Podcasts about Handspring Puppet Company

In the final episode of the 2023 season, our host, Stephanie Fortunato, speaks with Basil Jones and Adrian Kohler, founders of Handspring Puppet Company, whose monumental works include War Horse and Little Amal. They discuss the role of puppetry in storytelling, building new audiences, activism and bridging connections between communities. The Three Bells podcast is produced by AEA Consulting for the Global Cultural Districts Network (GCDN). Sound mixing and theme music by Artwave Studio.External references: Handspring Puppet Company: https://www.handspringpuppet.com/ Handspring Puppet Company LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/handspring-puppet-company/about/ War Horse: https://www.warhorseonstage.com/learning/puppets/ War Horse: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_Horse_(play) Life and Times of Michael K: http://www.quaternaire.org/handspring-puppet-co/life-and-times-michael-k The Walk (Little Amal): https://www.walkwithamal.org/about-us/little-amal-the-walk/ Little Amal: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Amal The Walk Productions (Little Amal) LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-walk-productions-little-amal/ Bunraku: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bunraku Barrydale Giant Puppet Parade: https://barrydaleparade.wordpress.com/ The Walk, documentary by Tamara Kotevska: https://www.docnyc.net/film/the-walk/ Simon Sinacs Ted Talk – How Great Leaders Inspire Action: https://www.ted.com/talks/simon_sinek_how_great_leaders_inspire_action?language=en Bios:Basil Jones is the co-founder and Executive Producer of Handspring Puppet Company. Jones completed his BFA at UCT. In 1990, Jones set up a not for profit NGO Handspring Trust, which produced the award winning Spider's Place, an innovative, multi-media science education series for TV, radio an comic aimed at young learners from disadvantaged backgrounds. The Handspring Trust is involved in a number of projects in urban township and rural areas, using puppetry as a means to educate and empower youth and bring communities together through street parades and performance. He received the Naledi Executive Directors Award (2012), a lifetime achievement award from Tshwane University (2006) and an honorary doctorate in literature from UCT (2012). Adrian Kohler is the co-founder and Artistic Director of Handspring Puppet Company, and considered to be one of the world's leading masters of his medium. He gained a BA Fine Art at the University of Cape Town and then spent a year at The Space Theatre and another in Birmingham U.K. at the Canon Hill Arts Centre and Weld Community Arts Centre. Kohler then moved to Botswana to run the National Popular Theatre Programme for three years. He has had a solo retrospective at the National Gallery in South Africa, and groups of his works have been shown at The Barbican Art Gallery, London and The Museum for African Art, New York. Kohler received the Michaelis Prize, a lifetime achievement award from Tshwane University (2006) and an honorary doctorate in literature UCT (2012). Handspring Puppet CompanyFounded by Adrian Kohler and Basil Jones (with Jill Joubert and Jon Weinberg) in 1981, the Handspring Puppet Company continues to explore, innovate and push the boundaries of puppetry and contemporary performance. Deeply inspired by traditional puppetry – such as the Bunraku puppeteers of Japan and the Bamana puppeteers of Mali – Handspring fuses ancient craft, technical innovation and modern dramatic themes. Over four decades, the company has collaborated with world-renowned artists, directors, musicians, actors and theatre groups performing in 295 cities in 30 countries.

