disciplines: theatre, music, opera, dance, film, and community arts. She has created commissioned, collaborative works for: Istanbul Independent International Film Festival IF!; with Hajra Waheed at ART Dubai; The Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego; Festival Casteliers, Stravinsky’s ‘Firebird’ with the N.A.C Orchestra, and at ‘Convergence, An International Summit on Art and Technology’ at The Banff Centre. Other notable collaborations include: the creation of shadow stage show for Feist, ‘The Reminder Tour’, ‘Nufonia Must Fall’ with Kid Koala, ‘Tales from Odessa’ with So-called and shadow design for Atom Egoyan’s ‘Salomé’ at the Canadian Opera Company. In 2013, Clea premiered her first solo creation, ‘The Book of Thel’, at Lachapelle Scène Contemporaines in Montréal. Clea has been a guest instructor, director, and artist-in- residence at: Concordia University Theatre Department, Mcgill University English Department, The University of British Columbia, Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies. She has directed at Geordie Theatre, and worked with community arts companies, Shadowland Theatre, Jumblies Theatre, and Nunavik Theatre Arts.

Clea was a puppeteer and puppet designer for the short film, ‘Higgelty Piggelty Pop! (or there must be more to life)’ directed by the Montreal film duo Clyde Henry (produced by N.F.B, Warner Bros). Clea was awarded the Siminovitch Protégé Prize for Theatre Design in 2009, by Siminovitch prize-winner and puppeteer Ronnie Burkett. Clea Minaker trained at the L’École Nationale Superieure des Arts de la Marionnette (2002 -2005) located at the International Institute of Puppetry Arts in Charleville-Mezieres, France.

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