The Banff Puppet Theatre Intensive

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This was an outstanding and challenging experience… we forged greater connections, made bolder choices, and refined technique. The process sparked new ideas, encouraged personal discovery, and turned a group of strangers into a family.

Brendan Nearey, 2007 Banff Puppet Theatre Intensive

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Program Details

The first component of the Banff Puppet Theatre Intensive is a physical approach to the art of puppetry which supports the idea that the strength of the puppet lies in its visual application and is not driven by text. Over the course of the workshop there will be physical mask exercises, translated to puppets, identifying a specific articulation of the silent narrative. Students will move their bodies through various exercises drawing on the Japanese techniques of Tadashi Suzuki, as well as Impulse Theory, developed in Poland by Kaz Piesewaski. Both of these influences will work to develop a physical connection to the ensemble, as well as create clarity within the silent narrative, telling a story without words. This work is integral to developing a common language understood by the individual within the ensemble while identifying the ensemble as an individual.

The second component of the workshop will be how to approach the big picture and the creation of a show. Puppeteers will participate in an actual process and create a small work-in-progress puppet show. Along the way the entire class will come together and discuss each group’s progress and offer solutions or identify problems they see with how the efforts are shaping up. The emphasis here is: how best do ensembles work? how do they overcome ego and stimulate open inspiration? The result is a presentation with puppets. Some puppets will be provided by the Old Trout, as well as full character masks that operate much like a puppet, also puppets are encouraged to be brought in by the students, rough puppets can be built, as well as found objects used to present the story ideas.

The third component shall be the exploration of puppet design. Operating from the principal that the less rules that are applied to what a puppet is the greater the possibilities that are afforded to the artist. Students are given nothing but paper and tape to begin with, and then left to their own ingenuity, developing the puppeteer’s greatest strength.

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Partners

The Old Trout Puppet Workshop

The Old Trout Puppet Workshop was founded on a ranch in southern Alberta in 1999. Our first year of operation was an experience of intense collaborative isolation — we lived together, cooked together, and worked together. We collected eggs, fed the pigs, and premiered our first show to a bunkhouse full of cowboys and Hutterites, making our puppet theatre company a unique experience for all involved.

We dedicate ourselves to making professional puppet theatre, often blurring the distinction between the child and adult audience. We launch forth to explore the outer edges of the puppet medium, and to create original, unique, and exuberant art. An Old Trout show strives for delightful allegory, joyful tragedy, and purity of spirit.

Since the premier in 2006 Famous Puppet Death Scenes has delighted audiences in major theatres across Canadam, as well as the Public Theatre in New York and the Wexner Center For The Arts in Columbus Ohio. Our next show Don Juan recently underwent a three month creation intensive in Guanajuato Mexico and will open at Alberta Theatre Projects in March 2009.

In addition to our own puppet theatre, we collaborate widely in a variety of media. In partnership with Dandi Productions, we produced several childrens orchestras including: Roald Dahl’s Red Riding Hood, Jack and the Beanstalk, and Snow White, currently touring North America.

Old Trouts served as puppet masters on Disney’s Honey I Shrunk the Kids, Nickelodeon’s “Littleburgî with Whoopi Goldberg and YTV’s “Nanalanî. Our puppet masters toured California with The Death of Benvenuto Cellini, a puppet operetta in collaboration with the Green Fools, and they traveled the world with a Punch and Judy show in their suitcase.

Films by the Old Trout Puppet Workshop include: two shorts with Silent Clown Productions for Bravo, another with DKR Pictures, which won several awards including an Alberta Motion Picture award for Best Experimental Short, and most recently a music video with Rapid Fire Productions for the pop-sensation Feist.

Old Trouts conquered sculpture using puppetry techniques. For Big Rock Brewery, we built a forty-foot tall puppet machine/wind-powered clock, built out of ancient combine harvesters and train whistles dragged out of junk graveyards across Alberta. Another example is an organic sculpture garden we created in a forest of the Rocky Mountian YMCA Outdoor Center.

Sharing our puppetry knowledge with the world, we have written magazine articles on puppetry (shortlisted for a National Magazine Award), and five books including, Preposterous Fables for Unusual Children, published by Bayeux Arts (and shortlisted for the Governor-General’s Award).

AQM

Founded in 1981, the AQM was born from the will of marionnettists to set up an organization dedicated to the recognition and the development of the Art of the puppet in Quebec. AQM is the only association which gathers the professionals of puppet theatre in Quebec and ensures that this art is as valued as it deserves. The quality and relevance of its actions are ascribable to the extraordinary energy of the founders who have kept the Association alive for more than 25 years.

The AQM gathers the professional companies and artists who work with marionettes with the aim of supporting the evolution of the profession and to help its insertion in the contemporary theatrical movement. The AQM maintains the professional bonds between the local and world-wide marionnettists and takes an active part in the cultural world.

Each year, the AQM organizes various activities focused around the marionette discipline: various publications, conferences, training courses on formation and perfectionism, themed meetings with the AQM members, and improvisation sessions with marionettists visiting Quebec. AQM also coordinates the participation of its members around innovative projects allowing the promotion of the art of the puppet.

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For further queries or assistance

Please contact: The Banff Centre Office of the Registrar

Email: arts_info@banffcentre.ca
Phone: 403.762.6180 or 1.800.565.9989
Fax: 403.762.6345

Mailing Address:
The Banff Centre, Office of the Registrar
Box 1020
107 Tunnel Mountain Drive
Banff, Alberta, T1L 1H5

All programs, faculty, dates, fees, and offers of financial assistance are subject to change. Non-refundable fees and deposits will be retained upon cancellation. Any other fees are refunded at the discretion of The Banff Centre.