Guests Basil Jones and Adrian Kohler | Founders of the Handspring Puppet Company Craig Leo | Independent artist See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Nick LaMedica takes a quick break from the pride lands and joins Scott for an enlightening chat about what life is like playing Zazu in "The Lion King." They also talk about Nick's career and his work as an actor and puppeteer for Broadway tours including "War Horse." At the end of the interview, Scott shares fun facts about 'The Lion King," which were provided by Disney Theatrical Productions. Nick received his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Acting from Marymount Manhattan College and did not let the grass grow under his feet. He's since performed in over 75 cities throughout the United States, in Canada, and his work has taken him to Tokyo. As an on-camera actor, he can be seen in commercials for HASBRO and Microsoft, on Discovery ID, and Chicago Fire. For 2 years, he performed with the First National Broadway Tour of "War Horse," where he was hand-trained by the founders of Handspring Puppet Company of South Africa. He's also worked as an actor and puppeteer in New York City and various regional theaters throughout the United States including Denver Center, Syracuse Stage, and the American Globe Theatre. This past October, he made his Disney stage debut in the national tour of "The Lion King" where he's playing the role of Zazu. Email: TheMouseAndMePodcast@gmail.com Support: www.patreon.com/themouseandme FB & Instagram: The Mouse and Me TikTok: @TheMouseAndMePodcast Twitter: @MouseMePodcast Music by Kevin MacLeod from https://incompetech.filmmusic.io --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/themouseandme/support

Welcome back to the 80th episode of The Cup which is our a weekly (give or take, TBD, these are unprecedented times) performing arts talk show presented by Cup of Hemlock Theatre. The theatres may be closed, but art finds a way to survive! For the time being on this podcast we are rereleasing our past reviews, interviews, roundtables, and duet reviews in remastered audio only versions so you can take your CoH content on the go! For our 80th episode we are discussing the National Theatre's 2014 pro-shot of War Horse, adapted by Nick Stafford from the novel by Michael Morpurgo, directed by Marianne Elliot and Tom Morris, and featuring the work of Handspring Puppet Company in the title role! Follow us on Instagram/Facebook/Twitter: cohtheatre Follow our panelists: Mackenzie Horner (Before the Downbeat: A Musical Podcast) – Instagram/Facebook: BeforetheDownbeat Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3aYbBeNSpotify: https://spoti.fi/3sAbjAu Montana Adams – Instagram: @montanaism_ Susan A. Lock – You can't find her online but send us a message and we can pass it along to her Ryan Borochovitz – [Just send all that love to CoH instead; he won't mind!] --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/cup-of-hemlock-theatre/support

Emma Manton is an actor a writer and practitioner, and of course a runner. She is also the driving force behind Running with Refugees a charity that uses running via virtual events to help raise vital funds for refugees. Its been going from strength to strength since 2017 and recently joined forces with Amal. ‘Little Amal', a 3.5 metre-tall puppet of a young refugee girl, was created by the acclaimed Handspring Puppet Company. Representing all displaced children, many separated from their families, Little Amal is travelling over 8,000km embodying the urgent message “Don't forget about us”.

Meet Little Amal, a 3.5 metre-tall puppet of a young nine-year-old refugee girl, created to represent all displaced children. She is travelling over 8000km, from Turkey, through Europe, ending in the UK. The Walk is an unique and ambitious travelling art festival organised by Good Chance Theatre in collaboration with Handspring Puppet Company, that brings artists, cultural institutions and community groups together in the countries Little Amal visits. Her message is “Don't forget about us”. But at a time when the world is still fighting the Covid-19 pandemic and when anti-immigrant sentiment is present in certain countries, The Walk does not come without its challenges. Join Cagil Kasapoglu as she meets the people involved, including artistic director Amir Nizar Zuabi and general manager Sarah Loader, who travel with Little Amal across borders and seas.

On today's show, I speak with Kristi Ross-Clausen, a self-proclaimed eclectic theater practitioner. Kristi has been in the industry for 30+ years and has done everything from working in a large theater in Appleton, WI where she calls home to going on tour with Broadway shows War Horse, Mamma Mia!, and Priscilla Queen of the Desert.For a full transcript of this episode visit beyondthelightspodcast.com.Mentioned in this Episode[00:14:07] The Spotlight Operator's Handbook[00:14:38] Drama Bookshop [00:17:17] Handspring Puppet Company [00:41:43] Sing FasterFollow Beyond the LightsWebsiteFacebookTwitterInstagram

With Adrian Kohler Founder And Artistic Director at Handspring Puppet Company. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Amir Nizar Zuabi is an award-winning theatre writer and director. He was an associate director of the Young Vic, a member of the United Theaters Europe for artistic achievement, and an alumni of The Sundance Institute Theatre Program. Alongside The Walk he is the Artistic Director of ShiberHur Theater Company, is creating a show for Riksteatern Theater in Stockholm, and is writing a new play for the National Theatre in London. His writing and directing credits include I am Yusuf and This is my Brother, In the Penal Colony, Oh My Sweet Land The Beloved (ShiberHur/Young Vic); Three Days of Grief, West of Us The Sea, Mid Spring Musical, Dry Mud, Against A Hard Surface (ShiberHur); Last Ward, Who Killed You Asmahan, The Huta and Grey Rock (La Mama NYC). Directing credits include: Samson and Delilah (Flanders Opera, Antwerp); Jidarriya by Mahmoud Darwish (Edinburgh International Festival, Bouffes du Nord and world tour); Forget Herostratus, Le Mallade Imaginer, War or More, Sneeze, Deep Sorrow, Fall Tale, When The World Was Green, Lanterns Of The King Of Galilee, Taha and The Comedy of Errors (Royal Shakespeare Company). Stephen Daldry is an award-winning theatre, film and television director and producer. His productions have won multiple Olivier & Tony awards and he has directed 5 major feature films, including Billy Elliot. In 2021 he is producing The Walk featuring ‘Little Amal’, a 3.5 metre-tall puppet of a young Syrian refugee girl, created by Handspring Puppet Company. Little Amal will walk across Turkey, Greece, Italy, France, Switzerland, Germany, Belgium and the UK to focus attention on the urgent needs of young refugees. 5x15 brings together outstanding individuals to tell of their lives, passions and inspirations. There are only two rules - no scripts and only 15 minutes each. Learn more about 5x15 events: 5x15stories.com Twitter: www.twitter.com/5x15stories Facebook: www.facebook.com/5x15stories Instagram: www.instagram.com/5x15stories

In this dialogue I speak to Professor Jane Taylor, who, together with Nhlanhla Mahlangu, gave the opening performance and dialogue, at the ARA2020 Conference, which was held here at Wits University in January. Jane currently holds the Andrew W. Mellon Chair of Aesthetic Theory and Material Performance at the Centre for Humanities Research, University of the Western Cape where she heads the Laboratory of Kinetic Objects. A highly regarded academic, Jane is also a playwright and author and is a frequent creative collaborator at the Centre for the Less Good Idea in Johannesburg, where she has directed a number of their seasons. Jane has written several plays for puppets, working with the artist William Kentridge and Handspring Puppet Company, notably the internationally celebrated Ubu and the Truth Commission. She has also written a puppet play for the American Renaissance scholar, Stephen Greenblatt, a work interrogating the early history of neurology. Her second novel explores the complex politics of heart transplants in South Africa. Amongst the topics explored in this dialogue are the significance of a Chair of Aesthetic Theory and Material Performance at UWC, a university which historically has not had creative arts disciplines. The research questions prioritised in the Laboratory of Kinetic Objects. The challenges for accepting creative arts as a form of thinking. Aesthetics and a virtual future. The links which support/extend our discussion are - The website of the Laboratory of Kinetic Objects (LoKO): https://www.chrflagship.uwc.ac.za/research-platforms/laboratory-kinetic-objects/ NYT video on the Japanese funerals for robotic family dogs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8QYDpbLQ-To Video documentation of the complete performance of Pan Troglodyte at the Centre for the Less Good Idea, Johannesburg. https://vimeo.com/303661812 Jean-Luc Nancy, Being Singular Plural (Stanford University Press,2000) Jane Bennett, Vibrant Matter (Duke University Press, 2010)

Arts Research Africa — In this dialogue I speak to Professor Jane Taylor, who, together with Nhlanhla Mahlangu, gave the opening performance and dialogue, at the ARA2020 Conference, which was held here at Wits University in January. Jane currently holds the Andrew W. Mellon Chair of Aesthetic Theory and Material Performance at the Centre for Humanities Research, University of the Western Cape where she heads the Laboratory of Kinetic Objects. A highly regarded academic, Jane is also a playwright and author and is a frequent creative collaborator at the Centre for the Less Good Idea in Johannesburg, where she has directed a number of their seasons. Jane has written several plays for puppets, working with the artist William Kentridge and Handspring Puppet Company, notably the internationally celebrated Ubu and the Truth Commission. She has also written a puppet play for the American Renaissance scholar, Stephen Greenblatt, a work interrogating the early history of neurology. Her second novel explores the complex politics of heart transplants in South Africa. Amongst the topics explored in this dialogue are the significance of a Chair of Aesthetic Theory and Material Performance at UWC, a university which historically has not had creative arts disciplines. The research questions prioritised in the Laboratory of Kinetic Objects. The challenges for accepting creative arts as a form of thinking. Aesthetics and a virtual future. The links which support/extend our discussion are - The website of the Laboratory of Kinetic Objects (LoKO): https://www.chrflagship.uwc.ac.za/research-platforms/laboratory-kinetic-objects/ NYT video on the Japanese funerals for robotic family dogs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8QYDpbLQ-To Video documentation of the complete performance of Pan Troglodyte at the Centre for the Less Good Idea, Johannesburg. https://vimeo.com/303661812 Jean-Luc Nancy, Being Singular Plural (Stanford University Press,2000) Jane Bennett, Vibrant Matter (Duke University Press, 2010)

The work of playwright Louis Nowra has been on stages right across Australia and the world, but his latest drama — The Goodbye Party — is bound for your headphones, an almost 400-year-old copy of Shakespeare's First Folio of plays housed in an American public library is now believed to have belonged to the English poet John Milton, we encounter the famous life-size horse puppets backstage ahead of the return of War Horse to Australian stages in 2020,, and The Australian Musical by Peter Pinne and Peter Wyllie Johnston lovingly documents a century of Australian musical theatre.

The work of playwright Louis Nowra has been on stages right across Australia and the world, but his latest drama — The Goodbye Party — is bound for your headphones, an almost 400-year-old copy of Shakespeare's First Folio of plays housed in an American public library is now believed to have belonged to the English poet John Milton, we encounter the famous life-size horse puppets backstage ahead of the return of War Horse to Australian stages in 2020,, and The Australian Musical by Peter Pinne and Peter Wyllie Johnston lovingly documents a century of Australian musical theatre.

This week we go BIG with the renowned puppetry director and new author of the book Puppetry: How to Do It - Mervyn Millar! Mervyn worked extensively with Handspring Puppet Company in the original productions of War Horse, and trained countless touring casts to follow in his footsteps. Projects taken on by his own company, Significant Object, include Bermingham Rep's The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, international sensation Circus 1903, and Paul McCartney's Appreciate. The guys will talk about why the theater must train its puppeteers to go beyond rote, rehearsed movement and how to talk to producers about bringing on puppetry directors onto a show involving puppets. Of course, they also talk about Mervyn's new book of rehearsal exercises, which he wrote in the hopes of bringing this often-niche art form to the masses. For show notes and mentions, visit PuppetTears.com/MervynMillar Release date: February 12, 2019 Hosted by Adam Kreutinger & Cameron Garrity

After seeing Handspring Puppet Company — the creators of the puppets in Broadway's " War Horse" — at UC Berkeley in 2015, Glynn Bartlett knew he wanted to work with them. So he packed his bags and traveled to South Africa, where he built puppets for an annual parade and play performed on the Day of Reconciliation. Bartlett, a scenic artist for the Department of Theater, Dance and Performance Studies, says the experience reminded him just how powerful puppets can be in bringing people together.Read the story on Berkeley News. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This podcast contains a number of audio snippets from a CD-ROM on William Kentridge published by David Krut in 1997. The first part (Techniques & Processes) deals with how Kentridge generates his ideas through drawing and that the unexpected transformative value of drawing inspires his process. Through the process of drawing, he evokes meaning. Last, Kentridge discusses scale, light and space in regards to movement, mark making and "finding the drawing" The second part covers Kentridge's Work, Life & Influences. Kentridge talks about growing up in Johannesburg and his relationship with the landscape. His University years ignited his interest in different fields of activity such as politics, drawing, theater and film-making which is noticeable in the constructed dramatic scenes of his drawings. Willam Kentridge’s collaboration with the Handspring Puppet Company catapulted him into Theater and opera. Combining animation and Puppetry on live stage inspired his installation at the Havana Biennal in Santa Fe giving way to more layers of meaning and a richer experience. Kentridge elaborates on this unique relationship. Last, Kentridge reveals his constellation of influences throughout his art career. His ways of seeing were not only developed by the lecturers, masters and artist he was exposed to but also the surroundings of the Johannesburg landscape he describes as line work in itself. Part 3 takes a look at various of Kentridge's artworks up until 1997. CHAPTERS: 1. On Techniques & Processes - 0:06 1.1 Generating Ideas Through Drawing - 0:06 1.2 Evoke Meaning Through Drawing - 2:51 1.3 Scale, Light & Space - 5:32 2. Work, Life & Influences - 9:52 2.1 Growing Up in Johannesburg - 9:52 2.2 Collaboration with Handspring Puppet Company - 12:52 2.3 Constellation of Influences - 17:00 3. Artworks - 21:33 3.1 Art in a State - 21:33 3.2 Little Morals - 22:44 3.3 Heads and Irises - 23:32 3.4 Colonial Landscapes - 25:14 3.5 UBU - 26:14 3.6 Sleeper & Sleeper Etchings - 27:37 davidkrutprojects.com

Dartmouth announced a slate of special artistic programs and initiatives during the 2012-13 academic year that spotlighted the school's vibrant arts culture and reaffirms its role as one of the nation's leading academic arts communities. This celebration of the arts begun in September 2012 with the inauguration of Dartmouth's new Arts District, comprising the recently completed Black Family Visual Arts Center, as well as the Hood Museum of Art, and the Hopkins Center for the Arts ("the Hop"), both of which are planning expansions and renovations in the coming years. 2012-13 included notable arts programming, including special performances for the Hop's 50th Anniversary Season; the premiere of a new work by Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater created with commissioning support from the Hop; campus residencies by artists including the Handspring Puppet Company; a groundbreaking exhibition of Aboriginal art at the Hood Museum; a Best in Show film festival series, which brought organizers and films from the international film festival circuit to Hanover; and many more performances, exhibitions, and arts events. The year was also distinguished by an unprecedented development of arts-related programming by campus organizations and departments not normally affiliated with the arts, underscoring the importance of the arts to our everyday lives. Dartmouth has long been a leading institution championing the integration of the arts into a collegiate setting: from the establishment of one of the nation's first campus-based performing arts centers, to the commissioning of new works and artist-in-residence programs, to the cultivation of a university art collection that ranks among the oldest and largest in the United States. The diverse series of arts programs and initiatives taking place during Dartmouth's 2012-13 year—including programs developed by departments and campus organizations that traditionally operate outside the arts—exemplify this historic commitment to leadership in the arts, while simultaneously establishing Dartmouth as a model for the artistic campus of the 21st century.

This is a background pack for Or You Could Kiss Me, a collaboration between Neil Bartlett and Handspring Puppet Company. Included in this pack is a timeline of the play and interview with the designer.

In July 2012 the puppet makers from the Handspring Puppet Company, creators of the War Horse puppets, visited London to see the show for the first time.

In July 2012 the puppet makers from the Handspring Puppet Company, creators of the War Horse puppets, visited London to see the show for the first time.

With Kirsty Lang. The Handspring Puppet Company, the creators of the award-winning War Horse horses, have turned to Ted Hughes' sequence of Crow poems for their new show, combining puppetry, music, dance and extracts of the verse. It's part of the London 2012 Festival. Bidisha reviews. In the week that Jimmy Carr has apologised for taking part in tax avoidance schemes, the comedy critic Stephen Armstrong explains why successful comedians have always been rich and why they've always needed to hide it. Turner Prize-winning artist Mark Wallinger has a large-scale solo show Site opening at the Baltic in Gateshead this week, to be followed next month by a film commission at Turner Contemporary in Margate, and a collaboration with the Royal Opera House and the National Gallery in London on a new ballet based on paintings by Titian. In his studio Wallinger takes stock of his workload and has the latest news on his plan to erect a 50-metre high statue of a white horse in the Kent countryside. Gordon Ramsay goes to Brixton prison in his new TV series Gordon Behind Bars, as he attempts to set up a successful food business with the prisoners, giving himself a deadline of six months. Rebecca Nicholson reviews. Milos Karadaglic is a classical guitarist from Montenegro. Generally known as just Milos, he was the UK's best-selling classical recording artist last year, and Gramophone magazine's Young Artist of the Year. With a new CD of Latin American music and a BBC Proms concert this summer, he talks about his love for the guitar and the importance of looking after his nails.

See inside the workshop of the Handspring Puppet Company and discover how they make all the puppets for the show.

See inside the workshop of the Handspring Puppet Company and discover how they make all the puppets for the show.

Basil Jones and Adrian Kohler from Handspring Puppet Company talk about their puppets for War Horse

Handspring Puppet Company demonstrate the horse puppets on the stage

Handspring Puppet Company demonstrate the horse puppets on the stage

One of the most powerful aspects of “War Horse,” which opened at Lincoln Center on April 14, is, of course, the astonishing puppets. Minutes into this riveting tale of a boy and his horse against the background of World War I (see our feature here), the audience has completely invested the “horses” with life. This is just what the co-founders of the Handspring Puppet Company, Basil Jones and Adrian Kohler, who developed the production with Great Britain’s National Theatre, intended. However, at a lecture given in The New School’s Tishman Auditorium the night before the opening--the event was co-sponsored by The Vera List Center for Art and Politics and the Sheila C. Johnson Design Center--puppeteers pulled back the curtain during a lively panel discussion and demonstration. Joined by South African-born poet Yvette Christianse and Obie Award-winning puppeteer Dan Hurlin, Kohler and Jones talked about the origins of their company in apartheid South Africa; the use of puppetry as vehicle of advocacy; its place in the theatrical tradition; different schools of puppetry; and the form’s emotional and psychological impact.  Steered by the delicate-voiced Christianse, the quartet also explored some of puppetry’s central paradoxes: that we see (but choose not to see) the puppeteers; and that like a poet refining herself out of a poem (Christianse’s image) the operators must be willing to disappear for the puppet to live. Since the material and immaterial go hand in hand in puppetry, Jones and Kohler showed some video clips (excised in our audio above) of '“War Horse' in rehearsal,” and demonstrated the origins of their legendary horse puppets in some earlier old friends—a hyena demon from their production of “Faustus in Africa,” and Lisa, a chimpanzee from their piece “The Chimp Project.”  Bon Mots: Adrian Kohler on submission to the puppet: "There is a form of…subjection.  You have to put your whole being into this emotional prosthesis." Basil Jones on movement as thought: "We’re moving towards a slightly radical and cheeky proposition—that movement is thought. We’re trying to say that thought and the body are not two separate things." Adrian Kohler on the impact of “War Horse”: "That loss [of nearly a million horses in World War I] that affected us all is somehow reflected in our love of the beauty of a real horse: we no longer live with them, and that’s part of the tragedy of the story." Dan Hurlin on what we see: "Because of the distance between the puppets and us, they are actually better mirrors of who we are." Yvette Christianse on art and puppetry: "The true aim of the artist is to disappear."